Questions for content marketers have changed.
Back in the day, marketers focused completely on inbound marketing. They invested their marketing dollars into developing engaging content. They waited for potential clients to discover said content and hire them. Seems too easy, right?
Reality check: “Build it and they will come” doesn’t work in today’s digital world.
Oh, how times have changed!
You can’t get eyes on your business without an inbound marketing plan to drive traffic to your website. And you can’t drive traffic to your website without a clear outbound marketing strategy.
The classic chicken and egg scenario.
Figuring out where to invest your budget to produce leads can be overwhelming. A successful content marketing strategy includes inbound and outbound marketing. And they must complement each other.
Top 5 questions content marketers must answer before developing their content marketing strategies:
1. Who are you talking to?
Who do you want to reach? The more you understand your audience, the more successful your content marketing plan will be.
2. What’s your customers’ “why?”
Insight to potential clients’ “why” is paramount. Knowing their pain points will help you craft your message to be benefit-driven. The goal is to show prospects that you understand and can solve their problems. Find the right message that will attract and resonate with your desired audience. Your message should connect with their pain instantly. Help them see how your product and services can help. Otherwise, they’ll move on.
3. What channels will you use?
When planning the outbound portion of your campaign, figure out where your prospective audience members like to hang out. Which influencers do they follow? What publications do they read? What events do they attend? Are they more engaged on LinkedIn or Twitter? This process will help you find the most effective marketing channels. After that, figure out how to get your brand’s content into those places.
4. How will you convert prospects into leads?
Planning the inbound portion of your strategy will focus on building a clear path for turning website visitors into leads. You must decide how you’ll engage with prospects once you have their attention. What content pieces are needed to keep them engaged along their journey? What will be the trigger to pass them to your sales team for nurturing? What will the process be to pass them to your sales team?
5. How will you convert prospects into customers?
This last step connects your outbound and inbound marketing efforts to drive sales. How will your sales team follow up – by email or phone? What sales enablement pieces will they need to keep the ball moving forward? How will you track new customers’ ROI?
Every marketer needs a plan for attracting and converting prospects into customers. With some planning, you’ll be able to get the right message in front of prospects. After that, you can convert them to customers.
