It’s the mantra of modern age marketing: content is king. So many businesses are investing in content marketing strategies today, but only a few are getting the results they really want to see. Whether you’re rethinking your current content marketing campaign or starting a new one, answering the 5WH questions can help with the goal of crafting strategies that work—and making you king of the SERPs.
Who
The ‘who’ is the most important consideration in content marketing. Content marketers from PR Caffeine say your audience determines everything—tone of voice, length, language, even humor. Be intentional and get to know your audience. Your brand may be catering to a range of audiences, so it’s a good idea to have content marketing personas.
Imagine the ideal reader. Your marketing personas should have the basic demographical information—gender, age, nationality, and other identifying characteristics. More than that, it should also have their interests, needs and the manner in which they access information. Having a solid marketing persona will help you narrow down topics and stylize your writing according to readers’ needs.
What
Think about the format; there are many types of content that can drive traffic to your site. Blog posts, info graphics, reviews, and listings are all effective. Visual content, like info graphics and videos can also help. The kind of content you produce should appeal to the audience you are targeting.
Where
Where you publish will affect exposure. The best platform for your content is your website. Sadly, most businesses fail to use certain parts of their website effectively.
Take the ‘News’ section, for example. Most businesses tend to leave this page with nothing but content published five years ago. Your action plan should be to revisit this page and write content.
When
The ‘when’ is just as important as the ‘where’ in terms of maximum exposure. The goal is to publish frequently, but how regular should it really be? There are many considerations to answer this question. One would be: SEO benefit. What would be the most suitable ‘publishing frequency’ that will allow you to get the most SEO benefit? You may want to look into your competitors’ efforts.
Why
Yes, the main reason for producing content is to boost rankings. But you should identify other reasons with respect to your audience and business so that you can improve your writing style. Do you want to show your expertise in the industry through your content? Then your tone should be authoritative. Do you want to help customers decide how to do business with you? Then your tone should be friendly.
Discuss with your content marketing team and answer these questions. You can then develop an excellent strategy from there.
