It’s 2018 and you need to take your content marketing and content marketing goals seriously. As a brand, there are so many media options available to engage with our customers. We have websites, blogs, videos, social media, podcasts and webinars that allow us to tell a story to our audience, keep customers on board and attract new possibilities. It might also be time though, to start thinking about the newer forms that are growing such as virtual reality, augmented reality and virtual assistants. In order to capitalise on this, you need a strategy. It’s no good throwing out random content because how else will it tie into your business strategies and goals? Don’t worry, we’ve got a few simple steps to help you hit the content marketing goals jackpot.
SMART goals are a smart move!
It may seem obvious, but setting yourself and your business SMART goals is something you definitely need to do (if you haven’t already!) If you don’t have direction or planning, where is your business really going? Setting SMART goals helps you to organise and prioritise everything you need to do to make sure you’re going to achieve these goals. At Sixth Story we do these on a time frame which helps us to grow our own business and our clients businesses too. SMART goals are only ever going to be as useful as you make them, and we’ve got a goals sheet that can help you get started!
You need these secret ingredients to grow your business!
What is your magic ingredient and unique selling point of your business that means if someone doesn’t work with you, they’re seriously missing out? They need the promised land and you need to identify the magic in your business. This all begins with knowing exactly who your customer is and what it is they’re looking for and what they need before they even know it (how could they not work with you then!). It’s not rocket science, but with a little research and some patience you can work out who your clients are to grow your business.
You need to do a content marketing stock take!
You definitely shouldn’t do content marketing just for the sake of it. Otherwise it’s like a warm bath, it’s ok but you want it hotter. Still with us? We know being in business is tough. There are so many things we have to do on a daily basis that can make it difficult to really look ahead and know where you want to go with your business. So what is it you should do next with your content marketing? Well now is as good a time as any to get started. Think of it like a stock take. A stock take for your content marketing? Well, yeah! Review what you have, what’s working, what needs to be created and where you need it (and your business) to go. We’ve come up with a matrix to help you work out firstly, what to keep, what to ditch and then our must haves for 2018!
It’s time to create your best content marketing schedule!
And you should make a new plan every 3 months. Why 3 months? Quite simply, the world doesn’t stand still and it changes all the time. Technology, our clients, world events, trends and personally (otherwise it would be pretty boring, no?). You may want to plan further ahead than that but life happens and what you thought was a good idea when you made the plan might not seem it a few weeks later or might not be relevant anymore. Check out our must haves for 2018 if you need a little inspiration and then what next? Don’t allow the weekly or daily panic where you worry about what you’re going to post and talk about on your chosen platform and trust us, your business will thank you for it.
