New technologies have certainly made for more efficient marketing over the past few years. The amount of platforms and types have content have increased exponentially, increasing the potential to grow your platform and brand faster than ever.
On the other side of the coin, too many opportunities can easily create overwhelm and consistency is required, no matter which content you choose to incorporate into your marketing plan.
Here are 3 key elements to an effective content strategy to get better results from your marketing efforts:
3 Key Elements
As a brand and content strategist, there were 3 key elements I used to create an effective content plan (and then I discovered a shortcut.)
Each of these approaches had a specific goal in mind to eliminate a potential obstacle that might prevent the client or customer from engaging in the next step.
For example, in branding, I was on a 'scavenger hunt' for meaning to convey the vision, values, value, voice, and visual aspects of the business. If a business has core values that do not align with their ideal clients and customers, that is where we see problems with customer loyalty.
- The main goal was to eliminate cognitive dissonance.
This process is more ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION -
Filtering and organizing the content, so the most important brand messages are front and center.
For SEO, I would include 2 categories of keywords including:
- High-performing, high-converting keywords that can be more competitive (i.e., 'short tail' keywords that all your competitors are probably also using)
- Less competitive keywords that you get to choose (i.e., 'long tail' keywords, branded to you, to create a "blue ocean strategy")
The main goal here is to eliminate wasted opportunities and risk.
"Good" SEO can be worse than no SEO if you're using the same keywords as your competitors...
For UX (user experience), I'm stepping into the shoes of a first-time visitor and figuring out how to engage with the organization:
- What is that customer's journey (and goals)?
- How are they finding that piece of content (traffic source)?
- What is the offer at the end?
- What is the action we want them to take?
My goal here is to eliminate friction, so there's less standing in the way for them to move forward if it's a good fit for solving their problem or achieving their goals.
The Shortcut
There's a shortcut to fill in that missing puzzle piece that can achieve all of these goals. Using the brand archetypes to tap into the desires, fears, motivations, and strategies that already exist in the minds of your clients and customers, you can simultaneously:
- Eliminate cognitive dissonance within the brand (particularly in the core drivers and values of your ideal buyer)
- Reduce risk (and eliminate wasted opportunities) in SEO by incorporating some of those value drivers into your long-tail keyword approach
- and mitigate any friction that occurs in the user experience by understanding the marketing likes/dislikes, buying behavior, and loyalty factors for your clients and customers.
By starting with a clear brand direction, you can create a better content strategy to achieve your brand and business goals.