6 reasons you need a Content Marketing Strategy
Content Marketing

6 reasons you need a Content Marketing Strategy

16th September 2016

When working with businesses on their marketing, often the same question comes by: “Why do we need a content marketing strategy?” I’m always a bit surprised when the question comes because by now I figured most businesses know why. Simply said: because you don’t ‘just’ want spit out content without thinking.

But there are more considerations on why you should have a content marketing strategy.

There are two main areas to consider why you need a strategy: your audience, those you are targeting, and your business. For both, I want to give you three reasons why you need a content (marketing) strategy.

6 reasons you need a content marketing strategy

Why you need a content marketing strategy for your audience

You want to tell the right story

If you are going out there with content, you want to make sure it’s the right content. You need to understand who you are targeting and match your story with it. Telling the wrong story will make for a wrong experience, so you need to know what story to tell. A good content strategy makes sure you find that story and that you stick to it.

You want to connect with your audience at the best possible time

Your potential customer isn’t always ready for you. There is a misconception that someone starts at 0. They don’t. Everyone has their own way of looking at things as well as their own speed on things. That means that someone could be in a part of the funnel where they either don’t need to hear from you yet, or they need to hear something else. A good content marketing strategy makes sure you find the right times. It will also help you determine what type of content fits that part of the funnel best.

You want to move your potential customers through the funnel

If you have the audience in your funnel, you want to move them through it. Get someone from unawareness to awareness and then research and buying. A good content strategy means you don’t just have the right content for each stage, you understand each stage as well.

Why you need a content marketing strategy for your business

You want your story to be told

As a business, you have a story. This story isn’t necessarily about your product, though. A story makes that those you reach get a specific feel for you. That feel determines how to will see you from then on. You want to make sure it’s the right story they see and that the feel is good. A good content strategy tells your story as it should be because you understand all areas.

You want to make sure everyone is on board

Where do most content marketing strategies fail? Even before there is any content created or marketed. This is because they end in the meeting rooms. If your business isn’t aligned with what you are doing, you will most probably fail. Get everyone on the same page about what content marketing is, and what the strategy is. Your content marketing strategy will then ‘guard’ this. Throughout all your efforts yo have something to refer back to.

You want to make sure you do what is needed

You can also refer back to your content strategy every time content is created that doesn’t fit within your goals. Or when you are missing something. A lot of the time businesses forget why they do things. Your content marketing strategy will be a reference point for each piece of content: does it fit the strategy? If not, don’t go for it.

Of course, there are plenty more reasons for creating a content marketing strategy, which we will discuss later on in this course. But these are the most important ones you have to remember.

This article is part of the content marketing strategy essentials course.

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Written By
Bas van den Beld is an award winning Digital Marketing consultant, trainer and speaker. He is the founder of State of Digital and helps companies develop solid marketing strategies.
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