Whilst marketing has been the foundation on which most companies determine and evaluate their success, new forms, guidelines and governing bodies are rapidly changing the way a company shares its message with the world.
One of the new, and most influential, forms of marketing in this technologically driven era is content marketing.
However, as a newcomer to the digital universe or as a first-time website owner, it’s important to consider what are the first steps you might take to make sure you squeeze the value out of your time and money?
Reusable Content – Brush Through Your Own Pockets
Before we sail off to unexplored territory, let’s start off with taking stock of where we currently are. Or more specifically, where we have been.
Is there any material, blog posts, videos or information from the past of which we could brush off its old dust, accurately update it and reinvent such to today’s standards?
You might even stumble upon some core ideas of old pieces, which can be recycled for more than they are worth. This method could easily set you up with a head-start, without the need to create any new content in the first place.
Set Up Your Goals – Finding The Light Switch
The next step to effective content marketing when launching a new website is one which has been around within basically everything we do, but one that’s far too often forgotten or brushed through too quickly.
In order for you and your business to avoid stumbling in the dark of the content marketing industry, make sure you locate your light switch by defining your purpose and setting up actionable and achievable goals.
Start off by defining the purpose of your goals and your website. Are you planning on selling online products? Do you want visitors to sign up to your newsletter? Or, are you looking for daily traffic to showcase information and build trust?
Start off by setting up a primary and a secondary purpose that founds your website.
- Primary Purpose: Selling online cookbooks.
- Secondary Purpose: Selling online cookbooks.
By clearly defining your purpose, we can then move onto your goals, where we’re planning to move towards, and when we’re planning to arrive there. A crucial part of content marketing for a new website is to ensure accountability, action and direction.
It’s important to remember that you want to be as specific as possible when setting up your goals. You always want to have numbers and timeframes to refer back to when establishing initial aims. List 1-3 goals (numbers and timeframes) for each purpose and set them up in a way that challenges you, but that also doesn’t feel impossible to reach. Keep it simple. There’s no need to overthink or over-analyze things.
And, to make sure you top off that accountability factor in style, share your goals with someone who can stick it to you if you don’t reach them.
Proper Research – Turn On The Light…
If setting up an accurate set of goals was finding the light switch, doing your research is about turning that switch on.
When it comes to carrying out research, this is probably where you want to spend a bit of time. Don’t kill yourself over it, but ensure you’re finding all the information you need to make sure that light of yours is shining with full power. Start of by researching the following topics:
- Audience – What demographics, interests, needs and behaviours can be found for your target audience? By learning more about your customers, you will find out how to create what they might be searching for
- Online Market What websites does your audience spend time on? Is there anyway you’ll be able to tap into these with your content linking back to your own site?
- Keyword Research – What keywords should your content be targeting? How’s the competition for the keywords your audience is searching for, and how many monthly searches are they accounting to?
- Social Listening – What type of content does your target audience normally share? What questions are they asking and where are the content gaps?
hese are some of the core foundations of content marketing research. When launching a new website, core foundations are at the heart of an effective content marketing strategy so remember to give them the attention they deserve.
Where To From Here?
If you’re looking to learn more about effective content marketing or you’d like to develop your own content marketing skills, look no further.
Our services and consultancy offers the practical application you need to take your business to the next level.
Whether you’d like more information or you’re feeling curious, simply get in touch using the button below and we’ll be sure to assist you!