Are your digital strategies coping with digital content?
Companies have a pressing need to ensure their digital content marketing strategies and campaigns keep up with the times. Your digital technology must also be kept up-to-date so you can realise your potential. Importantly, it is necessary to remember great content is critical to your website and social media’s value to clients and potential clients.
The technology you have in place, or the systems you implement, are of little value if your content is not relevant. Content must be related to your target audience and create new and better clients.
Digital strategies are advancing and evolving, similar to the way traditional marketing developed decades ago. Content marketing is now following the same path as conventional marketing did. The big difference is the speed at which things need to change to retain people’s interest.
From your branding to your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) you need to become more efficient, and never the personal elements.
Whether you use video, photographs, diagrams or text be sure to keep your technology simple. Easy for the user to operate and for the content able to deliver the desired messages. It must be attractively displayed, relevant and exciting enough to motivate a desired reaction from the customer.
Digital content from a branding perspective
Generating and distributing compelling content via your website and social media is not just essential, it is a critical part of your digital strategy.
- Invest in the right website technology which is easy for customers to use
- Automate mundane processes to simplify the customer experience
- Increase investment in your website and social media development
- Utilise maturity models and roadmaps for virtually all areas of your marketing
- Become smartphone, small screen and mobile-ready
- Utilise more interactive content to engage the customer
- User-generated content will help you to become more interesting
- Replace the ‘me too’ evergreen content with up-to-date, relevant knowledge
Social media presents adventurous opportunities to use cutting-edge technology and better digital strategies. Digital technology also allows a more potent substance to improve both customer service and the customer experience.
Maturity models and roadmaps should enable you to build a staged approach to your marketing. Customise each stage for your company within a customer context. Disconnect with ad-hoc technology and content for various marketing goals with little customer-centricity. An actionable element of a maturity model is being able to connect to multiple market segments, divisions and stakeholders.
Assessing the maturity of your digital content
Before planning new campaigns, it helps to take an honest look at where your digital content stands today. Many businesses find they have a mix of strong pages, outdated articles and social posts that no longer reflect the brand. A simple content audit shows what is working, what needs updating and what can be retired.
Work through your website and social channels and ask a few practical questions about each piece:
- Is it still accurate and does it reflect how the business operates now?
- Does it speak to a clear audience and answer a question they genuinely have?
- Does it look and read well on a mobile phone?
- Is there a clear next step for the reader, such as an enquiry or a related page?
- Does it match your brand voice, colours and visual style?
The answers will quickly show which stage of maturity you are at. Some businesses are still publishing content on an ad-hoc basis, while others have a planned calendar linked to their marketing goals. Knowing your starting point makes it much easier to set realistic next steps.
Planning the next stage of your content
Once you know where you stand, set a small number of priorities for the next few months. This might mean refreshing your most visited pages, creating a regular series of articles around common customer questions or adding short videos to explain your services. Focus on steady improvement rather than trying to change everything at once.
A content calendar keeps the plan on track. Map out topics, formats and publishing dates, and assign each item to someone in the team. Review the calendar regularly against your results so you can do more of what engages your audience and less of what does not.
Over time this approach moves your digital content from scattered activity to a consistent, customer focused program that supports your brand and your sales.
