Content marketing is how a brand earns attention instead of renting it. Done well, it turns an audience into a community and keeps bringing the right people back to your website. This guide from Loudmouse, a content marketing agency in Subiaco, Perth, explains how a content marketing strategy is built, what content to produce and how to get it seen.
Start with a content strategy
Even the fun stuff takes planning. A content marketing strategy sets the tone for your brand online and ties every piece back to a business goal: connect with your audience, hold their interest, then convert them into customers. A good strategy covers:
- Content pillars. A small set of themes that support the brand over the long term.
- Channels. Which social media channels to use, and what content each one needs.
- Findability. Making sure content can be found quickly in search and stands out from the crowd.
- Frequency and timing. How often to publish and when.
- Process. The workflows needed to produce and publish content consistently.
Pillar pages and topic clusters
For a blog that keeps working, map evergreen content around a few pillar pages. Each pillar covers a broad topic, and a cluster of articles answers the specific questions people search for around it. From that map you can build an annual content calendar, research the keywords for each article and optimise every post for search.
This is the approach we took for ABC Blinds, WA's long-standing window coverings supplier: pillar pages and topic clusters, an annual blog calendar, keyword research and search optimisation for every article, and social amplification. Measure and quote enquiries rose 15.6%, and organic social blog traffic grew 8.2% year on year.
Produce content people want
Content works when it is made with connection in mind. Most strategies need a mix of three things:
- Video. Video brings energy to a brand story, from large film projects to simple social posts.
- Copywriting. A strong writer carries the brand story from beginning to end, so readers keep reading.
- Photography. Imagery that speaks to the audience before you have said a word.
Loudmouse has an in-house production team for video, copywriting and photography, so strategy and production sit in one place.
Amplify it
Publishing is only half the job. Content amplification means using both free and paid channels to put content in the feeds and communities your audience already cares about. For Half Price Blinds we combined a topic-cluster blog strategy with social media advertising aimed at clear buyer personas, and reviewed their paid search alongside it. Year on year, transactions grew 23%, revenue grew 33% and return on ad spend reached 225%.
Organic social content can carry a brand on its own when the idea is right. The Masters Milk campaign series, built on the line "It's more awesoMe with M", reached 647K people and earned 30K engagements at a 4.67% average engagement rate.
How to measure content marketing
- Set the goal first. Enquiries, sales, traffic or engagement, agreed before anything is published.
- Track each channel. Organic search, social and paid traffic, and what each one converts.
- Review and adjust. Keep what works, refresh what has slipped, and feed results back into the calendar.
Want a content plan that brings in the right customers? See our content marketing service, our social media marketing, or get in touch.
