How to Do Content Right in 2024

Why People Get Content Marketing Wrong

Content seems simple. Everyone is doing it, so why can’t you? People publish blog post after blog post, blast everything that has ever happened to them on four or more social media channels, dabble in memes, and even try TikTok... And they get crickets. Nada, nothing, no response.

The truth is, you can’t just publish whatever comes to mind. Businesses fail at content marketing when they don’t have a clearly defined content strategy. Brands need to know who they are marketing to, what that audience wants to know, and how to deliver it effectively.

Posting dog memes or life @yourcompany updates might get likes, but content without purpose is like a ship without a rudder. You’re going around in circles and not getting anywhere.

Persona Marketing: The Foundation of Effective Content

Spending time upfront to get to know your ideal customers will give you direction and a way to judge whether your content is on point. Identify the job titles, seniority levels, preferences, and concerns of your ideal customers. You may have multiple personas, including decision-makers, influencers, or even blockers who need content to overcome their hesitations.

Pay particular attention to the pain points of your ideal customers—what keeps them up at night, what they talk to colleagues about. Here’s a sad but true fact: people primarily care about themselves. Most of their motivations will be viscerally related to either getting ahead in their job or not getting fired.

The Buyer’s Journey

Remember, your target customers are on a journey with your brand. Only 3-10% of prospects are ready to buy, meaning the remaining 90-97% need to learn about your brand, your solution, and why they should trust you. Meet your potential customers where they are on the buyer’s journey by serving content specific to each stage:

1. Awareness Stage: Your potential customers are just becoming aware of a problem or need. Your content should focus on educating them about the issue and subtly introducing your brand as a knowledgeable resource. Blog posts, infographics, and educational videos work well here.

2. Consideration Stage: Here, prospects are aware of their problem and are actively seeking solutions. Your content should help them evaluate their options. Detailed guides, comparison articles, and case studies can be very effective.

3. Decision Stage: Now, your prospects are ready to make a decision. Content at this stage should persuade them that your solution is the best choice. Customer testimonials, product demos, and detailed service descriptions are key.

By aligning your content with your audience's needs and pain points, you’ll create a purposeful and effective content strategy that drives engagement and conversion.

Crafting a Content Strategy with Impact

From the personas you’ve built, it’s time to create a content strategy. Look through the pain points of your personas and see how your solution relates to each one. Armed with these painpoints and desires, build content themes. Using your background knowledge and experience, make an educated guess about which theme is most important to each persona. Alternatively, you can split-test the themes to see which resonates most with your audience.

Only now are you ready to start creating content. Generate articles, posts, videos, or documents around these themes and monitor engagement—those coveted likes, clicks, and impressions. Organic impressions will only get you so far; promoting your content to your target audience is essential. This way, you are getting the right eyeballs on your content.

Building a Content Series

Once you have tested your themes to see what resonates with your target persona, it’s time to announce a winner! The most engaging themes will serve as the basis for future content.?

Here’s how to effectively build a content series:

1. Analyse Engagement Data: Look at which themes and formats garnered the most interaction. This includes likes, shares, comments, and time spent on each piece.

2. Identify Winning Themes: Determine the topics your audience finds most valuable. For example, if industry trends perform well, delve deeper into those subjects.

3. Develop a Content Plan: Expand successful themes across various formats. Transform a popular blog post into infographics, videos, podcasts, eBooks, or webinars.

4. Iterate and Expand: Build on your initial concepts by exploring related subtopics. Ensure each new piece adds value and provides fresh insights.

5. Diversify Formats: Cater to different preferences by repurposing content into articles, videos, and interactive content.

6. Maintain Consistency: Establish a regular posting schedule to keep your audience engaged. Ensure each piece ties back to the central theme.

7. Promote Your Series: Use social media, newsletters, and partnerships to highlight your content series and drive traffic.

Sales Team Meets Marketing Team

If you are lucky enough to have a sales team, talk to them! If it’s just you doing business development, start recording prospect and customer feedback. Create a spreadsheet or another method of capturing comments during the sales process. Record memorable phrases, use cases for your product or solution, and what pains or excites your customers. This information is pure gold for content marketers. But you can’t mine these insights without communication between sales and marketing. Sales should inform marketing and marketing should inform sales. Now, play nicely.

Above All, Be Customer-Centric

I constantly push my clients to think, “Does my ideal customer care about this?” Contrary to the popular belief of many brands, content marketing is not one long sales pitch. If you keep in mind that your persona only cares about themselves, you can easily tie all of your marketing efforts back to their pains and desires. Educate them about the problem, strategically place your solution as the antidote, and build up trust through social proof and case studies. If every post teaches your ideal customer something useful, something that relates back to one of the biggest problems in their lives, your content will be irresistible.