Oban’s long-form guide to creating long-form content in 2024
Discover why long-form content is making a comeback and how to create engaging, in-depth content that boosts SEO, establishes authority, and drives long-term traffic.
In 2024, the importance of not just formulating a content marketing strategy but also converting it into a tangible plan cannot be overstated. Your content marketing plan serves as the foundation of your online presence, enabling connections with target audiences, cultivating brand awareness, and catalysing conversions. This comprehensive guide will talk you through the crucial stages of crafting an effective content marketing strategy – and then turning that strategy into a successful content marketing plan.
A content marketing strategy is a high-level approach that outlines the overarching goals, target audiences, and key messages a business aims to convey through its content. It involves understanding the business’s overall objectives and how content will support those objectives. Essentially, it sets the direction for content creation and guides the overall content marketing initiatives.
By contrast, a content marketing plan is more detailed and operational. It involves the specific tactics, channels, and timelines for implementing the strategy. The plan includes details such as the types of content to be created, the platforms where it will be published, the frequency of publication, and metrics for measuring success. In essence, the plan is a more granular and executable breakdown of the strategy.
In summary, a content marketing strategy is the big-picture vision and approach, while a content marketing plan is the actionable roadmap that outlines the steps to achieve strategic goals.
A well-crafted content marketing strategy is crucial for several reasons:
Here are six steps to help you devise a robust and effective content marketing strategy for your brand:
From the start, it’s essential to have a good grasp of the ever-changing content marketing landscape, including emerging trends, shifts in consumer behaviour, and rapid technological advancements. To remain well-informed, consider these areas:
To craft an effective content marketing strategy, it is crucial to outline clear goals and objectives and how you will measure them:
A good KPI provides objective information about your end goals and helps you to make informed decisions to refine and improve your content marketing approach.
In 2024, successful marketing relies heavily on personalisation through data analytics and customer insights. To build up a picture of your target audiences, carry out:
When creating buyer personas for each market, questions to ask include:
By tying these questions with an understanding of offline trigger events, you effectively target audience groups with your strategy. Use tools like Google Analytics for effective data collection and consult Local In-Market Experts for market-specific insights.
Brands can often find themselves with a mix of exceptional, average, and not-so-great legacy content. A crucial question to ask yourself is: Do I have a detailed understanding of the performance of my content?
If you’re not sure, then consider a content audit. This process offers valuable insights, including:
A content audit involves cataloguing all your content pieces, spanning blog posts, guest posts, videos, newsletters, podcasts, and more. Once you gauge the success levels and assess the value of each piece, you can pinpoint and address content gaps effectively, and earmark older or irrelevant content for deletion.
To simplify the content audit process, there are various tools on the market, including (but not limited to):
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While the temptation exists to be highly visible on every social media platform, a more realistic strategy is to concentrate on those yielding the best results and then expand gradually.
Not every available channel will suit your needs, and the selection depends on your audience’s characteristics, your marketing objectives, and, of course, your resources. Consider the following questions:
The content marketing landscape in 2024 is vast, with a variety of formats to cater to diverse preferences and engagement levels. When developing your content strategy, consider the following content types:
Each content type serves a specific purpose, offering your audience the information they need at various stages of the buying cycle (Trigger, Awareness, Research, and Choice). Integration across devices and platforms is essential, achieved through relevant calls to action (CTAs) and messaging that unify your audience’s journey.
While it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, it’s not necessary to create every content type. Begin by selecting your favourites and starting small. The first step is brainstorming which content formats align with your audience’s preferences and where they are most active.
To streamline your content strategy, explore marketing tools that provide valuable insights and content opportunities. There are many available but to take just three examples:
Once the foundation of your content marketing strategy has been laid, the next step is to turn that into an actionable plan. You can do that by following these eight steps:
Conducting targeted keyword research is a priority for SEO. Keywords are far from the sole key to ranking highly, but they do remain an important factor.
Strategic use of keywords, whether competitive or non-competitive, can significantly impact your content’s visibility. Opting for non-competitive keywords may reduce lead quantity but often enhances lead quality. Additionally, incorporating related keywords and exploring variants and synonyms can provide valuable insights into your audience’s queries on Google and other search engines.
To navigate the vast landscape of keywords effectively, consider creating a comprehensive topic spreadsheet that includes essential keyword information. This approach helps to prevent getting lost in the intricate realm of keywords.
Assistance is readily available – Search Engine Journal provides a handy list of free keyword planning tools here.
Create a content calendar to organise and schedule your content distribution. Consistency is key in maintaining audience engagement. Plan your content around key events, holidays, and industry trends to stay relevant and timely. You might find Oban’s Global Marketing Calendar – a curated round-up of over 140 marketing opportunities in over 60 countries – a useful planning tool.
A well-structured content calendar plays a pivotal role in content planning and execution. It documents where and how content will be published, specifying details such as the social media channels and content types (audio, video, written). Platforms like Asana and CoSchedule offer templates for editorial calendars, providing practical examples for effective implementation.
The content calendar becomes a visual and organised representation of your content marketing strategy. By streamlining your marketing efforts through visible and orderly content planning, you are more likely to stay on track toward achieving your business goals.
From the outset, establish a clear understanding of your brand voice and tone. Also research existing, relevant content on the internet to understand the competitive landscape. This not only informs you about what’s out there but also provides insights into the ideal length or word count for your written articles. Aspire to outperform top-ranking blog posts covering the same subject by identifying areas where you can enhance your article.
Remember to embrace a diverse range of content types, recognising that multimedia content is more critical than ever in 2024. Cater to different preferences and consumption habits by incorporating a blend of written, video, and audio content. User-generated content can also play a pivotal role in building trust and authenticity.
The significance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) cannot be overstated when crafting an effective content marketing strategy in 2024. Marketers can harness the power of SEO by:
By integrating these actions, you can increase your content’s visibility, connect with audiences, and stay ahead in the competitive digital landscape.
A content management system (CMS) is the backbone of efficient web page creation, management, personalisation, and optimisation for maximum conversion. It encompasses content creation, publication, and analytics, making the choice of a CMS a crucial decision. To guide your selection process, consider the following:
Popular CMS options include WordPress, HubSpot, Drupal, Magento, and Shopify – but there are many on the market, so it’s important to research options carefully.
Producing exceptional content is just the beginning; the next crucial step is effective distribution. Maximise your content’s reach through various channels:
For international marketers operating across borders, it’s important to consult Local In-Market Experts to help choose influencers, refine channel selection, and understand audience preferences.
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Building a thriving community around your content can significantly enhance your content marketing strategy. You can encourage active participation and engagement from your audience through the following:
Measuring the impact of content marketing is crucial for ensuring that marketing efforts align with broader business goals. It allows you to assess whether your content marketing is effectively supporting business objectives, such as brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention. Elements to consider include:
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
In 2024, AI is transforming content marketing by offering unprecedented insights and efficiency. AI-powered tools streamline data analysis, allowing marketers to derive actionable insights into consumer behaviour. The scope for personalisation is much greater as AI algorithms tailor content to individual user profiles, enhancing engagement. Automation frees up time for strategic thinking. Voice search optimisation and chatbots further improve the user experience.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality:
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) continue to reshape content marketing. AR enhances user engagement by seamlessly integrating digital elements into the real world. VR transports users to virtual realms, providing storytelling opportunities. Marketers can use these technologies for interactive product demonstrations and captivating narratives.
Voice search optimisation:
The growing prevalence of voice search requires businesses to consider SEO strategies for conversational queries. Users now articulate queries in a natural tone, challenging traditional keyword-centric approaches. Adapting to conversational dynamics becomes a strategic imperative for businesses aiming to maintain visibility and relevance in a voice-centric digital ecosystem. Read Oban’s article on voice search for B2B marketing here.
Niche content marketing:
In an era of content saturation – which AI will intensify – creating niche-specific content is crucial for brands aiming to cut through the noise and establish themselves as authoritative voices. Tailoring content to meet very specific audience demands allows brands to cultivate a connection, enhancing credibility and positioning the business as an expert within a particular industry or community.
User-Generated Content (UGC):
UGC remains a powerful tool for e-commerce in 2024, driving trust and community. Strategies include crowdsourcing content, social media takeovers, and hashtag campaigns. UGC amplifies authenticity, tapping into the power of community-driven marketing where satisfied customers become advocates, driving engagement and credibility.
Strategic topic clusters:
The trend of strategic topic clusters continues to gain momentum in 2024, enhancing brand authority and optimising SEO. Businesses identify key challenges, categorise them into topics, and create interconnected content clusters. This approach allows businesses to cover user needs comprehensively, signalling depth and expertise to search engines, resulting in a stronger online presence and improved search visibility.
In conclusion, crafting a content marketing strategy and then translating that into a concrete content marketing plan in 2024 requires a holistic approach that integrates the latest trends, technologies, and audience insights. By understanding the current landscape, setting clear objectives, creating personalised and high-quality content, and leveraging emerging technologies, your content marketing efforts can position your brand for success in the dynamic digital environment of 2024. Regular analysis and adaptation will be key to staying ahead of the curve and maintaining a strong online presence.
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