Developing and producing effective content marketing can be a complicated task.

But, like any journey, it becomes much easier if you’ve a map to follow.

Here’s the path we use at Tecmark to plot our progress on any content marketing campaign:

Audience research

Building a picture of the people you’re trying to reach is the crucial first stage of any content marketing campaign.

Without a defined target group, you’ll struggle to effectively shape your content.

But while audience research used to be a costly and time-consuming process, a range of online tools including Facebook Graph Search, Google Display Planner, FAQFox.com and AnswerThePublic.com have made this process much more accessible.

By using a combination of the data you can gather from these tools, you should – by the end of your audience research – understand what your audience likes and dislikes, where they visit online, what they engage with and how they look for your products or services online.
 

Competitor research

Next it’s important to learn what others in your industry are doing, particularly those targeting the same audience.

What proves successful?

Are any of your competitors producing consistently successful content?

Try using Facebook Pages to Watch, Topsy and backlink analysis sites like Moz Open Site Explorer and MajesticSEO to get a basic overview of what’s going on.

SocialMention.com, Google Alerts and ShareTally might also come in useful at this stage.
 

Ideation

Having done your research – on both your audience and your competitors – it’s time to start your own production process.

First up is the part that most often scares people away: generating ideas.

 
Our 635 Brainwriting tool guarantees 108 ideas from a team of six people in just 30 minutes.

It’s a system built on German efficiency – it was first devised by professor Bernd Rohrbach – that we’ve pulled into the 21st century.

For more on the ideation process, check out these posts:

• The Charles Darwin Guide To Measuring Ideas

• The Definitive Guide To Producing Great Content Ideas On A Small Budget

• Five Ways To Generate More Ideas Than You’ll Ever Need

Production

When it comes to producing the content you’ve determined is best from your initial list of ideas, originality is key.

Either the angle or the execution should be original.

For example, a Google search yields 125,000,000 results for the term ‘Things to do in Dubai’.

 
With so much competition, it’s important to produce something original – which is why Travelbag’s ‘A Day in Dubai’ video-based content has generated almost 13,000 social shares. It’s markedly different to the bulk of the text and photography-based content already in circulation.

 
For more on how to ensure your content is the best it can be, read:

• Six Ways To Define Quality In Content Marketing

Promotion

Gone are the days – if they ever existed – of ‘build it and they will come’ success.

Paid promotion is now almost always part of a successful content campaign.

Its impact is amplified with a coordinated, strategic approach to manual outreach with traditional media and blogs.

And the third pillar to your promotion efforts is the combined reach of your own social channels.
 

Effective content marketing is within your reach

By following these five solid principles, creating effective content marketing campaigns need not be a mystery.

But let us know in the comments box below if you think we’ve missed anything out.

 
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