For many businesses, the start of a new year provides a good opportunity to reevaluate their marketing plans. As they say, times, they are a changin’—and you need to change with them if you want to remain competitive within your market.
Increasingly, companies are transitioning from a focus on traditional marketing methods to digital, content-based marketing models. According to B2B Marketing Insider, today's marketers are spending about a quarter of their marketing budget on content marketing initiatives. So the question for 2013 is: are you ready to join them and get into the business of content management?
Getting an effective content marketing plan ready for the New Year means developing a publication-based mindset. Here are three elements critical to your content marketing success in 2013:
1. Content strategy
Or more accurately—strategy, then content. Some basic questions to ask when developing a content strategy include:
- Who is the target market?
- What kind of content does this market want and need?
- Which content vehicles will work best to deliver this content?
- How will the publication and distribution of this content be scheduled?
- Who will be in charge of, and involved in, the process?
Assemble a team that will become responsible for your company’s content, and have them create an editorial calendar to keep the plan on track. It’s an ongoing commitment to the continuous production and distribution of quality content that will set you apart from the competition in 2013.
2. Collaboration
If you currently take a siloed approach to your marketing efforts, you might want to reconsider your strategy. Content marketing calls for a collaborative environment. After all, today’s savvy consumers demand real-time information, something that's difficult to provide when there's little or no communication between your company's departments.
It’s important to keep in mind that anyone in your organization can create content. Moving forward, plan on including everyone from the CEO to the executive assistant in your company's content strategy. When it comes to creating fresh, original content, your greatest asset is the variety of unique voices each member of your team can add to the mix—and the specific expertise each can provide.
Remember—content marketing is less about titles and differentiation of duties than it is about providing useful information to consumers that helps them solve their problems. Get everyone on board!
3. Agility
In marketing, the term agility refers to the ability to change course, to adapt quickly to market conditions, to be able to respond instantly to data about what works and what doesn’t. In 2013 and beyond, agility is more important than ever. Above we mentioned real-time information. Far from being just a buzzword, it's become both the industry standard and a necessity for marketing to the increasingly media-savvy consumer.
A good content marketing strategy allows your marketing plan to become more agile and more responsive to everything from industry trends to the latest issues of concern to your market. Daily content creation means that your team will be spending a lot of time on social media and the web; after all, they'll be researching topics, absorbing fresh information from thought leaders and tweeting and retweeting relevant messages to your fans and followers. This data will become fodder for your blog posts, articles, videos and email newsletters and allow for the level of agility your marketing strategy requires.
Simply put, content attracts consumers and fosters engagement. What's more, engaged consumers are more likely to make a purchase. In 2013, make it your priority to plan a solid content strategy, executed via a collaborative effort between all departments. Stay on top of industry trends and offer useful information that your buyers can really use, and you'll be ready for anything in 2013!
