One characteristic of the digital age is arguably the constant online presence. The whole country has internet access at the touch of a button. This not only presents new challenges, but also opens the door to new marketing measures. In this case too, however, a certain know-how – and a good content strategy – is necessary.
Marketing is a bit like a chess game. Content is king, and the king determines the whole game. And much like in chess, a good content strategy is the path to a company’s success.
Therefore, content should not be created just for content’s sake. Instead, it should be carefully planned and prepared. There are many different types of content: blogs, podcasts, videos, photos, etc. For a start-up to keep up, a clear overview and a functioning content strategy are needed.
1. Set Goals
Entrepreneurs often go through the same pattern repeatedly: goals are set, but they are neither clearly defined nor measurable. The results, if any, are rather disappointing.
To communicate successfully via content, you need goals that can be checked with key performance indicators (KPI). For example, you could measure the number of page views or returning readers. Completed contact forms, subscriptions or followers could also be counted. For such measurement, there are various analytics tools, such as Google or YouTube Analytics, that can provide valuable insights into your progress.
Use these insights to then create so-called “personas“. A persona is a kind of prototype for your target group. Do not see your target group as one big, anonymous mass. Instead, imagine what they look like, what they like, what they do not like.
Give your persona a name and embellish as much as possible. What does their everyday life look like? How are their finances? What is their online behaviour like? What are their hopes and what are their worries? How can you simplify their lives? No detail is too much. The more you know about your target group, the better you can adapt your content strategy to them.
2. Create a Content Plan
Once you have set your goals, it is time to start planning. To start, revise any content you have already created, if there is any. Can you save any of it? Can you recycle anything? Do you have to delete some things?
Then, prepare future content. Which format do you want to use? What kind of content do your personas prefer to consume? What are the easiest ways to reach them?
Next, plan your content. We live in a time of constant information overload. To stand out from this flood, you need to offer more than just pure information – you need to trigger emotions in the user.
The best way to do this is with the help of corporate storytelling. Ask yourself: What feelings should my clientele associate with my company? What is my message and how can I convey it to others? Is my story fictional or real? Write down your answers and use them to formulate your story.
Remember: The more precisely the target group is defined, the easier it is to research topics and create content. This definition allows you to stand out from newsrooms and magazines, and from industry personalities and competitors.
3. Test Your Content
Before you implement your plan and invest too much money in content ideas, test them to find out which one resonates best with your target groups. With the help of the above-mentioned analysis tools and your KPIs, check whether your content has reached its goals and evaluate which topics work well and which ones to remove from your content plan.
Find out more about the Lean Start up method “build-measure-learn” and apply it. In a few words, the procedure is as follows:
- Build: Follow steps 1 and 2 to create content, but do not overdo it, keep it small. Since you do not know what your customers are looking for at this stage, create minimal content for the time being.
- Measure: Measure how well your content is received by users. Analyse customer interaction with your content.
- Learn: Adapt your content to the lessons learned and start again.
At this point, companies that have larger teams should also define the exact work processes. Who creates the content? Who publishes it? How are suitable topics chosen? Every member of your team should know exactly what their job entails.
4. Content Creation
After you have tested your ideas and adjusted your content plan to the results, adapt your content for the different platforms.
Every platform works differently. On Facebook, for example, you have less than 2.0 seconds to draw users to your video. Furthermore, a Facebook video should not be in 16:9 format, but rather a portrait format. The video length differs on each platform, as well. Videos over one minute are considered long on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, while much longer videos are distributed on YouTube.
So, look at user behaviour on different platforms before you create your content. You will probably have to create different types of content for the various platforms.
5. Paid Advertising
On social media, many videos seem to go viral. If that is your goal, we are sorry to disappoint you. Viral videos are a rarity. To generate traffic, you need to help yourself with paid advertising – also called paid media. Often these work on a cost-per-click basis (compare with our blog article “All about Google: Search engine advertising (SEA)“) This does not have to be expensive, usually good results can be achieved with just a few hundred Swiss francs. In order to generate a higher reach, a budget for paid media should therefore definitely be included.
The Right Content Strategy with A Good Business Plan
As you can see: Marketing is a big and important topic. For the success of a company, a strong marketing and content strategy should be created from the beginning. Your content strategy should then be put in writing in a business plan. As a support we recommend Atlanto’s Business Planner, where you can record all measures and your plans.
For more information and details on creating a content strategy, read the relevant blog post by our partner IFJ (Institut für Jungunternehmen).
