5 important [and effective] content marketing tips that work

We consume content (or maybe it consumes us) every minute of every day - everywhere we go... and right now it seems that most of us are staying put.

Seriously, it's all over the place and it always will be.

But what exactly does that mean?

Well, for starts it means there's no shortage of the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to content that marketers are putting out there.

Candidly, I've produced my fair share of all three - it's how I've been able to test, iterate and learn.

This article isn't focused on how to create jaw-dropping content - it's about how to level up your entire content marketing game from strategy and creation of content to distribution so that your content actually gets in front of real humans.

Let's get to it - here are 5 important tips that will definitely help you level up your content marketing game to infinity and beyond... as Buzz would put it.

1. STOP creating content for the sake of creating content

One of the [many] reasons why there's a ton of not-so-good content out there is because marketers are continually creating content for the sake of "creating content" or to fill some sort of content quota.

When you're focused on a quota to produce content, however, it's inevitable that not every piece you produce will be a home run.

Instead, consider this... START creating content that's driven by intent and purpose.

Create content that answers questions your sales team continually gets. Create content based on specific keywords your audience is searching for. Create content that's related to industry-specific terminology. Create content that provides detailed explanations of new product features.

You get the point...

When you start creating content with purpose, intent and a concise way of communicating, you'll find it much easier to connect with people.

2. Think about the Long Term Value of Content (LTVC)

Creating content that's based on recent events or [micro] trends can definitely deliver fantastic results, but oftentimes it is time-sensitive which can make it difficult.

So here's what I'd recommend instead... consider creating evergreen content, or in other words, content that remains relevant (and valuable) to your visitors, prospects, and clients 6-12 months (or more) from now.

There's no shame in consistently reviewing your content every month or quarter to keep it fresh and up to date. In fact, I'd highly recommend adopting this as a solid practice.

3. Content might be king, but without distribution it's nothing

There are a TON of exceptional creative wizards out there who are highly skilled when it comes to writing, illustrating, and producing all sorts of content.

But without having a solid plan for spreading the word, it's tough to really do much with even the best piece of work.

It's a necessity that you create a solid model and framework for distributing your content and getting it in front of the right people at the right time.

Keep in mind that your framework doesn't have to be complex at all, it can be as simple as some of these examples below:

• Text in a word document with bullet points
• Checklists in Trello or Asana that go through each major step
• A slide deck that your team has put together acting as a guide

As long as you have something you stick to consistently, test regularly, and update as you go through the process, you'll be more than fine. The important thing here is to have some sort of "plan" that helps you blueprint it all.

4. Listen to feedback, please!

One of the best things you can do is listen to feedback from your users, prospects, and clients for many different reasons.

Importantly, one of them being that you’ve just established a real conversation with a real person, and that’s beyond powerful.

I'm not saying that you necessarily need to be implementing or acting on every bit of feedback that comes your way, but it's crucial to listen and keep the conversation going when you have the opportunity.

You won't regret it.

5. Review, edit and recycle old content

Let's think about how most companies approach their content marketing: They produce a kick-ass article or e-book or landing page, write clever captions for social, schedule those posts, and that's it.

Once that's been said and done, it's on to the next piece. And so on, and so on.

The major problem here is that there is SO MUCH missed opportunity. This is especially true if you're content strategy focuses on creating evergreen content as we talked about in tip #2.

But no only that, it actually devalues your content as an investment.

A small, but good(ish) example? This article that you're currently reading is one that I wrote 4 months ago. I knew it wasn't anywhere near perfect, so I figured I would go in there, edit it and bring it back to life.

So, chances are you can update previous content your team has created. Whether that’s adding new internal or external links to your articles, editing the descriptions of your videos, or even changing the layout of your landing pages.

Think about the time and money investment that it takes to create new content from scratch compared to updating existing content that has already proven to be effective and useful.

I'm not saying that you should neglect to create new content, but you need to see where that fits in your schedule, time allocation, and budget.

Moving on...

Now, once you've finished making updates to your existing content, it's time for the fun stuff. It's time to include it back into your content schedule to start distributing it again.

You can let your clients and audience know that you've spent time updating it as a way to provide more value, or just leave that part out of the equation. Try experimenting with the two to see what works and what doesn't.

Regardless of the above, the best approach when it comes to the upkeep or your content is to establish a regular cadence; weekly, monthly, quarterly, that one is totally your call.

To infinity and beyond...

So what's next? Well, it's simple. Start putting these 5 tips to use so that you can better your content marketing game today and through the rest of 2020.

Feel free to drop a comment below if you'll be putting any of these to use, or even if you have tips of your own that you'd like to share - I'd love to hear from you.

-Kristian