There are so many aspects to a successful content marketing strategy – SEO, branding, design, social media, etc. – that it can be nearly impossible to keep up with everything as a one-person marketing department. Maintaining basic best practices can be a full day’s work! But when you’re ready to take your content marketing to the next level – to refine and elevate your strategy – the six tips below are where to start.
1. Develop a Message Architecture
Message architecture is a set of words or phrases that conveys your organization’s messaging intent, priorities, and goals. It keeps every aspect of your business’s communication aligned, and helps everyone in your organization deliver consistent messaging.
That’s just one of the key reasons to develop a message architecture as part of the modern content marketing strategy that we look at in this blog.
The message architecture is the framework for all your content. It informs the direction of content and ties directly into your branding work. Check out that piece for more on how to establish a message architecture to create a better foundation for your content marketing.
2. Create a Content Calendar
We’ll wager the idea of setting up a spreadsheet to keep track of your blogs, case studies, social posts, and other content has crossed your mind if you don’t have one already. But did you know there are a ton of different ways to approach creating a content calendar? It’s not one size fits all.
In this piece, we show you five different versions of content calendars. Each is geared to a specific focus you may have for your content marketing:
- event planning
- multiple buyer personas
- multiple content marketing campaigns
- news-based content tracking
- SEO
Every content marketing strategy needs a good calendar. Make sure yours fits your specific need.
3. Balance Self-promotional and Educational Content
The balance between content that will promote your services and content that will educate your audience is a classic challenge for 
marketers. We’re here to tell you it’s not as hard as it may seem.
The general rule of thumb is: any content that offers actionable insight will elevate your thought leadership and can drive leads.
Actionable insight is information that actually helps decision-makers decide things. It provides new thought, unique substance, and value to readers. It isn’t promotional material disguised as information, nor is it educational material lightly dusted with mentions of your company. Today’s readers know how to see through all that promotional language.
This article provides a few ways to think about approaching this balance including thinking about what you like reading, going rogue with related content, and considering the type of content you’ll be using.
4. Recycle Evergreen Content
You put a lot of time and effort into your content. Don’t let it get dusty. Refreshing evergreen content is a prime way to re-engage readers and re-use the pieces that have more timeless topics. It’s also a way to get the most mileage out of content without spending much more labor on creating new items.
Evergreen content can include all manner of content types such as case studies, blogs, white papers, and more. The rule is that it’s educational and editable. That’s why blogs are especially useful here.
Check out this piece to see the exact steps we recommend for repurposing your evergreen content, including:
- revising your blog title
- looking for updated resources and statistics
- improving the look and formatting
- promoting the content with campaigns or social
If you’re struggling to ignite your content marketing strategy, updating evergreen content is one easy way to create some sparks.
5. Long-form Content
We know: sometimes even getting enough short-form content together is tough. But the value of long-form content now outpaces that of short-form, and it’s a key part of successful content marketing. Content above 1,200 words is in vogue for a variety of reasons, but it’s crucial to make sure whatever you publish reflects point #3 above.
- why Google loves long-form blogs
- how long-form content demonstrates authority
- How to get started writing valuable long-form pieces
Writing long-form content can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to take the time and energy you think it will. There are efficient ways to go about its production, and they pay off in the end.
6. Call-to-actions!
Creating call-to-actions (CTAs) is Marketing 101, but creating the right kind of CTA for your target buyer persona and form of content is next level. Do you know what all your options are when it comes to types of CTAs? Do you know the best place on a given page for the CTA to go? The answers to those questions and more are in this blog.
If you’re ready to refine your content marketing strategy, get in touch with Mojo today. We’re here to help.
