Content marketing is one of the most widely-used marketing tactics and yet many people still do it wrong. The biggest mistake that marketers make is to think that it is only about creating and publishing content.
What they forget is that research and planning actually are the pillars on which successful content marketing campaigns are built. Per a recent study, 69% of the most successful marketers have a well-documented content strategy compared to only 16% of the least successful ones.
This clearly shows that having a well-researched and documented strategy may just well be what makes a content marketing campaign a success.
Want to learn how research and planning can help?
Keep reading.
How Research and Planning Can Help You
Here are some of the many reasons why you should pay special attention to research and planning in the content marketing process.
1. Understand Your Audience Better
You should start your content marketing process by researching your audience. This helps you understand who they are, what type of content they like to read, and how you can engage them better.
The first rule of content marketing is to create content for your target audience and you can’t do that without understanding them. That is why research is so important.
2. Create Targeted Content
Research can also help you understand the content trends and give you a fair understanding of what works with your audience and what doesn’t. This can help you create a more targeted content strategy, instead of wasting time and resources on trial and error method.
It also helps you choose the right content mix and use content types that are more engaging.
3. Design a Plan to Meet Your Specific Goals
It is very important to have a content marketing plan or strategy before you actually start creating content. A plan provides a structure to your content marketing initiatives and helps you keep track of your progress and performance.
Over to You!
Research and planning should be the first step in your content marketing process, to ensure that you are on the right track from the beginning.
Want to learn more about the content marketing process?
Check out the below infographic to learn the five stages of the content marketing process and what each entails.
Infographic Source: https://shanebarker.com/blog/content-marketing-process/