Does the phrase "content marketing strategy" strike fear and anxiety into your heart? Well the good news is, you're not alone. BUT - It doesn't have to be this way! Let's break this down into three simple, manageable steps.
1. Decide
What will you do? First, decide what content is valuable to you in terms of achieving or at least moving you towards your goals. Are you trying to bring in more leads? Sell your product? Grow your social following? Build trust with and nurture your audience? Inform potential buyers of your product or service? Do you need short-form content, long-form, both?
The next sub-step here is deciding where the content will go once it's created. Make sure you're posting to right platforms. If you're targeting individuals, LinkedIn is probably not the place to be. If you're selling a service to businesses that's probably a better fit. Are your customers on Instagram? Facebook? Tik Tok? YouTube? X? This will also greatly influence the length of the content you should be creating.
2. Plan
Often from here it's a relatively straight line. You can create talking head videos that allow you to directly tell your story and how you help your clients, testimonials and success stories from past clients, informational videos that establish you as an expert in your field, product/service breakdowns that show the problems your clients face and how they need you in order to solve them. The possibilities are endless. Think about what you as a consumer would need in order to buy from you, and create content that addresses that.
Aim to shoot at least two weeks' worth of content in a sitting. Batch like content together. If for example you have an athletic clothing brand and need to get outside and shoot models in action, get inside and capture your production process, and shoot interviews with the founder/employees/past clients, plan multiple pieces of content for each location/setting, this will save you time and money.
Multiplying your content is incredibly valuable too. You can record a long-form 30-minute podcast, and create several shorter 3-5 minute videos, as well as 30-60 second reels from it. If you do create long-form content, you should be getting at minimum 5-6 pieces of content total from each one.
Whatever your style, have at least a solid general idea for each piece of content you will shoot before moving on to step 3. If you're detail-oriented like me, create shot lists and layouts for each piece, this will save you time on shoot days.
3. Shoot & Post!
This is honestly the easiest part if you've done a good job in the first two steps. A note - don't get caught up in everything having to look absolutely perfect! Even if you don't have the latest and greatest in terms of cameras, you certainly have a phone that will fit the bill here. User Generated Content is huge right now; there are $100M+/yr brands doing advertisements with people basically shooting selfie videos. Sure - flashy, clean, cinematic is great, but these in and of themselves aren't going to meet your goals. Make sure your content has good bones, not just a pretty exterior. In general though, make sure you've got plenty of light where you're shooting and spend $20 on a tripod for your phone, just these two things will do wonders.
And finally, execute your plan! Post your content to the platforms you planned on. And remember, consistency is key. Don't lose hope if you don't see results immediately. Depending on your goals, and especially due to the algorithms on many platforms, it may take a little time to see results.
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