We are individuals. We come from different backgrounds and have different ideas, aspirations, and hopes for the future, but one thing we all have in common is a desire to connect.
Connecting with others, whether that’s a brand or an individual, gives us a sense of inclusion, interaction, and community. In a world driven increasingly by digital interactions and social media, brands are all striving to connect with their customers to foster healthy relationships and build communities around their brand’s core values.
How are they doing this? Through creating quality content that’s engaging, informative, and fun! And how do they do that? With a cohesive content strategy.
In this blog, we’ll be talking about what content strategy is and why every brand needs one to be successful. But before we dive into what content strategy is, let’s take a look at what we mean by “content.”
What is Content?
In the simplest terms, content is information that is expressed through some medium, often with a given purpose. It comes in the form of photography, blog posts, videos, memes—anything you can create and share is content.
In the lens of marketing and advertising, all content has a purpose—usually to encourage a selected audience to engage with your brand or purchase a product or service.
There are numerous reasons brands create content, but these reasons almost always have goals and key performance indicators attached to them, and that’s where the importance of content strategy comes into play; It’s the why behind the content.
What is a Content Strategy?
Now that we understand what content is, we can expand this definition to understand what a content strategy is and what it means to have a content strategy.
A content strategy is the process of planning content creation, delivery, and governance, and involves translating business objectives and goals into an actionable plan where content is the primary means of achieving key objectives.
But a good content strategy isn’t just about building an editorial calendar, creating content, and publishing it—it’s about creating quality content that adds value to your audience’s life, and in doing so, becoming a trusted brand that people know and love.
A detailed content strategy will include touchpoints for your target audience at each stage of the customer journey. Understanding the customer journey and your audience are key parts of developing an effective content strategy, because it helps empathize with your audience and ensures that you’re delivering the right message at the right time to the right audience, and not just the messages your brand thinks are important.
Great content strategies will inform and educate your audience in awareness when they are just learning about the brand; it will showcase the key benefits of the product or service and make a case for why the audience should try it in consideration, and give them concrete incentives to purchase the product or service in conversion.
Good content always has a purpose, and the better the purpose, the better the content can be. By starting with company goals and business objectives, you can create content that helps your business grow and succeed.
Why Do I Need a Content Strategy?
The ultimate goal of a content strategy is to create meaningful, cohesive, and engaging content that attracts customers to your company. So if you want more customers, more sales, more brand loyalty— you absolutely need a content strategy. That said, let’s explore some of the tangible benefits of having a cohesive content strategy had on your marketing efforts.
- Increased organic search traffic
- Expanded brand awareness
- Increased social media engagement
- Better conversion rates
- Higher quality leads
- Stronger brand affinity
We understand just how important content marketing is, and how stressful it can be for scaling businesses to stay on top of a robust editorial calendar. If you’re looking to grow or scale your business and want to learn more about content marketing, its benefits, and how it can help your brand succeed, we’re here to help!
BuzzShift is a full-service digital growth strategy agency with a focus on mid-market, scaling DTC Brands. By combining the ideologies of branding, performance marketing, and retention agency, we are able to create memorable experiences with measurable results, and build long-term success for our clients with scalable, sustainable growth. Learn more about BuzzShift.
