The concept that “content is king” has been well-entrenched in the modern marketing mantra for years. However, just because content rules the marketing industry doesn’t mean simply generating a blog article or social media post will result in success.
Despite its consistent dependency on content, marketing remains an ever-evolving field. Marketers are constantly refining how they design content and use it to promote brands and their services.
If you feel that your current market strategy is lagging, here are a few tips to help you revitalize your promotional efforts.
1. Start With a Self-Audit
It’s difficult to understand what you need to change if you don’t understand the current state of your content in the first place. The first thing you should do is consider what your content consists of and how you’re using it to market your brand and its offerings.
Before you begin conducting research or looking for new tools, take a deep dive into what your content marketing looks like. What have you been spending? What results have you seen? And what pieces of content work? Which ones don’t? Are you diversifying your efforts? Are you overstretched? Do you have the knowledge in place to execute your strategies and campaigns?
This isn’t a fun place to start. You need to face the reality of wasted resources and inefficient investments. But it’s an important first step, nevertheless. It will give you crucial context regarding the state of your marketing and orient you as you search for ways to improve it.
2. “Catch Up” Through Research
Once you have a good idea of what you’re already doing, it’s time to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Remember, marketing is constantly changing. Where has your knowledge relapsed? Where is it altogether insufficient? As you identify these areas, you can “catch up” in a few different ways.
For instance, research online to see what concepts, tools, and tactics are buzzing. Content marketing courses can help you refresh your knowledge of marketing best practices and dive deeper into cutting-edge concepts.
There are also countless quality marketing conferences you can attend. Events like Search Marketing Expo and Content Marketing World are great ways to learn new things, network with like-minded individuals, and reignite that creative spark.
3. Embrace Data-Driven Marketing
The chances that you’re already collecting data of some sort or another are pretty high. Data is everywhere. It’s woven into every piece of software. Everyone talks about the importance of data-driven approaches to business.
But are you using your data to drive your content marketing? That’s where the real struggle often occurs. Many business leaders put the initial effort into collecting data but fail to find ways to utilize it. When your marketing efforts are lagging, it can help to look for tools to help you get the most out of your marketing data.
For instance, if your e-commerce data is scattered, use a tool like Google Analytics or Shopify’s analytics dashboard to unify and aggregate your marketing data in a single place. This helps you create more meaningful insights into how your content is performing on various channels.
If you find that your data inefficiency isn’t isolated to one area of your marketing, you may want to find a more comprehensive solution. AI-driven marketing solutions like MarketMuse can analyze your content across your entire website and provide targeted insights and objectives that are hard to see with the naked eye.
4. Align Your Team
Filling in knowledge gaps and making the most of data are key elements of a content marketing overhaul. For these to be effective, though, you need a team that can grasp your new vision and execute it efficiently. Assuming you have the best people in place and you simply want to overhaul your content marketing strategy, it’s important to ensure you’ve aligned everyone on your team.
Things like low engagement and lack of trust can undermine a group’s ability to perform. A lack of organizational direction and unclear objectives can also chip away at a team’s effectiveness. If your marketing team is failing to produce results, consider how you can get everyone on the same page.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little focused effort from a team leader. Fill everyone in and make sure the right people have access to the tools, training, and knowledge they need to create killer content.
If you’ve tried that and it didn’t work, you may want to work with an advisory services firm like McChrystal Group, which specializes in strategically aligning teams. Either way, make sure to align your team so that they can execute your campaigns and strategies with effortless effectiveness.
Keeping Your Marketing Sharp
The marketing world is like a shark. It can’t stop moving. Today’s content marketing strategies will be irrelevant within a few years — and in some cases, even a few months.
Make sure you’re keeping your finger on the pulse of your content marketing efforts and their correlating results. If you don’t see the impact that you did before, it may be time for an overhaul.
Conduct a self-audit. Catch up on current research. Unlock the full value of your data. Align your team. These are the building blocks that can help you infuse your content with a fresh vision that produces results and helps you consistently hit those marketing OKRs over time.
