Content marketing drives growth in many areas. Here are just a few of the things marketers plan to achieve through content marketing this year:
- Generate better leads (75%)
- Increase web traffic (71%)
- Enhance brand reputation (56%)
But, if you don’t have a content marketing strategy in place, then your content marketing efforts will be messier than me at the pub on a weekend. You need a carefully-considered, strategic approach to achieve the results you desire.
That’s why I’ve put together this list of the best content marketing strategies for growth, along with several real-life content marketing strategy examples. They’re straightforward, they’re proven and you can emulate them to meet your business objectives.
CONTENTS
2. Create Pillar Posts & Topic Clusters
Bonus Material: Content Marketing Strategy Checklist
1. Be Influencer-Driven
An influencer-driven approach can accelerate growth in the early stages. And the connections you make will remain invaluable thereafter.
It will help you tap into established audiences within your niche. Plus, you’ll significantly increase the likelihood of gaining mentions, shares and backlinks from your peers.
These things aid growth by helping you to expand your reach and build authority. What’s more, you can gain valuable feedback from your network that will help you improve your content strategy and even grow your business.
Here’s how you can create an influencer-driven content strategy:
1. Guest Posting
Guest blogging may not drive as much referral traffic as you hope. However, it is a great strategy to boost your domain authority (DA) and rankings overall.
Entrepreneur Adam Enfroy uses guest blogging as his main content marketing strategy. After publishing 80 guest posts in 2019 he increased his domain rating from 0 to 76 and organic traffic from 0 to 300k+ per month.
The strategy is simple – guest post like a maniac on relevant, high authority sites.
Here are a few tips to help you get guest posts accepted:
- Network with editors, content marketing managers etc. to get on their radar before you make your pitch.
- Send unique, fully fleshed-out pitches to each and every prospect. I, personally, have bagged guest post spots on the likes of StartupNation, CoSchedule and more this way.
- Choose topics that are either unique or super actionable, e.g. a walkthrough or guide.
2. Influencer Outreach
In the early days, help desk platform Groove had great content but no readership. This is a scenario a lot of us find ourselves in.
Thus, they set about growing their audience via an influencer outreach strategy, which had astonishing results. They got 1,000 subscribers from one blog post in 24 hours, and in five weeks this grew to 5,000 subscribers plus 535 trial signups.
Here’s the short version of the steps they took to make this happen:
- Come up with a unique and interesting content idea
- Build a list of 80 relevant influencers
- Engage influencers via social, blog comments etc.
- Reach out to ask for feedback/input on their content idea prior to publishing
- Share the live post with influencers (including click to tweet link + request for comments)
- Continue to engage in discussion around the post
Admittedly, this case study is from several years ago and influencer outreach can be a lot tougher these days because of all the spammers out there. But, it can absolutely still prove fruitful if you take a tactful approach.
With influencer outreach, you really have to take the time to build genuine, authentic connections. And the relationships you build must be reciprocal i.e. don’t expect a free lunch.
Always take the time to build genuine connections with influencers. Oh, and don't expect a free lunch! Click To Tweet3. Strategic Partnerships
What’s really interesting is that I have influencers who I admire knocking at my door to ask me for stuff these days. It’s bananas.
The point is, as your network and online presence grow, you can start creating strategic partnerships with other people in your industry.
Often this takes the form of working on larger content projects together, such as original research. You can also guest on each other’s blogs, videos, podcasts and so on. Or simply take the opportunity to promote, mention or link to one another as much as possible, (as long as you’re not direct competitors).
This is something that the Content Marketing Institute does for continued growth. Cathy McPhillips, VP of Marketing at CMI shared some insights with me,
“CMI has close relationships with many marketing associations at the national and local levels. We offer a platform for these groups to build awareness among our engaged and active content marketing community. In turn, these groups promote our events and programs to their members, building trust and extending our reach into new and relevant communities.”
Cathy McPhillips, CMI
All in all, an influencer-driven content marketing strategy only gets better over time.
2. Create Pillar Posts & Topic Clusters
We now know that satisfying the user is at the center of Google’s algorithm and drives algorithm updates. Google rewards useful content from expert sources that satisfies the needs of the user.
Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan says,
‘Several times a year, we make significant, broad changes to our search algorithms and systems. We refer to these as “core updates.” They’re designed to ensure that overall, we’re delivering on our mission to present relevant and authoritative content to searchers.’
What better way to showcase your expertise and meet your audience’s every need than to cover the key topics in their entirety. This will help you increase your rankings and grow traffic.
When you cover topics comprehensively, you'll please both the search engines and your audience. Click To TweetSometimes referred to as the hub-and-spoke method or simply content hubs, this strategy involves creating broad posts on central topics (pillar content) along with a comprehensive library of related content on sub-topics like so:
HubSpot has used this strategy to encourage organic growth on their own site and for their clients. For instance, using topic clusters they grew an e-commerce client’s blog from 500 to 190k organic visitors and turned the blog into “a profit center for the business”.
Here are the steps you need to take to do it for yourself:
STEP 1: Discover Your Audience’s Pain Points
Find four or five core pain points that come up time and again. There are many ways you can do this. For instance, run a customer survey or visit forums to find what kind of questions people ask most about your industry.
The solutions to these core pain points will translate into your pillar topics. For example, if you offer SEO services and your target audience is made up of small businesses, you might come up with ideas like this:
- Pain Point: “Customers can’t find my business online”
- Solution: Learn and implement SEO fundamentals
- Pillar Topic: “Small Business SEO: A Beginner’s Guide”
STEP 2: Do Keyword Research
Before you finalize your content ideas you need to perform keyword research to ensure there are enough people searching for your core topics.
At this point, you can also plug your main keyword into other SEO tools to find related sub-topics for your cluster content. For our above example, Ubersuggest produces related terms, such as “small business local SEO” and “SEO for small business website”:
Another place to find related search queries would be on the front page of Google via its People Also Ask box and related searches section:
Now you have solid ideas for your cluster content, too. In this case, you might create posts around local SEO for small businesses, on-site SEO for small businesses, the benefits of SEO for small businesses and so on.
Repeat this process for each pillar post and topic cluster.
STEP 3: Map Out Your Content
Audit your existing content to see where you need to create new pillar and cluster content and where you can utilize the posts you already have.
For this strategy to work, you need to make sure you have high quality, in-depth content that meets the needs of your audience. So, if your existing content is thin, make it better or start from scratch. You can look here for help:
As you go along, create an internal linking structure for each cluster. Link from cluster pages to their respective pillar page to boost its authority.
It goes without saying that you’ll want to measure the performance of each of your topic clusters and make changes or improvements where necessary.
You can probably see that this content marketing strategy will take some time to implement because it potentially involves creating a lot of content. But, actually, it’s one of the most efficient ways to achieve your SEO goals.
3. Produce Original Research
Not enough brands are publishing original research, even though it’s a sensational way to grow your audience and authority.
SaaS marketer, Ryan Berg found that original research receives the second-highest number of backlinks on average compared to other content formats. Yet, SaaS companies don’t produce this type of content as much as other formats, e.g. feature announcements or tech walkthroughs:
One company that does do well on the original research front however is Orbit Media. They get a ton of traffic and backlinks without the need for paid ads:
This is largely down to the original research that they produce. Their most linked-to page is their report on blogging (almost 25k backlinks):
With this in mind, I asked Orbit Media’s Co-founder and Strategic Director, Andy Crestodina, to share his advice on content marketing strategy and this is what he had to say,
Producing original research gives you "a powerful advantage in PR, thought leadership and SEO" according to @crestodina. Click To Tweet“Ask yourself: is your company’s website the primary source for any information? Is there any data that is original to your site? If the answer is yes, then you have a powerful advantage in PR, thought leadership and SEO. You have contributed something new to the content in your field.
People often ask “How do I break through the noise in content marketing?” This is one of the best ways. If you want to be in the top 1%, just do what 99% of other content programs don’t do.”
Andy Crestodina, Orbit Media
So, it’s time to take advantage of this content gap and gain a competitive edge.
Here are some tips for producing your own original research posts:
1. Make it Useful
If you publish a bunch of arbitrary numbers, people are just going to snooze or get confused. Think carefully about how you can make your research useful to the reader.
When you publish original research, there needs to be actionable takeaways for your audience. This way they can actually put your findings to good use.
The folks at Orbit Media display their data points alongside useful summaries that help guide the reader, as in this example from a recent research report on thought leadership marketing:
2. You Don’t Have to Go Big or Go Home
Another brand that has grown their blog and online presence through original research is DataBox.
They have a unique approach in which they gather insights from a small-ish group of experts in their field. This often results in a combination of an original research post and an expert round-up.
Here’s an example from their post on tracking your SERP performance:
This means that they don’t have to survey thousands to get meaningful insights, just a cross-section of relevant experts in their community. So, essentially, you can follow this content marketing strategy even if you’re just starting out or only have a small budget etc.
The other added bonus here is that everybody who gets featured in a post like this is likely to share it around. So, you get to reach the audiences of all these influential people and that’s what really drives growth.
3. Create Original Graphics
You should always present your findings visually alongside any written content. It’s easier for your audience to take in and process the information you present via visuals.
Furthermore, other sites, bloggers and influencers like to pick up and share visuals on social media or their own blogs. So, this could be where you get the maximum PR from your post.
Overall, there’s so much to gain from original research in terms of PR, brand awareness, authority and SEO. It really is an epic content marketing strategy.
4. Offer Content Upgrades
Traditionally, brands have used lengthy lead magnets, such as ebooks and white papers, to attract subscribers. But, over the past few years, some marketers have switched to content upgrades as they found that they perform better.
Sleeknote got 28.83% more email subscribers in 30 days using this method:
Content upgrades are hyper-focused, useful resources that complement the topic of a blog post. The goal is to grow your subscriber list, and, therefore, leads. Examples include checklists, swipe files, worksheets and the like.
The only trouble with this strategy is that it takes too much time to create relevant, complementary content for every single blog post or piece of content you create.
That’s why Sleeknote upgraded their content upgrade strategy. Here’s what they did:
- Come up with a list of four core categories for your content (CRO, email marketing, list building and growth marketing)
- Create a content upgrade for each category
- Apply the relevant upgrade to multiple posts within one category
- Create unique resources where necessary
Furthermore, when a reader opts in for one resource, they get access to Sleeknote’s entire resource library:
This allows them to better track how users engage with their upgrades and score leads.
Here are some extra tips to nail your content upgrades:
1. Think About Intent
When coming up with ideas for content upgrades, think carefully about the user’s next logical step after reading your main piece of content.
For example, if you have a main post with email marketing tips, it would make sense to provide email marketing templates as an upgrade so that readers can put your tips into action.
They don’t have to go away and do extra research or find additional resources. You’re handing it to them on a platter. Hence, they’re more likely to sign up.
2. Keep Adding Value
Growing your subscriber list is fabulous, but it’s what you do next that matters. With content upgrades, you have more of an insight into what specific topics your subscribers are interested in and where their pain points truly lie.
Thus, you can segment your email subscribers according to how they signed up. And keep sending the most valuable, relevant content to them, which will likely lead to greater conversions.
I spoke to Sam Thomas Davies, the Head of Content at Sleeknote and he gave me this little gem of an extra pro tip,
“If you refresh your content upgrades on a regular basis, you invite subscribers to engage with your content over time. If they know you’re updating them quarterly or otherwise, they’re more likely to return and become customers in time.”
Sam Thomas Davies, Sleeknote
So, content upgrades not only help you grow your email subscriber list but help you turn them into customers down the line.
5. Repurpose Content
Repurposing content ensures you get the most out of everything you create. You also get to reach more people who prefer different channels or content formats.
My pal Adam Connell of Blogging Wizard shared a fantastic success story with me in which he combined an influencer-driven approach with content repurposing.
He took a popular expert roundup from his site and repurposed it as an infographic on a site that had a bigger following than him at the time.
What’s really cool is that he also partnered with an infographic design company that created the infographic for free.
The guest infographic got 2k+ social shares and 32k visitors, which in turn drove a tremendous amount of awareness and referral traffic to Adam’s site. Here’s what Adam had to say about this strategy,
“It’s not bad considering the bulk of my time was spent on the original post. The repurposing was far quicker.
Here’s the crazy thing:
I very rarely see anyone use this tactic. Most folks seem to be churning out blog post after blog post that equates to little more than a sales pitch – reinventing the wheel every time.
But you can get far more visibility for your content when you shine a light on the expertise of others and ride your content till the wheels fall off. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time.”
Adam Connell, Blogging Wizard
The point is, when you repurpose content, you spend less time creating new content and get more value from a few strong assets. It’ll help you grow your traffic and authority across multiple channels and the web.
How do you get the maximum value from content? #ContentRepurposing Click To TweetThere are a couple of ways you can go about repurposing content:
1. Transform Your Best Content Assets
Delve into your analytics to find your top-performing content. If you’re using Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages. There you’ll be able to see which pages have attracted the most visitors and/or have had the most value for your business (Page Value):
If a topic is still relevant to your audience today, then it’s prime material for repurposing. If some parts are a bit outdated then simply recycle most of the content and refresh the parts that need it.
There are tons of ways to turn a piece of content into something new, e.g. blog tutorial to video, infographic to SlideShare, data/quotes to social media graphics and so on.
2. Publish to Multiple Channels
When you do create new content, you may want to have repurposing in mind from the very beginning.
For example, Single Grain’s Eric Siu takes an omnichannel approach that has helped him amass a following and grow his reputation as an influencer in his niche.
Each morning he films a video that goes out live on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram simultaneously. He then repurposes the video so that he ends up with 13 pieces of content across five channels, by publishing the audio from the live video to his podcast and turning the transcript into an in-depth blog post, for example.
Choose the content marketing channels that make the most sense for your audience and tweak the content you create to fit those different channels.
All in all, repurposing content is another extremely efficient content marketing strategy for growth.
Final Word
It’s possible to produce some eye-popping results with these content marketing strategies. You can grow your audience, your online presence, your traffic, your rankings, your subscriber list and ultimately your business.
So, what are you waiting for? Now it’s over to you to implement one or more of these content marketing strategies. Because, of course, you can mix and match them!
Bonus Material: Get off to a Winning Start With This Content Marketing Strategy Checklist
Not sure where to start? Well, there are some essential things you need to do no matter what content marketing tactics or strategies you decide to go with.
This content marketing strategy checklist will ensure you cover all the bases to meet your goals:
