As the demand for redundant content is high on
rise every minute, the production of the same should be abundant preferring
quality over quantity, strategy over urgency and should be reactive over
proactive. It is not how vast one’s web
portal is, but how accurate the information it provides will decide the longevity
of any web portal in this internet-ruling era.
Amid many content-rich web portals – irrespective of the
metrics they are basking in, marketers apparently seem comfortable in pushing
their message into the mind-sets of mouse-potatoes like never before, but does
their (marketers) processes en route, actually, qualified enough for a nonpareil
content marketing conduct?
Perhaps, a big NO would pop up without a doubt. Of course,
having so much of yellow journalism, so dreadful nick-of-the-moment developed
materials (articles, write-ups), and so unplanned content generation and so and
so - there are many issues to pin-point on.
Where it went wrong? Well, as it is asserted by Joe Pulizzi,
founder of Content Marketing Institute (CMI), only 5 percent of marketers had
any sort of content marketing mission statement.
With that statement, it is made clear that hardly anyone (in
this grab-the-market-in-no-time era) uses or stress on a proper planning and
implementation of impeccable content marketing process. Irrespective of the nature of the business,
either eCommerce portal or a news publishing treadmill, one should foresee
their content marketing plan, with the best vision and mission, at regular
intervals.
Such an intricate plan starts with a very basic step of
‘thinking ahead’ leading to ‘sorting ahead’ and followed by ‘moving ahead’ (creating
awareness, sales pitch and loyalty programs – for product oriented/eCommerce
web portal). As it goes on:
Strategy
– Thinking ahead
'A plan
without a strategy is like sailing without a compass.' Stressing on that belief, one shall try to be equipped
with a better strategy prior to the task of full-fledged content marketing;
defining the requirement and purpose of particular task – either content
marketing or social marketing.
Devise a
blueprint:
- Set definite goals – vision and mission (to bring up just
the traffic or to create a brand image, goodwill and thus to increase life-time
loyal netizens),
- Be customer driven – either purchases or impressions,
- Design time frame (short term or long term): long-term
(blog posts, articles or press releases), short-term (opting social media
conversations, being informative through product updates) or conversation
oriented (link sharing, discussions, commenting etc.)
- Think ahead over competitors’ trends, and conduct
clear-cut algorithm (Google) studies to stay unaffected to market updates (if it
is to be SEO driven).
No doubt, a
big ‘WHY’ would help you shatter the future obstacles. A well-defined strategy
may sure bring up better results in future, but only with a stringent execution.
Solution
– Sorting Ahead
If the path
is set, isn't selecting a vehicle to ride on it EASY!? The next best thing to spice up the content marketing
plan is to sort out things: in simple terms, to say, chalking out the ways to
make the path viable for a smooth ride towards success.
Perhaps, one
can consider 5 Ws (who, what, when, where and why (see strategy) and a H - how to
set the path to be sailed on.
What – the content type (news just-in or
opinionated articles, videos, app-driven content, gaming sorts etc.),
When – the time slots, festival bound, holiday bound
Where – the platforms (blogs, social media, mob access)
Who – the target audience (netizens’ demographics),
How – the implementation, awareness (e Mail
marketing, online advertisements, press releases)
Having
adequate information about target audience - their mind-set, and the apt time
frame to reach them – while publishing the content, one could possibly come
with a solution within no time. The more the knowledge you have about your
reader the crisp & clear the content would be.
Success
– Moving Ahead
By saying
move ahead, we mean, in one way, to build up relation with the end user or let’s
put it up as link building sort of things. Channelizing your content isn’t just
enough; build up relation with the reader/customer. Be alive through different
forums and query answering techniques as that is the only way to develop
loyalty among readers.
No plan is
failure proof. Come what may, just move ahead in all the endeavours. Though it sounds
bias to co-relate; finding a
relation is easier than maintaining it.
God forbid
the loss or failure, but be equipped with a second plan always. Either with
failure or success the in-thing should always be getting off the ride and
change the gear. We don’t expect you to change up the business, but to modify
the execution plan as it has been done with many entrepreneurs while adopting
social marketing techniques in a way to get rid of traditional marketing.
All said and
done, Strategy, Solution and Success, the three Content marketing techniques,
if properly taken care of, could strengthen the content credibility of your
website, provided competitive SEO practices in place.