08th Apr 2019 – 
A content audit will help you identify the topics, content types, and distribution channels that worked well for you last year. This will help you realize which of your strategies are still relevant and which upcoming trends you should experiment with.
There are multiple reasons why companies use content marketing for their growth. The primary ones are:
Analyze how your content performed last year. Did it help you achieve your goals? If you published blog posts, go through your Google Analytics account and identify your top-performing posts and their top traffic sources. Ask yourself if these topics might still be relevant given the new goals you have set for yourself.
The question is, how can you do that? The answer, unsurprising, lies in data analytics. You should collect as much data as you can about the people your products or services are designed for.
And that’s why goals are so important. Not only do they provide direction, but they also help you to measure your success.
Why You Need to Revamp Your Content Strategy
Shouting your message to anyone who will or won’t listen is no longer an effective way to generate leads. If you want your dollar’s worth, then you need to focus on generating qualified leads. And that begins by identifying and targeting a specific audience.
- To increase lead generation, conversions, and sales
- To reduce marketing related expenses
- To serve customers better and enhance brand loyalty
You can’t create content that appeals to everyone. That’s because all of us are wired very differently and have different needs, wants, desires, preferences, and interests.
You might also want to experiment with different content types – the ones you didn’t try last year. Focus on creating content that provides your audience with valuable insights. Customer testimonials, influencer reviews, how-tos, and explainer video content will help them make better purchase decisions. So, strive to create such purposeful content.
I’m sure you’re aware that content marketing is all about building brand value by delivering content and information not directly related to your brand. It’s about establishing your thought leadership in the industry and becoming an acknowledged expert in your niche. It helps fosters deeper, more meaningful connections with consumers.
So, you really need to narrow down on the specific segment of people you want to attract and engage with your content. Even if you’re looking to launch a large-scale brand awareness campaign, you need to have a target audience in mind.
1. Re-Evaluate Your Goals
Once you have identified a set of goals you want to aim for in 2019, you need to define your key performance indicators (KPIs)to measure them. These will ultimately help you calculate your content marketing ROI.
What can you do to prepare for this? A good place to start is to modify your SEO strategy for voice search queries. Research relevant keywords and rework your content strategy to accommodate for this.
Every content marketing strategy needs to start with an understanding of what you’re setting out to achieve. If you don’t have a clear objective in mind, you will simply end up shooting in the dark. As a result, your effort and resources will be wasted.
That’s easier said than done with more companies relying on the same content marketing tactics as their competition. Blindly following your industry rivals won’t cut it anymore. You need to shift your focus towards being unique with your content marketing tactics.
Answering these questions will help you get a better understanding of how you can revamp your strategy.
2. Conduct a Content Audit
The key to a successful content marketing campaign is focusing on the content needs of your target audience. You need to keep your ear to the ground and listen to what they expect from you. And data plays a big part in this.
The situation may call for a revamp of your entire marketing strategy altogether as we progress further into 2019. But what does that entail?
Finding an emerging channel and promotion tactic that works for the next part of your strategy is always advisable. Also, content marketing is a constant learning process. You’ll never know what works or what doesn’t till you actually try something new like voice search optimization.
3. Target the Right Audience
For example, you may have focused on increasing your brand awareness and building a connection with your potential buyers last year. So, perhaps this might be a good time to focus on increasing conversions and sales. Or maybe you focused on Facebook and Instagram last year. This year, you may want to focus on building a stronger presence on Pinterest.
There’s no denying that there are a plethora of content distribution channels out there. But it may no longer be effective to use all of them. Today, it’s more effective to optimize your strategy around the channels which are performing the best for you.
What are your thoughts on revamping your content marketing plan?
In fact, comScore has predicted that 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. This marks a drastic change in consumer behavior. Especially with the increasing popularity of digital assistants and smart speakers like Alexa and Siri.
CRM tools like Salesmate, for instance, provide you with the kind of customer insights that drive better content marketing decision making. Google Analytics will also help you understand more about your readers – their demographics and more. You should also consider monitoring the comments on your social media posts to understand how people are reacting to your content.
Then you can use that information to ensure that you target the right audience and that your content is relevant and useful for them.
4. Identify the Best Performing Channels
Revamping your content marketing strategy can be a very cumbersome task, but it’s one that needs to be done. These steps and tips will certainly make things easier for you.
The next thing you need to do is to perform an audit of the content you created last year. Take a moment to step back and reflect on the work you’ve previously done. Sit down with your team and analyze what worked for you in 2018 and what needs improvement.
But in order to achieve that, regardless of whether you’re starting afresh or overhauling your content strategy, you need to take the following key steps:
- Which of your current distribution channels is performing the best?
- Which devices are your audiences consuming your content on?
- When is the best time to reach out to your audience?
So, analyze your data from 2018 to find the best channels for your brand. Also, keep in mind that it may be a channel that you haven’t even tried yet. Be cognizant of the fact that just because your competition is using a particular channel, doesn’t mean you should too.
5. Experiment a Little
However, to get the most out of your content marketing efforts, you need to stay relevant in the market. It’s extremely likely that the content marketing tactics that worked for you last year, might not be as effective this year owing to the changing tastes and preferences of your audience.
So, you need to be on top of your game in this constantly evolving marketing landscape. You need to make sure that your content continues to provide value to your target audience and also helps you achieve your marketing goals. And that’s the reason why a revamp of your content strategy might be a great idea.
Instead, figure out which channels are most likely to be used by your target audience. To do so, you should also ask yourself these pertinent questions:
So, a revamp of your content strategy needs to start with a re-evaluation of your content marketing goals from last year. Think about whether those goals are still relevant for you this year or if you want to aim for something else entirely.
While it’s always good to keep doing what’s working for you, never shy away from experimentation. You should allocate a fraction of your resources to trying out new channels and ideas.
Final Thoughts
Let’s take a look at how you can revamp your content marketing strategy in 2019. But first, let’s try to understand why your content strategy might need a revamp.
Try building customer maps and buyer personas for your audience to help with this. And you should constantly seek feedback from your customers and sales team to understand what is expected from you, content-wise.
It’s critical to the success of your business that you start incorporating content marketing into your overall growth strategy. You do, however, need to be wary of the fact that this is a constantly evolving landscape. Where conversations previously revolved around ROI, today they’re dominated by talks of how to stay ahead of the curve.
Content marketing, if done right, is capable of producing dramatic results for your business. That’s why a staggering 91% of companies and marketers have reported that they rely on content marketing strategies.
