How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Part 1: Course Overview
Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 1 of 12.
This is Part 1 of our free How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business video course.
This lesson provides an overview of the course modules, what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.
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Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Hello and welcome to this video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
My name is Martin Aranovitch. I’m a professional content writer and the blog editor of a global software company.
I also run a number of business training websites including ContentManagementCourse.com, where you can learn how to manage your content more effectively for free.
So, why a course on content strategy?
Well, in case you haven’t noticed,
Content is everywhere!
All businesses and websites need content, all content needs management, and all management needs a strategy.
So, whether you are a business or website owner, or someone who creates, promotes, or manages content for a business, or you work in any kind of business that wants to grow using content.
This course will show you how to create a content strategy that will help you produce more targeted content, drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads, and manage your content more effectively!
The aim of this course is to help you develop a sustainable way to grow your business by targeting the right audience, using the right content, at the right time, to get whatever outcome you set as a goal.
This could be buying your products, subscribing to your newsletter, or signing up for a membership.
I designed the lessons in this course to help you create a practical content strategy quickly and easily.
So, if the purpose of having a content strategy is to help your business grow using content, then the first thing we need to do is understand who our target audience is, and set goals for what we want to achieve with our content.
Once we have set our content goals, the next step is to decide which content types and formats will work best to deliver results that will help us achieve our goals.
After we have a clear picture of the content types and formats that our business will create, the next step is to do a content audit of our business.
This will help us assess if any existing content we have fits our strategy and if not, what do we do with it?
The content audit will also help us identify if there are any missing gaps that we need to fill and any content opportunities that we can take advantage of.
Once we have the full picture of the content we will need to create and the resources we have available to work with, the next step is to create a content plan.
We’ll then break down our overall content plan into three key areas and develop a content production plan, a content promotion plan, and a content management plan.
These plans will then be used to execute our content strategy, to put systems in place to measure how our content is performing and to assess and improve the results of our content strategy to make sure that we are meeting our business goals and objectives.
Finally, we will look at troubleshooting any content-related problems to make sure that our content strategy is delivering our expected results to our business.
So that’s the logic behind this video course.
Now, let’s take a brief look at what the lessons in this video series will actually cover:
So this is Module 1, and after this overview, we’ll look at what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.
In module 2, we look at what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business.
We’ll look at the challenges of managing content effectively and the things that need to be put in place first.
In module 3, we’ll define our target audience.
And we’ll look at ways and methods to identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of our target audience, create user personas for our business, and understand the buyer’s journey and what type of content will be most relevant and valuable to our audience at each different stage.
In module 4, we’ll use our target audience information to set content goals.
First, we’ll define our business goals, then we’ll align our content strategy with our business goals, and determine what we want to achieve with our content. For example, drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, etc.
We’ll then set SMART goals for our content that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
In module 5, we’ll decide which content types and formats will best help us reach our goals.
We’ll choose the types of content that will be most effective for achieving our goals and resonating with our audience, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, etc., and consider the format and delivery of our content. For example, digital content delivered online, in-person, in print format, and so on.
In module 6, we’ll look at effective ways and tools to do a content audit.
This will help us to identify the types of content that our business is currently producing, assess the performance of our existing content, and identify gaps in our current content offerings.
In module 7, we’ll create a content plan.
We’ll cover topics like planning out the frequency, topics, and distribution of our content, coordinating with other teams and stakeholders to ensure a consistent and cohesive content plan, deciding which content management tools to use, establishing a content publishing schedule, and assigning tasks and deadlines to team members.
In module 8, we’ll develop a content production plan.
We’ll look at using a variety of sources and methods to generate content ideas such as using keyword research, customer feedback, industry events, etc., developing a workflow process, and how to follow best practices for creating high-quality and engaging content.
In module 9, we’ll develop a content promotion plan.
We’ll look at ways to identify the channels to distribute our content and create a content distribution plan. Develop a plan to promote our content using a variety of tactics to get the content in front of our target audience. For example, social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and so on, and using analytics and metrics to track the performance of our content, to measure the effectiveness of our content distribution efforts, and determine what is working and what needs improvement.
In module 10, we’ll develop a content management plan.
Here we tie in our goals, audience information, content types, and resources with workflow processes, tools & technologies, content performance and measurement, content documentation, security & storage.
In module 11, we look at troubleshooting and fixing issues with our content, our content strategy, and our content plan.
And in module 12 we’ll bring everything we’ve discussed in the course to a conclusion and discuss the next steps, plus we’ll look at some useful tips and resources.
So, as you can see this is a fairly comprehensive video course.
Now, here’s what I suggest you do to get the most out of this course.
First, go through the entire course and make sure to watch all of the modules and video lessons.
After watching the videos, refer to the online tutorials on ContentManagementCourse.com for more details.
I have spent over a year writing these lessons and tutorials and they are very comprehensive.
I also recommend subscribing to the free email course on the site for additional information related to this course, plus tips, links to useful resources, and updates.
So, that’s an overview of what this course is all about.
Now, let’s just get straight into it.
So, what is a content strategy?
A content strategy is a plan for creating, publishing, and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to achieve specific business goals and objectives.
A content strategy helps you define who your target audience is and understand their needs and interests, create the right content to address their needs and speak to their interests, determine the most effective channels for distributing your content — so this could be your website, social media, email marketing, or even offline channels like events or print materials, and track and measure performance so you can continue to improve your results.
So, basically, a content strategy provides an organized and sustainable plan to help your business reach its goals using content.
Now, there are many benefits to having a clear content strategy.
Let’s go through some of these.
So one of the main benefits is consistency. Ensuring consistency in the quality, tone, and style of your content helps to build trust with your audience and establish your brand as a reliable source of information.
Another benefit is improved audience targeting. A content strategy helps to identify your target audience and create content that’s tailored specifically to their needs and interests.
Also, increased brand awareness: Publishing content of a consistently high quality helps to increase awareness of your brand and establish your business as a thought leader in your industry.
Another benefit is greater customer engagement. By providing valuable and relevant content, you can better engage and build relationships with your customers, which can lead to increased loyalty and greater customer retention.
Also, higher search engine rankings. Optimizing your website’s content for search engines leads to higher search rankings and increased organic traffic.
Another benefit is enhanced reputation management. By proactively managing your brand’s reputation, you ensure that all content will align with your brand values and messaging.
Also, increased sales and conversions. By providing valuable and relevant content, you can drive more traffic to your website and convert more visitors into customers.
A content strategy also helps to improve internal communication. Aligning the goals and messaging of different teams within your organization helps to improve internal communication and collaboration.
Also streamlined content creation. A content strategy helps to streamline the content creation process by defining the types of content that will be created, who will create it, and how it will be distributed.
And finally, reduced costs. A content strategy helps you avoid wasting time and resources creating ineffective or redundant content and lets you focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.
So, those are some of the key benefits of developing an effective content strategy.
Without a content strategy, your business will just drift aimlessly like a rudderless ship in a vast ocean of digital information.
A content strategy provides the map and the compass that helps you navigate this sea of information and reach your destination.
So, my aim for this course is not just to give you a map and a compass, but a complete GPS content navigation system for your business.
In the next video training module, we’ll look at what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business.
So, thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
- Go to Lesson 2.
- Return to the video course outline.
Tutorials
See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:
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Image: Robin Higgins. Music Bensound.
