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Content Strategy: The Rock Star Approach

Being a nerd, I love heavy metal music. It’s a genre of extremes – not only when it comes to music, but also in terms of lyrics, visuals and attitude. I guess my love of metal is why I was drawn to this quote from Robert Rose about content strategy and marketing:

“Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world that you are one.”

Isn’t that awesome? And it perfectly describes the brave new world that brands find themselves in. It’s no longer enough to buy a billboard or rent some radio time. Disruptive marketing is mostly hated by the average customer. Instead of shoving products in people’s faces, the best brands use content marketing. They show consumers why they need those products. But what is content marketing, exactly?

Contact This is a two-fold process. First, you’re going to want to get in touch with your potential customers. This is so much easier in the social age! You can contact a variety of people through your brand’s social media. Once you are engaging with those individuals, make sure they can get updates from your brand easily. Set up a mailing list for your brand, and make it easy for people to sign up!

The second part of contact comes not from potential customers, but from influencers. These are experts that will help you show expertise and authority with your brand in the beginning of your content strategy. Share content from your influencers. Eventually these experts will see the value of your brand, and will begin to reciprocate.

Curate As a brand, you probably don’t have time to endlessly write blogs, create infographics and take photos. Many brands get overwhelmed when they understand the vast amount of data needed for content marketing. But never fear! This is where curating comes in. Social media is all about sharing the content people make. What better way to connect with influencers and potential fans than to share their own content? If your brand grooms dogs, share photos from the local pet shop. If you’re in the business of kitchen repair, share those blogs from the local DIY club. Content strategy should always include sharing and highlighting the work of others!

Create But it can’t all be about sharing cat pictures. Eventually you will want to share your own original work as part of your content strategy. The good news is that earned media can be one of your most powerful marketing tools. Some separate promotional pieces from the traditional owned media of blogs and infographics, but I say creation is creation. If you are working with your influencers and engaging with your audience, most of your earned media should be shared and spread.

Content strategy plan in action!

 

Calendarize Now that you’re contacting, curating and creating as part of your content marketing, the final advice I can give you is to create an editorial calendar. This can take the form of a planner, organizer or actual calendar that helps you keep track of important promotions, events and launches for your brand. I would suggest you plan at least a month in advance. Some brands plan out the full quarter for their content strategy calendars. See what works best for you!

I’d like to hear about your rock star content strategy tips. Comment below and let’s chat!