There’s no denying that the demand for content is huge, and continually growing.

The vast majority of purchasers use content as their main research medium whenever they want to make any kind of buying decision.

If you want to drive more traffic to your site, then a great content marketing strategy is essential for you to achieve your goal. But, consistency in implementing best practices is even more important.

This is the ticket to your long-term success when it comes to content marketing.

This article will help you to generate loads of search traffic and leads by giving you effective tips on writing great content, promoting that content, and boosting your social media shares so that you can foster brand awareness.

Without further ado, here are the killer content marketing tactics that will help you to slice through the noise so that you can connect with your ideal customers.

1. Make Your Landing Pages More Targeted

Each of your landing pages should be optimized for applicable keywords.

For example, if you were to write an in-depth guide on email marketing software, have a landing page for that and if you write another guide on a different topic, then you should have another landing page aimed at that set of keywords.

This will help you generate more revenue. Copyblogger, for example, has landing pages that number in the dozens and each of them is focused on a keyword that attracts their target audience.

When you build more landing pages for your site, first think about the keywords strategically and then create your content around the right ones.

2. Increase Engagement Through Audience Segmentation

A sound content marketing strategy involves segmenting your audience based on product need.

This is vital because people are on your blog for different reasons. Some of your readers are buyers but others aren’t. This means that your content cannot suit everyone since they are all at various stages of the buying cycle.

Content that you design to create awareness is effective for new customers but wasted on loyal repeat buyers.

To make the most of your content marketing efforts, segment customers based on personas. This will enable you to create content that engages each segment in a more effective way.

3. Get Facts and Think Tactically

There are times when your own experimentation is necessary for you to verify results. Don’t just accept everything you read or hear. Some things that may have been true a year or two ago may not apply any longer.

Develop a habit of tactical and critical thinking instead of just accepting all the things you read on other blogs and sites at their face value.

Results are relative, and you may be able to achieve a different result from your experiment and, through observing, brainstorming, and testing, you may be able to come up with a better concept. That’s how people become experts in their industries.

4. Give Your Audience What They Want

You want to create great content that is successful and engaging, but before you can do that, you have to know the audience that you are creating content for. Keyword research is a technique that comes in handy in this regard.

You can use it to find out exactly what your ideal customer is looking for.

You can start by using Google Trends to get a better idea of just what the existing demand for your topic is. Type the main keyword in the search box and find out the number of searches it had within a certain period of time.

The more you know about your audience, the more targeted your content creation can be, the more your entire content marketing strategy will ultimately be successful.

5. Use Adaptive Content to Target Millennials

This particular human race segment values family, community, and creativity in their work. Millennials are a large and diverse generation and they almost certainly constitute a huge chunk of your ideal audience.

You have to ensure that your content speaks to their values and needs, and this is where adaptive content comes in. Adaptive content is the content you use in supporting meaningful interactions across various platforms.

This means that your readers should have access to your content on desktop, then be able to continue with their smartphone from where they left off.

They should have absolutely no hassles at all completing purchases through your mobile app. This concept is especially important in the e-commerce industry.

6. Run A/B Tests Consistently

You can split test just about anything! Whether you’re a small business owner or a team of B2B marketing geniuses, split testing helps you convert more and you have to be consistent in doing it. Most website owners think that they have a traffic problem, but in truth, they have a conversion problem.

If split testing can help you add even one single percentage point to your conversion rate, that could be hugely significant for your business.

You have to know which headlines, types of content, or call to actions work best for your particular audience.

This will undoubtedly improve your overall content marketing strategy and make your work that much easier.

7. Start Small and Scale Up

Start from where you are and then scale up from there.

There’s no need to worry that your site isn’t generating 1,000 visitors each month when you’re just beginning. When you start small and create a great content marketing strategy that you use consistently, you will ultimately reach your goals.

Instead of stressing over the fact that you don’t have 1,000 monthly visitors, you could focus instead on getting 100 visitors each month. Whatever your goal is, make sure that it’s realistic and measurable.

Once you have those visitors, treat them to some amazing content that they will share with their friends on social media.

Use the same technique in your email marketing. For example, you could focus on getting at least 3 subscribers per day instead of your first 100, and you will have met your goal by the end of the month.

8. Use Topic Training Modules for Learning

A lot of statistics, content, and data can be accessed for free these days which makes content marketing decidedly easier. Online learning has grown significantly in recent years as people have discovered the effectiveness of e-learning sites.

With online learning sites like Lynda, Udemy, and others like them, content marketers can benefit from all the content provided in their modules and courses.

You can create the best quality content for your readers quickly and easily by picking the brains of the top authorities in different industries.

You no longer need to waste your precious time researching topics from scratch, it’s all been done for you.

If you want to write an in-depth guide on content creation, you can research your article on Udemy by typing the main keyword (eg, content creation SEO) and then analyzing the courses that come up.

Choose one from the top results and click on it to see the course modules. This is where you can now easily extract ideas from the module without having to sign up for the course itself.

9. Leverage the Power of Native Ads

Native ads work. There’s no doubt about it.

This form of online advertising where the ad content is similar to the platform where it’s published offers a lot of value when integrated into your content marketing strategy.

A lot of digital marketers use native ads for increasing engagement with their audiences as well as promoting their brand visibility.

Your native ad should offer unique and useful information to your target audience.

It should also be consistent with all your other content. Approach it from a content marketing mindset and use only the best quality content that you can.

Make sure that your landing page is professionally designed and that you craft your content specifically to welcome visitors and subsequently convert them into buyers or email subscribers.

10. Base Your Content on Your Core Values

Your core values should always be the building blocks of your content. After all, your personal core values are the basis of all you are as a human being. Core values are also the building blocks of every business or organization.

They guide your behavior and choices.

There isn’t a single rule when it comes to defining your own core values, but it’s important to take time to articulate them in writing.

Whether it’s putting your users first, showing them gratitude, or anything else you choose, just ensure that each one of your values comes from beliefs that you hold deeply and solid content will flow from that point.

11. Get Ready to Evolve

Your business has to evolve for it to thrive. If you want to succeed with content marketing, you have to develop gradually. When it comes to content marketing, this means that you should adapt to the newest developments in your particular industry.

This may mean reading extensively to ensure that you stay up-to-date with the most current trends, or it could mean signing up for a content marketing course to further your education.

The only way to stay relevant in a world of ever-evolving business models is to do your best to always work with the latest information.

An example of this is keeping up with the latest algorithm updates from Google in order to keep bringing in sufficient search traffic.

12. Analyze Your Competitors and Use the Data

These days it’s so easy to spy on your competitors if you want to know exactly what it is that they are doing.

Competitor analysis can help you outsmart your rivals. It is an integral part of your success in search marketing and it can help you to improve your conversion rate.

The best and easiest way to find out what your competitors are doing (how many quality back-links they have, where they are getting them, and so on) is to use automated tools like SEMrush.com.

While it can be a little time-consuming to check out even just a few of your competitors, it’s going to prove worthwhile in the end as it will give you a much deeper understanding of your particular industry.

13. Pre-sell Your Content and Product

This ‘behind-the-scenes’ experience is great for attracting a loyal audience and boosting traffic to your site. You can pre-sell your content or products to your fans in various ways.

For example, if you are going to write a new post next week, it’s a good idea to tell your readers about the process of writing the article before you publish it.

Another typical example could be asking your audience to help you choose the best cover for an ebook that you’re going to publish.

You can even use this tactic when replying to comments on your blog by telling your readers that you will be publishing a new post that addresses their issue in more depth.

14. Use Emotional Keywords to Create Headlines

Targeting emotional keywords makes for magnetic headlines that will supercharge the content you create. Such headlines make people not only want to read your content but to share it as well.

Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight, the first thing you’re probably going to do is get on Google and search for keywords such as “best way to lose belly fat in 2 weeks” or “fastest way to drop 10 pounds”. In our example, you would respond positively if you found an article or video targeting any of those keywords.

This is because those keywords depict something that you desire deeply.

The same goes for your readers, and by ranking for emotional keywords, you will convert those keywords into clicks on your content, visits to your sites, and ultimately, sales of your product.

15. Curate Your Content the way Pros Do

Content curation is an indispensable component of your content marketing strategy because it helps you avoid having to create content from scratch every single time.

It drives qualified traffic to your website and improves search engine performance.

The process of content curation is also at the heart of social media marketing for a lot of marketers who share curated content regularly on social media.

Some of the most important things to remember when curating content to drive more traffic and leads are that you must research for authority blog content extensively, never curate any content from poor quality sites, and always stay relevant.

In Conclusion

You made it to the end!

If you don’t remember everything you just read, don’t worry. You can always bookmark this page and use it as a resource that you can come back to whenever you need it.

The main thing to remember from this article is that when it comes to content marketing, your good plans count for nothing where the customer is concerned.

What’s important to them are their challenges and how you can provide answers to their questions.

If you just start by getting to know your audience as well as you can, and then implement as many of the content marketing best practices outlined above, then your search traffic battle is as good as won.

Feel free to post your comment below.  An email address is required but it will not be shared with anyone, put on any list, or used for any kind of marketing, just to alert you if there are any replies. Thanks and happy hunting!

PlanetBizOp.com

->Steven

Updated: Originally published May 6th 2018