More often than not, companies will try to ramp up the amount of content they create in order to see more results. But the problem with this tactic is that you’re putting less meaningful content out into the world, when the important thing is to remember your strategy behind it. In leaning too much toward content creation, it’s easy to lose sight of all the other important elements of content marketing. Let’s go over those elements so you can ensure you’re focusing on the right tactics for successful marketing. 

Content Strategy

Having a content strategy is vital to providing your audience with a clear message. This should be your first step into the content marketing world, and it will help you figure out things such as:

• Audience research: Who you’re talking to 
• Journey mapping: What you’re trying to get them to do.
• Channel selection: Where you’re reaching them.
• Topics: What you’re talking to them about.
• Project Management: How you’re going to get it done. 

While your content strategy is going to be your first step, that doesn’t mean you’re done with it. You’ll likely need to revise or update your content strategy once or twice a year to stay aligned with any changes, as well as ensure you’re on track with your content goals. 

Content Creation

Now is when you can start content creation. Creating meaningful and engaging content can take some effort, but that’s why creating a strategy is important for planning what kind of content you’re going to make. Taking the time to research your topic, outline the structure and prepare your talking points will help make the process a lot easier, even with less writing-focused formats like video and podcasts. Breaking down the process in this way will be a lot less time-consuming than trying to tackle everything at once. 

Content Optimization

You can make a really good piece of content, but if it isn’t optimized for your marketing strategy, it isn’t going to see results. You need to optimize your content for your customer’s journey so it’s discoverable for the people who are specifically looking for it. This means that in between creating content and publishing it, you’ll need to optimize it for your intended goal. If you’re trying to generate leads, that means making sure you have lead generation forms in the right spot to promote offers. If you want to attract your audience through SEO, you’ll need to optimize your content with target keywords. 

Content Distribution

Once you’ve double checked your content for optimization, you can prepare to publish it. This includes sharing it on whichever social media platforms you have, emailing it to subscribers and customers, and posting on your website. At this point you’ve put in the time and effort to make a solid piece of content, so make sure it gets the attention it deserves by distributing it properly. 

Repurposing Content

Repurposing content is a great way to give attention to some other forms of content you might have published but didn’t see much action. Some common ways to repurpose your older content include:

• Reformatting from one medium to another; text to video, or vice versa. 
• Breaking up a long piece into smaller chunks.
• Combining shorter pieces into a bigger chunk. 
• Republishing content in its current format to other channels. 

Remember to review whichever piece or pieces of content you want to repurpose to make sure it’s still relevant enough, as well as factually correct. Information from content might have been relevant at one point, so be sure it can still be communicated now.