7 Steps to Create a Content Marketing Strategy in 2023

A well-crafted content marketing strategy can prove to be a critical differentiating factor for businesses competing in an ever-evolving landscape. If you're looking to elevate your brand, engage your audience, and drive measurable results, having a robust content marketing strategy is critically important. 

In this article, we'll discuss seven essential steps that will not only help you create a powerful content marketing strategy but also ensure your business stays ahead of the curve in the fast-paced world of online marketing. 

What is a Content Marketing Strategy?

A content marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan that guides the creation, promotion, and measurement of content to achieve specific business goals. 

It involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience, ultimately driving customer action and brand loyalty.

7 Steps to Create a Robust Content Marketing Strategy

Now, let’s break down 7 key steps that you need to take to create a robust content marketing strategy this year. 

1. Define Your Audience and How You’ll Reach Them

Understanding your target audience is the cornerstone of any successful content marketing strategy. With an abundance of online platforms and an ever-increasing volume of content, it's crucial to pinpoint the unique needs, preferences, and behaviors of your target demographic. 

Begin by building comprehensive buyer personas, which are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers. These personas should include demographic details, such as age, gender, occupation, and location, as well as psychographic factors like interests, goals, and pain points. 

To gather this information, you can rely on various sources, such as customer surveys, social media analytics, and insights from your sales and customer support teams. Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, it's time to determine how to reach them effectively. 

Consider which channels your target audience frequents most and how they consume content. For example, younger audiences might prefer short-form content on platforms like TikTok or Instagram, while professionals might engage more with long-form articles on LinkedIn. 

Analyze your competitors' content strategies and identify any gaps or opportunities that you can capitalize on. This will allow you to choose the right mix of platforms and content types to maximize your impact. In 2023, personalization is key. 

As you develop your content marketing strategy, consider leveraging data-driven insights and technology to tailor your content to the preferences and behaviors of individual users. Tools like Semrush, SpyFu, and BuzzSumo can be invaluable for identifying your audience’s needs and figuring out the best way to reach them.

2. Define Your KPIs

A common mistake that many marketers make is that they don’t define KPIs clearly before executing on a content marketing strategy. Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial for measuring the success of your content marketing strategy and making data-driven decisions. 

These quantifiable metrics enable you to evaluate your efforts, identify areas of improvement, and refine your approach to achieve your desired outcomes. 

When selecting KPIs, ensure they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Align your KPIs with your overall business objectives, and choose metrics that focus on the various stages of the customer journey, from awareness to conversion and retention. 

Here are some essential KPIs to consider when crafting your content marketing strategy: 

Website Traffic: Monitoring the number of visitors to your website can provide insights into the effectiveness of your content in driving awareness and interest. Analyze metrics such as total visits, unique visits, and page views to gauge the overall reach of your content. 

Engagement: Assessing user engagement helps you understand how your content resonates with your audience. Key metrics include average time on page, bounce rate, social media shares, comments, and likes. High engagement often indicates that your content is relevant, valuable, and appealing to your target audience. 

Conversion Rate: To evaluate the effectiveness of your content in driving conversions, track the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a whitepaper, or making a purchase. This metric is essential for measuring the return on investment (ROI) of your content marketing efforts. 

Lead Generation: For B2B marketers, generating leads is often a top priority. KPIs such as the number of new leads, lead quality, and cost per lead can help you assess your content's success in attracting potential customers and driving them down the sales funnel. 

SEO Performance: Organic search traffic is a critical component of any content marketing strategy. Track your search engine rankings, organic click-through rate, and the number of backlinks to determine how well your content is performing in search engine results. 

Customer Retention: Engaging and retaining existing customers is just as important as acquiring new ones. Measure customer retention through metrics such as churn rate, repeat purchase rate, and customer lifetime value.

3. Thoroughly Research Topics and Keywords

To create compelling and relevant content that resonates with your target audience, it's essential to invest time in thorough topic and keyword research. 

This process helps you identify trending subjects, uncover opportunities for niche content, and ensure your content aligns with your audience's search intent, making it more discoverable and valuable. Begin by analyzing your industry, competitors, and audience to identify popular topics and emerging trends. 

Tools like BuzzSumo and Google Trends can help you pinpoint high-performing content in your niche and uncover subject areas that generate interest and engagement. Additionally, engage with your audience on social media, in forums, and through blog comments to gain insights into their needs, questions, and pain points. 

This information will help you brainstorm content ideas that address your audience's concerns and provide valuable solutions. Keyword research is a vital component of your content marketing strategy, as it helps you understand how your audience searches for information and which terms they use. 

Utilizing keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, or Ahrefs, identify high-volume, low-competition keywords relevant to your industry and target audience. Long-tail keywords—more specific, multi-word phrases—typically have lower search volumes but higher conversion rates, as they target users with a more defined search intent. 

By targeting these long-tail keywords, you can improve your content's visibility on search engines and increase your chances of reaching a highly engaged audience. As you research topics and keywords, consider the different stages of the customer journey and create content that caters to users at various touchpoints. 

This may involve generating awareness-focused content, such as blog posts or infographics, alongside more in-depth pieces, like case studies or whitepapers, that cater to users closer to making a purchase decision.

By thoroughly researching topics and keywords, you'll ensure your content is relevant, valuable, and discoverable, increasing the likelihood of driving engagement and conversions.

4. Audit Existing Content on Your Site

Simply producing new content isn’t enough. You also need to audit your existing content and bring it up to current SEO standards. This process helps you evaluate the performance of your current content, identify gaps, and pinpoint opportunities for optimization and repurposing. 

By conducting a comprehensive content audit, you can make informed decisions on where to focus your efforts and how to improve the overall effectiveness of your content. Start by creating an inventory of all the content on your website, including blog posts, articles, whitepapers, e-books, videos, and infographics. 

For each piece of content, record important information, such as the title, URL, format, publication date, target keywords, and any relevant performance metrics, like page views, social shares, and conversion rates. 

Once you've cataloged your content, analyze its performance by comparing it against the KPIs defined in Step 2. Identify high-performing content that drives engagement, conversions, or other desired outcomes, and consider what factors contribute to its success. Conversely, pinpoint underperforming content and determine whether it needs optimization, repurposing, or removal. 

Optimizing content may involve updating outdated information, improving readability, adding multimedia elements, or incorporating relevant keywords to boost SEO. During the audit, you'll also want to identify gaps in your content offerings. Are there topics or keywords that you haven't covered, or do you lack content tailored to specific stages of the customer journey? 

Make note of these gaps and incorporate them into your content marketing plan to ensure you're providing a comprehensive and valuable resource for your audience. Furthermore, consider opportunities for repurposing existing content into different formats or platforms. 

For example, you can transform a popular blog post into an infographic, video, or podcast episode, making it more accessible to users with different content preferences. By conducting a thorough content audit, you'll gain valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your current content and be better equipped to develop a robust, data-driven content marketing strategy.

5. Create a Content Calendar 

Creating high-quality, valuable content is only half the battle; to maximize its impact, you must ensure it reaches your target audience effectively. This requires a well-planned content promotion and distribution strategy that leverages various channels and tactics to increase visibility and drive engagement. 

By actively promoting your content, you can expand your reach, attract new audience members, and increase the ROI of your content marketing efforts. Start by identifying the most appropriate channels for distributing your content, based on your target audience's preferences and behaviors. 

This may include social media platforms, email marketing, paid advertising, or guest posting on relevant industry websites. For each channel, develop a tailored promotion strategy that considers factors such as posting frequency, optimal times for engagement, and platform-specific content formats. Social media is a powerful tool for content promotion and can help you reach a broad audience quickly. 

Leverage platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest to share your content and engage with your audience. Experiment with different post formats, such as images, videos, or polls, to maximize engagement and encourage social sharing. 

Consider using social media management tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts and track engagement metrics. Email marketing is another effective channel for content distribution. By sending targeted, personalized content to your subscribers, you can nurture relationships, drive website traffic, and boost conversions. 

Segment your email list based on factors such as demographics, behaviors, or content preferences to deliver relevant and timely content. Utilize email marketing tools like Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor to manage your campaigns, automate email sequences, and analyze performance. 

Paid advertising, such as Google Ads or social media ads, can help you amplify the reach of your content and target specific audience segments. By investing in paid promotion, you can increase visibility, drive traffic, and generate leads more quickly than relying solely on organic reach. 

Optimize your ad campaigns by testing different targeting options, ad formats, and bidding strategies to maximize ROI. Additionally, consider collaborating with industry influencers, bloggers, or other relevant websites to reach new audiences and enhance your brand's credibility. Guest posting, co-creating content, or partnering on promotional campaigns can provide mutual benefits and expand your content's reach.

6. Repurpose and Promote Your Content

Repurposing your content is an efficient and effective way to extend the lifespan of your existing content, reach new audiences, and reinforce your key messages. 

By transforming your content into different formats or updating it to suit various platforms, you can maximize its impact and get the most value out of your content marketing efforts. Start by identifying high-performing or evergreen content on your website that can be adapted into different formats or updated with fresh information. 

This may include blog posts, articles, case studies, videos, or infographics. Consider your audience's preferences and the channels where you aim to distribute the repurposed content to determine the most suitable formats. 

Here are some ideas for repurposing your content: 

1. Transform a blog post into a video or podcast episode: By converting written content into an audio or visual format, you can appeal to users who prefer these mediums and expand your content's reach on platforms like YouTube or Spotify. 

2. Create an infographic based on a data-heavy article: Infographics can make complex information more digestible and engaging, making them an excellent option for repurposing data-driven content. 

3. Develop a series of social media posts from a long-form piece: Break down a comprehensive blog post or whitepaper into bite-sized social media updates, which can be shared across platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. 

4. Compile related blog posts into an e-book or comprehensive guide: By combining several related pieces of content, you can create a valuable resource for your audience that can be promoted as a lead magnet or downloadable asset. 

5. Update outdated content with new information, statistics, or examples: Refreshing your existing content with current data or insights can improve its relevance and extend its lifespan, boosting its SEO performance and audience engagement. 

Once you've repurposed your content, promote it using the same strategies outlined in Step 6. Leverage social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and partnerships to distribute your repurposed content and ensure it reaches your target audience. 

By repurposing and promoting your content, you can enhance its value, expand your reach, and optimize your content marketing efforts for maximum impact.

7. Track Results and Make Changes as Needed

Monitoring the performance of your content marketing strategy and making data-driven adjustments is crucial to achieving long-term success. Regularly reviewing your KPIs, audience engagement, and other relevant metrics enables you to identify what works well and areas that require improvement. 

By tracking results and making changes as needed, you can optimize your content marketing efforts and continually drive growth. Begin by setting up a regular reporting schedule to analyze your content's performance. 

This may involve weekly, monthly, or quarterly reviews, depending on your goals and resources. Utilize analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, social media insights, or email marketing reports, to collect and analyze data related to your KPIs. 

Look for trends, patterns, and outliers that may indicate the success or failure of specific content pieces, formats, or distribution channels. 

As you review your results, consider the following questions: 

Which content formats or topics generate the most engagement or conversions? Focus on creating more content that resonates with your audience and drives desired outcomes. 

Are there any underperforming content pieces that require optimization or repurposing? Update, refresh, or transform content that doesn't meet your performance benchmarks to improve its value and impact. 

Is your content reaching your target audience effectively? If not, reevaluate your promotion and distribution strategies and explore new channels or tactics to expand your reach. 

Are there any emerging trends, industry developments, or audience preferences that should be considered in your content marketing strategy? Stay up-to-date with your niche and adapt your content plan accordingly. 

Are your KPIs still relevant and aligned with your business objectives? As your content marketing strategy evolves, ensure that your KPIs accurately reflect your goals and provide actionable insights. 

By tracking results and making changes as needed, you can continually refine your content marketing strategy to maximize its impact. Remember that content marketing is an ongoing process, and success often comes from consistent experimentation, learning, and adaptation.

Work with a Fractional Content Marketer to Grow Your Business Today

At Divisional, we help businesses connect with experienced content marketers to grow their organizations. If you don’t want to bring on a full-time content marketer just yet, but need to start working on an effective content strategy, we can help you get in touch with expert content marketers, without committing to a full-time role.

Get in touch today. 

‍