11 Content Marketing Tips To Improve Your Strategy

Need caller ideas to amended your brand’s contented marketing?

Here are 11 contented trading tips you tin instrumentality today. 

1. Understand Your Target Audience With Segments

Divide your assemblage into smaller segments pinch shared interests truthful you tin create contented that is overmuch apt to resonate pinch nan group you want to reach.

These segments tin thief you further understand your target audience. And create overmuch personalized contented that tin summation engagement and move overmuch group from casual followers to loyal fans.

For example, a wide tally astir a discarded mightiness drawback nan attraction of your afloat audience. However, segmenting your assemblage by interests—like highlighting discounts connected eco-friendly products to sustainability enthusiasts—can make your tally consciousness overmuch applicable and perchance thrust overmuch purchases.

Segment your assemblage by factors for illustration interests, age, location, aliases purchasing habits. 

Learn overmuch granular specifications astir your assemblage by:

• Surveying and interviewing customers to uncover their challenges, frustrations, and interests
• Reviewing customer feedback from reviews, testimonials, aliases customer activity interactions to spot themes and needs
• Reviewing reports from reliable sources for illustration nan Bureau of Labor Statistics for demographic insights
• Monitoring online forums for illustration Reddit, wherever your assemblage discusses applicable topics
• Purchasing manufacture investigation reports from places for illustration IBISWorld to uncover marketplace trends 

You tin study astir your audience’s interests pinch Semrush’s Market Explorer tool.

Enter astatine slightest 3 competitor domains and click “Create and analyze.”

Then, spell to nan “Audience” tab to study overmuch astir your target audience.

Get ideas for assemblage segments from nan “Interests” conception of this report.

For example, you tin create an assemblage conception for your customers who are consenting successful “Travel & Tourism.” And different 1 for customers consenting successful “Finance.”

Look astatine nan “Social Media” conception to observe which societal platforms your assemblage spends nan astir clip on. That way, you tin tailor your contented trading strategy to platforms your assemblage hangs retired on.

After you stitchery data, create profiles for each of your assemblage segments utilizing Semrush’s free persona template. Like this one:

Your squad tin past usage nan personas while brainstorming to make judge your contented addresses assemblage needs connected a overmuch granular level.

2. Ensure All Content Has a Clear Goal

All your contented should lend to overarching business goals, specified arsenic improving marque awareness, generating leads, aliases expanding repetition purchases.

To necktie your contented backmost to your goals, align each information of contented pinch 1 of nan 4 stages of nan trading chimney (a exemplary of nan customer journey):

• Awareness: Users successful nan consciousness style are looking for information. Goals successful this style whitethorn beryllium to educate, build marque recognition, and make liking successful your business. Examples of contented that make consciousness spot informational posts and “how-to” guides.
• Consideration: Prospects successful nan accusation style want to understand their options and find solutions to their problems. Goals successful this style could beryllium to show expertise, point unsocial worthy propositions, and proviso societal proof. Examples of contented that reside customers astatine nan accusation style are customer testimonials, merchandise comparisons, and suit studies.
• Conversion: Prospects successful nan conversion style personification recovered a solution to their problems and turned into customers. Some goals successful this style could beryllium to proviso useful accusation to trim refund requests and summation merchandise adoption. Examples of post-purchase contented are merchandise tutorials and support documents.
• Loyalty: Loyal prospects proceed to usage your services and impulse your offers to different people. Goals successful this style mightiness beryllium to proviso ongoing value, create marque advocates, and create deeper customer relationships done personalized content. Examples of contented for this style spot ongoing acquisition resources.

As you build your contented trading plan, analyse your existing content, its goals, and its placement incorrect nan trading funnel. Identify immoderate gaps aliases anemic areas wherever you deficiency contented to line imaginable customers to nan adjacent stage. 

These gaps correspond opportunities to create targeted contented that tin fortify your customer journey, amended engagement, and, ultimately, thrust overmuch conversions.

3. Identify Competitor Content Gaps

Identify competitor gaps (keywords your competitors rank for that you don’t) and tin them pinch your ain contented truthful you tin return postulation from your rivals and summation your visibility successful nan hunt results.

Use nan Keyword Gap instrumentality to find competitor contented gaps.

Enter your domain and nan domains of up to 4 competitors. And click “Compare.”

Pay attraction to nan “Missing” record (keywords you don’t rank for but each of nan entered competitors do). And nan “Untapped” record (keywords you don’t rank for but astatine slightest 1 of your entered competitors do).

Review nan keywords and make judge each keyword aligns pinch your personas and their interests. Then, create blog posts and pages for each applicable keyword. 

4. Align Content pinch User Needs

Making judge your contented delivers what your assemblage wants and expects will apt lead to amended results—no matter what format aliases transmission you’re using.

For example, your assemblage connected societal media mightiness for illustration a short video pinch high-level accusation alternatively than a agelong and in-depth video.

Review nan capacity of your past societal posts and analyse those of your competitors to spot what your assemblage prefers. 

Look for posts that personification nan highest levels of engagement, specified arsenic likes, shares, aliases comments. 

Then, exemplary your contented aft nan highest-performing posts. To effort and meet personification needs.

When creating contented for illustration blog posts and guides, make judge those pieces align pinch hunt intent—the logic personification searches a query. Because contented that matches intent is overmuch apt to rank and beryllium of interest.

There are 4 main types of hunt intent:

• Informational: The searcher wants to study astir a topic
• Navigational: The searcher wants to find a circumstantial website aliases page (like a company’s relationship page)
• Commercial: The searcher wants to study astir brands, products, aliases services—usually earlier making a purchase
• Transactional: The searcher wants to complete an action for illustration making a purchase

You tin find hunt intent by searching a keyword and reviewing nan contented that ranks for it connected Google’s first page.

For example, nan intent for “best java grinders” is apt commercial. Meaning searchers apt want a database of apical java grinders for comparison.

Which is precisely what nan hunt results show. 

Making judge your format aligns pinch nan ranking contented tin summation nan chance of Google ranking your tract higher successful hunt results.

5. Promote Content Using Multiple Channels

Sharing your contented crossed various channels tin summation each piece’s scope and thief you thrust overmuch engagement.

Lean connected channels you’ve already built an assemblage on—like your email database and your societal media accounts. Also, investigation different promotional avenues like:

• Banner ads: Place banner ads—ads connected different websites that nexus backmost to your content—on sites your assemblage visits. Ad guidance platforms for illustration Bannerflow tin thief spot your ads connected applicable sites.
• Influencers: Partner pinch manufacture influencers and inquire them to banal your contented to pat into their networks
• Paid societal media ads: Use societal media ads to turn nan scope of celebrated posts
• Guest posts: Write impermanent blogs (blogs you represent for different sites that database you arsenic nan author) that beforehand a information of contented for influential sites successful your niche
• Newsletter ads: Promote your contented incorrect different brand’s newsletter. Platforms for illustration Paved tin nexus you pinch applicable publications that judge advertisements.
• Search ads: Create ads connected hunt engines truthful you rank astatine nan apical of nan results for circumstantial keywords related to your content

Here are hunt ads that beforehand reports for nan connection “state of b2b marketing:”

6. Experiment With New Content Formats

Experimenting pinch caller contented lets you observe what resonates astir pinch your assemblage truthful you tin refine your strategy and coming engaging contented each clip you post.

Some contented ideas include:

• Interviews pinch manufacture experts 
• Case studies
• Short- and long-form videos
• Research reports
• Memes
• Webinars and courses
• User-generated content
• Ebooks
• Whitepapers
• Podcasts
• Infographics

For example, this Semrush infographic contains tips to amended your content:

After experimenting pinch different types of content, comparison nan caller content’s engagement (such arsenic likes, shares, aliases views) to different celebrated pieces to understand which formats execute best. And which formats merit your attraction moving forward.

7. Focus On User Experience (UX)

A bully personification acquisition keeps group engaged pinch your contented for longer and whitethorn summation nan chance that users will spell followers aliases fans of your brand.

For example, a clever clever whitethorn beryllium overmuch apt to publication a blog position that uses a clear, legible font complete a blog position pinch a font that’s difficult to read. 

Here are immoderate tips to amended your content’s UX:

• Add closed captions aliases subtitles to videos truthful group tin watch your videos without sound
• Add alt text—text that describes an image for hunt engines and aboveground readers—to images connected societal media and your website
• Avoid text-heavy images pinch mini font sizes that are difficult to read
• Ensure your contented is legible connected each aboveground sizes
• Make links different colors than assemblage text truthful users tin easy find clickable elements
• Use descriptive anchor text (the clickable information of a link) truthful users cognize a linked page’s topic
• Use clear headers connected your website to style your accusation and make scanning easy
• Keep paragraphs short—a less sentences aliases less—so readers don’t consciousness overwhelmed pinch walls of text
• Incorporate visuals specified arsenic images and videos to break up website text
• Write simply and clearly truthful readers tin easy understand your content. Tools for illustration nan Hemingway Editor measurement nan readability of your text. Usually, you’ll want to intent for a group betwixt 60 aliases higher. As reference scores successful that scope are suitable for astir adults. Like this:

8. Continually Optimize and Update Content

Updating blog contented tin amended your rankings and summation nan credibility of your content.

Update blog posts that are declining successful rankings, incorporated outdated information, aliases ne'er classed bully to statesman with.

Google Search Console (GSC) tin thief you show keyword positions. That way, you tin easy spot erstwhile your blog posts petition to beryllium updated.

Log successful to your GSC narration and premier your property. Click “Search results.” Toggle connected “Average position” and move disconnected nan default “Total clicks” and “Total impressions.”

Click “More.”

Then, click “Compare,” premier which play you want to comparison keyword positions for, and click “Apply.”

Scroll down and look for keywords that personification nan apical position difference. As these are nan ones that personification fallen nan astir successful position.

Finally, click connected nan “Pages” tab to position nan page associated pinch nan keyword. So you cognize which page to optimize.

Assess whether aliases not nan article needs to beryllium updated.

If nan reply is yes, paste aliases import that article into Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant to get penning suggestions based connected your text’s readability, tone, originality, and SEO.

Enter your target keywords, group nan audience, and click “Get recommendations.”

SWA will group your matter based connected readability, SEO, originality, and reside of voice. Click done nan recommendations and usage nan tips to amended your group successful each 4 categories.

For example, clicking “SEO” gives you suggestions for recommended keywords to adhd to your blog post.

Then, group your precocious updated contented to your site. 

9. Create Topic Clusters 

Topic clusters are groups of related pages that tin thief you build tract authority, which tin lead to ranking higher successful nan hunt results.

Clusters incorporated 1 pillar (main) page that links retired to different related pages. Related pages nexus to nan pillar page and 1 another. (The process of linking related pages connected your website is called soul linking.)

Here’s an illustration of a taxable cluster:

Semrush’s Keyword Strategy Builder automatically creates taxable clusters.

Head into nan instrumentality and participate 1 to 5 seed keywords (very wide keywords applicable to your niche). Click “Create list.”

Scroll to nan “Page Details” conception to position nan different pillar and subpage ideas. Click nan “Write content” fastener and premier “SEO Writing Assistant” to consecutive nonstop nan page’s keywords to nan SEO Writing Assistant tool. So you tin statesman writing—and optimizing—your caller pages.

Publish your optimized pages, and retrieve to spot psyche links to and from your pillar and subpages. 

10. Conduct and Publish Original Research

Conducting original investigation tin position your marque arsenic an authority and propulsion backlinks—i.e., links from different websites to your site.

Google views backlinks from reputable websites arsenic votes of confidence. Which tin thief your contented rank higher successful hunt results.

For example, nan image beneath compares nan number of backlinks for a information of original investigation Semrush published versus a blog post. The original investigation has complete 5 times nan number of backlinks compared to nan blog post.

Types of original investigation you tin create include:

• Case studies
• Whitepapers
• Surveys
• Industry reports
• Data analyses based connected your ain data

11. Incorporate Trending Topics

Trending topics (topics applicable for a small period) tin springiness you a momentary spike successful traffic, thief your marque enactment relevant, and support your marque applicable incorrect your industry.

Find trending topics to represent astir successful Google Trends’ “Trending now” tab and group nan filters to find topics applicable to your niche. 

For example, nan image beneath shows a spike successful liking for nan taxable “fireplace.” And nan “In nan news” conception gives you sermon arsenic to why nan taxable is trending. This sermon tin thief you represent a information that matches hunt intent.

While evergreen contented (i.e., contented that remains applicable for a agelong period) should mostly dress up nan mostly of your posts successful astir niches, trending contented tin springiness you opportunities to prosecute your assemblage correct now.

Finding nan Best Strategies for Your Brand

Test different contented trading tips yourself to spot which strategies personification nan apical effect connected your brand.

Semrush offers a assortment of devices to thief you study astir your audience, optimize articles, and more.

Ready to effort retired nan supra contented trading advice?

Try Semrush for free.