Content marketing is huge.   

Thousands of businesses around the world are using it to achieve outstanding results for their businesses. And with consumers paying less and less attention to traditional advertising, the room for growth is massive.   

But what exactly do great content marketing strategies have in common? How are businesses skyrocketing lead generation and sales without any formal marketing budget?   

We think we have the answer:  

After analyzing thousands of content marketing strategies, we’ve noticed that with a combination of three simple methods, you can turn your deadbeat content marketing strategy into one of the most effective tools for your business.   

#1 To Start, Set Detailed Goals: 

When most businesses create content, they do so aimlessly and inconsistently, posting whatever they can think of at the time, instead of working from a content calendar that’s based on actual business goals. This results a bunch of disconnected content assets that aren’t driving any sales.  

Without goals–and a defined content calendar based on your goals–you’re never going to know what kind of content you need to produce to achieve desirable results for your business. Effective content serves as a function in your businesses. It’s not an irrelevant side project to undertake just because other businesses are doing it.   

So, before you start creating content, ask yourself: 

“What exactly are we trying accomplish?”

Are you trying to drive sales for your new software release? To gain more knowledge on a new audience you’re targeting (think CMO.com)? To increase the number of microbiologists who sign up for your science newsletter? Figure it out.   

Then, once you have a goal, you can plan your content around that central focus to achieve the results you want to see.   

Great content, however, relies on more than just a set of goals.   

#2 You Also Need to Have Empathy for Your Audience: 

At the heart of any successful content marketing strategy lies a deep, unrelenting empathy for the audience who’s consuming the content. Most businesses tend to forget this.   

When they write content, they write it for themselves, using their jargon. And if all you’re doing is writing for yourself, you’re the only one who’s going to want to read your content. 

Instead, ask yourself: 

“What do we think our audience would like to read? What problems do they probably go through? Let’s write about those.”

To build an audience, you need to know your target audience like the back of your hand. This is where building your customer personas comes in.  

• What is a day in their life like? 
• What annoys them? 
• What challenges do they face daily? 
• What are their hopes and dreams? 
• What are their needs and wants? 

You may be thinking, “Yeah, we get it. But how do we figure that stuff out?” 

It’s simple:   

Take time to sit down and have conversations with the people who read your content. You can do this with your customers, or with people who resemble the kind of clients you wish to attract. Find out about what keeps them up at night and what kinds of solutions they are looking for. 

Once you have that information, you can supercharge every piece of content you create, ensuring it’s useful to the kind of clients you wish to attract.  

#3 Identify What Makes You Different: 

Whether we like it or not, our buyers are being blasted with thousands of pieces of content every day.   

One quick look at Twitter will reveal how many options they have to choose from. Everything from videos, blog posts, newsletters, whitepapers, all the way to webinars and slideshows. The choices are overwhelming.   

But do you want to know what’s sad? Most of the content out there isn’t very good at all.   

And as a result, most buyers have become quite selective of the content they consume. They don’t want to waste their time on something they won’t gain value from.   

So, to break through this barrier of noise to reach your buyers, you need to be different. Radically different:  

When your buyers read your articles, the first thought that jumps into their head should be, “wow, that was a damn good article.” When they watch your videos, they should be emotionally charged. And when they read your whitepapers, they should walk away with a wealth of knowledge that they couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.   

In fact, that should be one of the biggest goals of your content marketing strategy: To make things that nobody else is making. 

When your buyers get their socks knocked off from your content, it surprises them. And when they’re surprised, they’re more likely to share.   

And when they share, your audience grows.   

Getting the Right Kind of Help with Your Content Marketing Strategy: 

As you know, content marketing has the power to completely change your business for the better. But by no means is it easy.   

Writing and keeping track of content, promoting it effectively, designing the best lead generation funnels, and finding a differentiation factor are some of the things that brands struggle with most when creating content. That’s why at McAllister Marketing, we’re dedicated to making your life as a business owner easier.   

With our content marketing strategies, you can sit back and watch as you start to attract leads, foster an audience, and sell more products–all without having to sweat over writing a single piece of content yourself. We’ll do all the work and you can be as involved as you want to be.  

Want to learn more about how we can revolutionize your content marketing strategy? Contact us today!