As a firm that specializes in helping brands tell their story, we understand the importance of creating a strong positioning and messaging strategy that is authentic to your brand and resonates with your target audience and pairing it with a marketing plan. Content marketing is an essential component of any successful marketing plan — even still now in 2023 — and it involves creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content that attracts and retains a clearly defined audience.
The importance of content marketing has only increased as the digital landscape continues to evolve. BUT we have to admit: the days of creating low value content stuffed with keywords and rocketing up to the top of the search rankings with ease are over.
Today content marketing is about perspective.
In content marketing it is important to have a perspective and to be willing to share that perspective with your audiences. Bland, dry, boring content will always be, well, bland, dull, and boring.
So as you’re thinking about content strategy this year, we urge you to consider it a little bit differently than perhaps in years past. Instead of thinking through content keywords and phrases that are valuable to you, think about what is important to your audience and what topics you have a unique perspective on and can produce content around.
Consider this:
You’re a SaaS company who markets their product to a niche subset of B2B buyers. The market you sell into is flooded with products that promise to do it all and be the total solution, but really they are just not easy to use and get by on locking in long term contracts. They are built and managed to allow the seller to make money, not for the users to actually enjoy using and get value from.
On the other hand, you created a product from the ground up with your users in mind. You’ve made it easy for them to use, you help them improve their business thanks to your software, and you provide true value. You help them grow their business with your software and are continually building on-to your product to add beneficial features your audience can use.
So with that context aside let’s talk about how this can play out when it comes to content marketing in 2023.
Company A creates low-value content about their product features, new releases, and is only writing to appease search algorithms — the content is keyword-stuffed, boring, and sounds like it was written for a robot. There is no unique perspective. No human tone. No real connection.
Company B, your company, knows the best thing to do is help their target customers. They know what their customers really want — a SaaS product that helps them do their job and is built with the user in mind. You share content that helps them win. Things like business strategy content, how to solve challenges your customers face in their industry, and so on.
Because you’re sharing perspective the market will respond to your content more favorably than the content from company A.
How to inject perspective into your content marketing
It all starts with your mission, vision, and values. What do you stand for? Why does your company exist? What are you trying to solve? That’s how you find your perspective. For us, we help small marketing teams punch above their weight class. That’s our mission. So our content, from our podcast to LinkedIn, it’s all about sharing content that does just that. We freely share our perspective on how marketers can improve their business and their marketing strategy.
Back to how to inject perspective into your content marketing. Once you’ve looked at your mission, vision, and values you should brainstorm all of the things you talk about on a day to day basis with your core customers. What are the problems you’re helping them solve? What makes you different than the competition? What can you say your competitors are missing the mark on?
That’s where you’ll find perspective — it’s what makes your voice unique and different. You can write content sharing this perspective and it will sound more human and engaging.
Ready to create content in 2023? Here are some reasons you really should be:
Increased Engagement: High-quality content that provides value to your audience can help build brand loyalty, and lead to increased engagement from your customers. When your audience feels that they are receiving valuable information from your brand, they are more likely to engage with your content, share it with others, and ultimately become a loyal customer.
Enhanced Brand Awareness: Creating and sharing content across different platforms can help increase your brand’s visibility and reach a larger audience. With the right content, you can position your brand as an industry leader, and establish a reputation for providing valuable information and insights.
Improved SEO: Creating content that includes relevant keywords and phrases can help improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find your brand online.
Better Lead Generation: By creating valuable content that addresses the pain points and challenges of your target audience, you can attract high-quality leads that are more likely to convert into customers.
So, what are some of the key elements of a successful content marketing plan?
Clearly Defined Goals: Before creating any content, it’s essential to identify your goals and objectives. What do you want to achieve with your content? Are you trying to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? By defining your goals upfront, you can create content that is tailored to your specific objectives.
Understanding Your Audience: To create content that resonates with your audience, you need to have a deep understanding of their needs, challenges, and interests. Conducting audience research can help you gain insights into your target audience and create content that speaks directly to their needs.
Consistency: To build a loyal following, it’s important to create and share content consistently. This means creating a content calendar, identifying key topics and themes, and sticking to a regular publishing schedule.
Variety: To keep your audience engaged and interested, it’s important to mix up your content formats. This can include blog posts, infographics, videos, social media posts, and more.
There ya go. How to improve your content strategy in 2023.
Content marketing is a powerful tool that can help businesses connect with their target audience, build brand awareness, and drive conversions. By creating high-quality, valuable content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs and interests, you can establish your brand as a trusted industry leader and drive business growth.