In case you did not know, content marketing and content strategy go hand in hand. However, the two are different.
In this post, we will look at the difference between the two. We will then tell you why you require both.
Content marketing is critical because it allows us to connect with our target audience organically. If you have been looking to have a good connection with your prospects, then you might have started to create content and post on your blog regularly.
Soon, you may start to notice some changes – people are beginning to get interested in what you’re posting. You can now see yourself growing.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of growth you anticipated. You expected to soar high like other people with content marketing. You’re not happy about the low ROI you’re getting.
So, you’re looking for ways to change the situation. What you need to know is that content marketing on its own isn’t enough. To build a strong brand and give you a real return on investment. You also require incorporating the content strategy.
Content Marketing vs. Content Strategy
As mentioned, content marketing perfectly goes hand-in-hand with content strategy. However, they are different. Thus, what makes them different?
What’s Content Marketing?
Content marketing refers to the process of creating, publishing, and distributing great content. It works as it doesn’t sell a service or product directly.
For example, consider a blog post on a private website that addresses the strengthening of relationships through learning the best way to apologize. By itself, this content promotes no service or product. It’s simply a thoughtful guide for people who find it hard to say sorry.
This post is an instance of actionable, effective content marketing. People read the content on this website and find value in it, they develop trust and come closer to hire the writer as their life coach.
Generally, content marketing can be considered organic marketing. It’s about giving value to the reader so, they become aware of your brand as a trusted solution to the desires and needs.
What’s Content Strategy?
Content strategy is the basis on which actionable and effective content marketing is developed. It’s the blueprint or map that directs content marketing towards brand success.
How Content Strategy Works
- Content Strategy Justifies Publishing of Content
You should have an objective for every content piece you publish. Content strategy comes in and helps you determine precisely what your objective is. For example:
- You write and publish blog posts to build authority in your specific niche
- Compose emails to get clicks to your site
- Write lead magnets to increase your email list
You’ll create all these content pieces at the appropriate time, set them before the appropriate audience, and then measure them for success, and that’s how content strategy works.
If you have the right content strategy in place, there’s no way you’re going to create random pieces of content that doesn’t get you anywhere near your content marketing objectives.
- Content Strategy is About Identifying the Best Audience to Target with Your Content Marketing
Content strategy determines helps you to find out who your target audience is. It helps you discover their major challenges, what makes them read your content and how your service or product can help them change their lives.
If you are writing a letter, it has to be to a particular person, otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense. It wouldn’t matter how sweet your words are. Your letter would simply lack substance and real feeling.
Conversely, if you’re writing to someone, in particular, your words won’t only make sense but will come out alive. Additionally, since you understand who exactly this person is, you understand their needs and wants as well.
The following tips will help you implement your content strategy and speak well to your audience.
- Come up with a content persona. Collect information regarding your target audience and create fictional characters that you’ll be addressing each time you’re writing content.
- Remember your buyer’s journey. Generally, your audience will either be in the awareness stage, consideration stage, or decision stage when they go through your content. Therefore, you must know what pushes them in each one of these states.
- Content Strategy Determines What Type of Content to Publish
There’s a wide variety of content that you can publish on the online space, including blogs, EBooks, info-graphics, social media messages, etc.
You can also publish short or long content. Also, you can publish content on your social media accounts, on your website, or publish as a guest writer on another influencer’s website.
The content strategy takes a deeper look into the needs and objectives of your brand. It finds out exactly what type of content you require and where you ought to promote it. It’s also about setting schedules to create content and publish it.
- Content Strategy Is Deciding Who’s Going to Write Content for You
If you’re just getting started, you might at first need to write the content yourself. However, that mustn’t be the case forever. As your website or company grows, you’ll be in a better position to set a budget to outsource quality content.
You can find and hire professional writers to ensure a steady flow of your content. Additionally, you can hire a content manager who will better help you with managing your content. A content strategist can also be a perfect addition to your team of content creators.
- Content Strategy is About Setting Metrics for Measuring the Success of your Content Market
Pursuing the goals of your content marketing isn’t just enough. You must be aware of how your pieces of content that you’ve published are performing.
For instance:
- You need to know how well your blog posts are holding readers’ attention.
- Find out whether or not your emails are getting the clicks you want to your website.
- You need to know whether your case studies are converting readers into buyers
An ideal content strategy is going to help you get answers to these questions. It will identify a metric to help you determine the success of your content. Some of these metrics include time on page, bounce rate, and scroll depth.
Final Thought – Content Strategy Matters
Content marketing on its own isn’t good enough. It’s like writing a letter to no particular person. Content marketing must go hand-in-hand with content strategy.
If you don’t put the appropriate strategy in place, you’ll be wasting your time and energy in writing content that will earn insignificant ROI. You don’t want that!
You must, therefore, allow the content strategy to be the basis on which you will build your content marketing if you want to soar and enjoy good results. Ensure that every content piece of content you write is well-strategized towards your brand creation.