We admit it – content marketing can feel a bit like a shot in the dark. Especially if you’re not quite sure where to start, who you’re talking to or what exactly you’re supposed to be saying. Not to mention – what Facebook likes, retweets or blog comments are really giving you anyway?

Content marketing is first and foremost about starting conversations with your customers. The goal of content marketing is not to sell, but to build credibility and nurture your customer relationships. We know it might sound like a lot of effort and to be honest it’s definitely not a short term game – but trust us – it really IS worth it.

OK – so you probably already know that – since you’re reading this post! So the team at 121 proudly presents the 4Ws …

Who, what, why and where!

To get started on content marketing, you need to answer these four questions.

WHO? Figure out who your target audience is and not only who they are – but what do they want? What do they need? And, where do they go to find it?

WHAT? What can you offer? Content marketing is about giving, not taking, so you need to figure out what your business can offer through your content – and then craft your plan around the wants and needs of your customers.

WHY? What are you hoping to achieve? Why do you want to create a content marketing strategy at all? What business goals can your content help you accomplish? Put simply – you need to know where you’re going before you can figure out how to get there.

WHERE? Pretty obvious really, but where are you going to deliver your content? To be most effective you need to pick the best platform. This means not just the best platform to suit your intended audience but the best platform to suit the content format itself.

Your content marketing strategy – the next 6 steps

1.  Do some eavesdropping

Listen to the conversations that are already happening within your industry. Search out other industry blogs, podcasts or videos to get an idea of what other businesses are offering. But don’t forget to listen to the customers too. What questions are they asking? What needs to they have? What are they worried about or looking for?

2.  Woo the big guns

Find out who the influencers are within your industry and start building relationships. Solve their problems, share their content or start engaging with them. Then, once you have content ready to share they will hopefully return the favour! You scratch their back… well you know how it goes…

3.  Create your masterpiece(s)

Number one rule: quality over quantity! Try to start with some large-scale content pieces like whitepapers, research reports or eBooks, which you can then use to create smaller scale pieces. An eBook, for example, could later be turned into 12 different blog posts.

4.  Set the goal posts

Don’t wait until your content is live to figure out how you’re going to measure your results. Put together a plan for exactly what you want to track and how you’re going to track it, before you even think about clicking that publish button.

5.  Shout it from the rooftops

Now you’re ready to publish, make your content available and then let everyone know it’s there. Share it on your social media platforms, email details to your client list – start talking really loudly about what you have to offer (and then start listening to what people have to say about it).

6.  Pimp yourself out

Now you’ve got your own content up and running, you can start focusing on branching out. Contact popular blogs, websites or magazines within your industry and ask if you can share content with them. Guest posting is a great way to build your credibility as a ‘voice’ within your industry and will help to direct traffic back to your content as well.

If you need help creating your content marketing strategy – we can totally help! Contact the team at 121 Creative today.