{"id":16994,"date":"2020-01-20T10:32:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T10:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?p=11589"},"modified":"2024-11-14T09:21:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T09:21:11","slug":"4-pillars-successful-content-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/4-pillars-successful-content-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Content Marketing Pillars for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/e61c88871f1fbaa6388d-c1e3bb10b0333d7ff7aa972d61f8c669.r29.cf1.rackcdn.com\/DGR_DG076_SURV_ContentPref_March_2018_Final.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT0RFME56VmpZVEU0TWpNNCIsInQiOiJkeE5pYit3WW8wQUZ0WE5kd3NFbFcxdWJjOU5tTW1zcDExcmxxR0FKSkFwZ2ZIdjRidU9wdm1WNTkzZm9YSW01dmFtMEp4bStaeGNDTjJXaTZmdGJnT0NOQk9kdURPUkxNczFWVDlaTEVDSjJhcjdveXdNVFY0NG85OUNueE9OQyJ9\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">71 percent of B2B buyers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said they consumed blog content during their buyer\u2019s journey. The importance of content has never been higher in the online marketing world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But why do some content marketers and businesses succeed in content marketing, while others fail? It\u2019s mostly to do with the content marketing strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s look at the four pillars that a successful content marketing strategy is usually built upon, and what you can do to make sure your strategy has all of these important pillars.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>1. A thorough understanding of your target audience<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">90 percent of the most successful B2B content marketers <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/CMI\/b2b-content-marketing-2019-benchmarks-budgets-and-trendsnorth-america?ref=https:\/\/contentmarketinginstitute.com\/2018\/10\/research-b2b-audience\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prioritise their audience\u2019s informational needs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over their own sales\/promotional message.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But you cannot do that unless you fully understand who your target audience is, what their problems are, and who would find your content useful and why.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding your target audience and potential customers is the first step. Without studying them and understanding their needs and challenges, you cannot formulate an effective content marketing strategy that caters to your existing and potential customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>2. Alignment of your marketing strategy with overall business goals<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketing is a part of your overall business strategy. Therefore, your content marketing strategy should not only work to support your marketing objectives, but it must also be aligned with the overall business goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This includes tackling a few different dimensions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Creating a knowledge hub where a list of all your content resides.<\/li>\n<li>Creating a document that helps keep external messaging consistent.<\/li>\n<li>Collaboration with the sales team.<\/li>\n<li>Create a sales funnel on your website that also reflects your business and sales strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last point is extremely crucial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online users go through different phases, e.g., awareness, interest, decision, and action. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/pillars-of-a-successful-content-marketing-strategy-sales-funnel.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-11590\" src=\"https:\/\/improvemysearchranking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/pillars-of-a-successful-content-marketing-strategy-sales-funnel.png\" alt=\"pillars-of-a-successful-content-marketing-strategy-sales-funnel\" width=\"500\" height=\"356\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An effective content marketing strategy accommodates all types of users in all the different phases of the sales funnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also divide your content into three phases: top of the funnel content, middle of the funnel content, and bottom of the funnel content.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the top of the funnel content, you can create informative content that is more basic in nature, e.g., 10 tips trucking companies can use to save fuel.<\/li>\n<li>For the middle of the funnel content, it is a good idea to mix more information that is specifically related to your product or service, e.g., how your product can help save fuel.<\/li>\n<li>For the bottom of the funnel content, the assumption should be that the reader is already interested in your product and just needs a little push. The content could be in the form of case studies, e.g., How ABC company saved $5,000 per month in fuel expenditure with your product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>3. Content creation<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it does seem like an obvious \u201cpillar\u201d, you have to be strategic about the process of content creation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, different types of content may produce different results. Based on your marketing and overall business objectives (as we discussed earlier), you should select and create specific content to achieve specific goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if your goal is to acquire the most organic traffic, long-form content would be your best bet. After all, studies indicate that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.quicksprout.com\/the-science-behind-long-copy-how-more-content-increases-rankings-and-conversions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">web pages with over 2,000 words<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are more likely to be ranked on the first page of Google.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, if social traffic and virality are your main objectives, you should focus more on creating infographics and list-based blog posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/on-page-seo-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">On-Page SEO Guide<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/refresh-and-improve-your-content-marketing-strategy-with-these-5-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Content Marketing Strategy Tips<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/6-important-content-marketing-metrics-measure-find\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Content Marketing Metrics<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/how-to-measure-your-content-marketing-roi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Measure Content Marketing ROI<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/how-to-improve-an-international-content-marketing-and-seo-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Content Marketing<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/5-content-marketing-mistakes-you-should-avoid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Content Marketing Mistakes<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/5-common-content-marketing-mistakes-businesses-often-neglect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Common Content Marketing Mistakes<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/4-reasons-why-your-content-marketing-strategy-is-failing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why Content Marketing Fails<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2019, 71 percent of B2B buyers said they consumed blog content during their buyer\u2019s journey. The importance of content has never been higher in the online marketing world. But why do some content marketers and businesses succeed in content marketing, while others fail? It\u2019s mostly to do with the content marketing strategy. Let\u2019s look [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":23419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[33,21,48],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>4 Content Marketing Pillars for Success | IMSR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The importance of content has never been higher. 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