So you’ve decided to focus on content marketing this year. And why not? Good content marketing can help you reach and increase your target audience and drive traffic to your product, all whilst positioning your brand as a category leader.

However, as with all forms of marketing, it is important to be strategic about who you’re trying to reach and why. As always, we’ve compiled a list of handy tips for you to follow to get the most out of your content marketing if you’re unsure where to start.

1. What is your main marketing goal and how does this translate into content marketing metrics?

Content marketing in the digital space gives you immediate feedback and detailed analytics on whether your content is working. It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers and lose sight of your main objective, so it’s important to decide on your key metrics for success before you start crafting your content.

For example, if your aim is to raise brand awareness, you might set clicks to your website and general audience interest as your goals. The main metrics you could use to measure success would then be CTW (click to website) and Engagement (likes, comments, shares).

2. How can you increase the quality of your content?

Test, test, test. Running consistent, informative A/B tests takes time and planning.

Here are some elements you can look at testing:

  • Messaging: Test your headlines, the length of your messaging, images used and CTA (call to action) text and positioning.
  • Targeting: Start with broader targeting, based on your target demographics (age, gender, location). Once you have amassed more data, you can start segmenting your audience based on interests and behaviour.
  • Platform: Test different types of messages and targeting across different platforms. You may find elements of your audience are more responsive to certain messages according to platform.
  • Medium: Once you have an idea of what messaging is working for each audience segment, start experimenting with media. Does your content work better in video format? As a quiz? As a podcast?
3. How to establish what’s working

Track and analyse. Ensure you’ve set up tracking along all consumer touch points, online and offline. For example, you can track where your website traffic is coming from using Google Analytics. You can track off-site enquiries by setting up specific email addresses and collecting customer journey information over the phone.

4. Bring your audience back to your turf

Funnel your online audience to your website to reach them directly through your website blog or a regular email newsletter, for example. This will allow you to craft specific messaging for audiences who have become more familiar with your brand.

5. Reset goals as you go.

After you start testing, you’ll gradually gain a wealth of insight on who your audience is, where they can be reached and what their needs are. This information can help you flesh out your overarching marketing strategy and can even help you hone your product or service. Putting aside some time once a quarter to work these insights into your larger marketing/ product plan will allow you get the most out of your content marketing efforts.