Are you looking to take your content marketing strategy up a notch in 2022?

If so, you’re in luck!

In this blog, we will provide you with our ultimate checklist of the best practices for content writing in digital marketing.

We’ll cover everything from keyword research to content promotion, and everything in between.

So whether you’re just starting out in the content marketing game or you’re looking for ways to improve your current strategy, this checklist is for you.

What Is Content Marketing?

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of our checklist, let’s first take a step back and answer the question: what is content marketing?

The goal of content marketing is to attract and keep a targeted audience through the creation and delivery of valuable, relevant, and constant material in order to help businesses appeal to new customers.

In other words, it’s all about creating content that your target audience will find valuable and interesting, in order to encourage them to take some kind of action (such as making a purchase).

Content marketing can be used to achieve a variety of marketing goals, such as:

– Generating leads

– Boosting sales

– Increasing brand awareness or consideration

– fostering relationships between a brand and its customers

Why Have A Content Strategy?

Now that we know what content marketing is, you might be wondering: why do I need a content strategy?

Well, the answer is simple.

Having a content strategy ensures that all your content is aligned with your business goals.

It also allows you to track your progress and measure your success against those goals. Plus, it makes it easier to create consistent, high-quality content that your audience will actually want to read (and share!)

So if you’re serious about content marketing, then you need a solid content strategy in place.

Not sure where to start?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Keep reading for our top tips on creating a content strategy that works.

Pick Your Target Audience

One of the first steps in any content marketing strategy is to identify your target audience.

Creating buyer personas, which are ‘fictional’ versions of actual consumers, is an excellent approach to do so.

Buyer personas should take into account factors such as your customers’ demographics, interests, and pain points.

From this, you can start developing content that appeals to your target audience once you have a thorough grasp of it.

Not sure how to do this?

Check out our blog post from our sister company, drumBEAT Local, talking all things customer personas, here.

Do Your Keyword Research

You know what they say, you always gotta do your research.

And that’s especially true when it comes to keywords.

Keyword research is the process of finding and analysing the words and phrases that people are using to search for information online.

This is important because it allows you to create content that is both relevant and useful to your target audience.

When doing your keyword research, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind:

– The relevance of the keyword to your business

– The search volume of the keyword (how many people are searching for it & starting lower if you’re a relatively new business or perhaps new to keyword implementation)

– The competition for the keyword (how difficult it will be to rank for it)

Keyword Research Tools

There are hundreds of keyword research tools out there (and, we mean hundreds) with some offering free accessibility, and others at a cost.

– Google Keyword Planner (Free, but you need a Google Ads account)

– Moz Keyword Explorer (Free sign-up, 10 free queries per month)

– SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool (Free, but more limited functionality)

Personally, SEMrush is a favourite of ours.

If you’re serious about content marketing, then we recommend investing in a tool like SEMrush.

But if you’re just starting out, then any of the free options will do.

Set Your Goals

Now that you’ve done your keyword research and know who your target audience is, it’s time to set some goals.

But not just any old goals — SMART goals.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timed.

And when it comes to content marketing, these are the kind of goals you should be setting.

Some examples of SMART content marketing goals could be:

– Increase brand awareness by X% within the next 12 months

– Generate X number of leads from blog posts in the next quarter

– double social media following within the next six months

Remember, your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.

If they aren’t, then you won’t be able to track your progress or measure your success.

And what’s the point of that?

Create a Content Calendar

Now that you know what kind of content you’re going to create and why you’re creating it, it’s time to start planning.

The best way to do this is by creating a content calendar.

A content calendar is basically a schedule of all the content you plan on creating and publishing over a certain period of time.

It can be as detailed or as general as you want, but we recommend including the following information:

– The type of content you’re going to create (e.g. blog post, infographic, video)

– The title of the content

– A brief description of the content

– The target keyword(s)

– The publish date

Creating a content calendar will help you to stay organised and on track with your content marketing strategy.

It will also make it easier to measure your results and track your progress over time.

Don’t Stop Thinking About SEO

We’ve already touched on keyword research, but what about SEO implementation with the content creation, and more importantly, SEO techniques you can incorporate when uploading your blog?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website and content for search.

Basically, it’s all about making your site more visible to people who are using search engines, like Google, to look for information online.

And while SEO can be complex, there are a few simple things you can do to make sure your content is as SEO-friendly as possible:

– Use your target keyword(s) in the title, meta description, and throughout the body of your content (But, don’t stuff!)

– Optimise your images by including keywords in the alt text

– Include internal links to other related articles on your website

-Include external links to any resources that will further benefit the reader

– Promote your content on social media and other online platforms

If you want people to find your content online, then you need to make sure it’s optimised for search engines.

TIP: Add an extra section in your content calendar for SEO if you find it easier, this also works well with people who are less familiar with SEO, as they can easily access the information they need to optimise it when creating/uploading.

Publish Consistently

One of the most important things you can do when it comes to content marketing is to be consistent.

Consistency is key if you want to build a loyal following and turn your readers into customers.

The best way to be consistent is to have a publishing schedule and stick to it.

It doesn’t really matter how often you publish, as long as you’re doing it on a regular basis.

And if you can’t stick to a schedule, then make sure you at least publish regularly.

The more consistent you are, the better results you’ll see.

Promote Your Content!

You have worked hard on making that insane content, yet you’re not going to share it anywhere? *tumbleweed moment*

Just because you’ve published your content doesn’t mean people are going to see it, especially if you aren’t telling them!

You need to make sure you’re promoting your content if you want people to read it.

Fortunately, there are many different ways you can promote your content online:

• Share it on social media
• Email it to your list
• Think about repurposing and outreach opportunities
• Include it in your email signature
• Share it in relevant online communities (Social media groups)

Make sure you’re promoting your content on a regular basis if you want people to see it.

Track Your Results

Finally, don’t forget to track your results.

It’s important to keep an eye on your progress and see how well your content marketing strategy is performing.

The best way to do this is to set up some key performance indicators (KPIs) and track them over time.

Some examples of KPIs you could track include:

– Website traffic

– Social media engagement

– Conversion rate

– Email subscribers

– Sales revenue

Choose the KPIs that are most relevant to your business and content marketing strategy, and then track them over time to see how well you’re doing.

Google Analytics is a great resource for this.

If you want to be successful with content marketing, then you need to make sure you’re following all of the best practices.

This means doing things like keyword research, creating a content calendar, being consistent with your publishing, and tracking your results.

By following all of these tips, you’ll be well on your way to content marketing success throughout the remainder of 2022 and beyond.

And if you need any help along the way, we’re always here to help!