Simbar Dube is the Growth Marketing Manager at Invesp, a leading Chicago-based CRO agency. In this episode, Simbar defines content strategy and why it’s not synonymous to blogging. He also shares his insights on the role of blogging and how to supplement it as part of your overall content marketing plan.
Links in this episode:
Episode Notes
In the previous episodes of No Hacks Marketing, we talked about how to run a content audit with Kelsey Jones and the value of content with Benjamin Grønvold. At this point, we now know the importance of content in everything we do online. This includes blogging.
But what if we tell you that blogging is not a content strategy?
In this episode, we are joined by Simbar Dube, the Growth Marketing Manager at Invesp, to talk about the following:
- How your content strategy fits into the bigger marketing picture
- The difference between content marketing and content strategy
- Why blogging is not enough
Don’t Forget You’re Marketing to Humans
Most of the time people tend to forget that they’re writing and marketing to other people. I read a blog post and I can tell that this was written for SEO. I also noticed that they’re focusing on a lot of keywords, and I don’t think that’s good content.
Just remember, if you’re writing something, you should be aware that there’s an audience at the end of the screen that’s going to read it. Also, make your content easy to understand and helpful for the users before anything else.
What is Content Strategy and Content Marketing?
My definition of content marketing is more like an affiliate marketing approach that is focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content.
So, you can start with the user, put some content there, and hope that somebody comes to read it. However, you need to address what they need. You can start with the content strategy followed by the content marketing strategy. Because, for me, content strategy is the foundation. You need to set your goals and define your audience.
What do you want people to do after they read your content? That is all defined in the content of the strategy.
Then you need to get into content marketing. Every piece of content you create is essential. It needs to have a goal.
One of the biggest mistakes that I noticed is that they focus on content marketing tactics, but they don’t start with content strategy. What are they trying to achieve with that kind of content? Or why are they writing it for themselves?
If they have those kinds of things, define it first. They also have to consider the metrics. If they don’t have a strategy, then what are you doing?
You need to know where you want to go, and then sort a route, a way to get there.
How Content Fits Into the Bigger Picture
The first thing you need to think about is what is the main goal of the content. The way I think of it is to offer solutions to customers, trying to explain how to take your business goals and try to achieve them using content. From there, that’s where you can define the kind of tactics that you can use, whether it can be by blogging, podcasting, webinars, and ‒ if you have a lot of money ‒ you can buy your way and do advertising.
But first, you have to know that you’re trying to offer a solution to people.
The thing with content is it keeps on going. After 5 to 15 years of content, our clients still reach out to us because of articles that we wrote in the past few years. So, just talk about investing in what kind of services you provide to your customers when it comes to content.
If you’re wondering if you should hire an agency or is it better to do it. The answer is depending on the situation you’re in. Hire someone if you don’t know how to do it properly. I recommend doing it in-house because you’re the only one who knows about it.
Let your ideas show. You can just do your research or talk to people, and then try to come up with an article that offers a solution.
Why is Blogging Not Enough?
When people talk about A/B testing, they may be referring to conversion optimization. Same with content strategy. They might also talk about the creation of content, but they might mean different things.
So, when it comes to blogging, it’s a part of content strategy. Blogging is just like you’ll be scratching the surface. Every content strategy or most content strategies needs to have blogging as one part of it. Maybe not mandatory, but it would help a lot to have it.
I would recommend creating a content strategy that’s centered around your blog. It’s a platform that you own and it’s different from social media or any kind of stuff. So, when it comes to supplementing your blog, I think webinars and podcasts are good, but it’s not for everyone.
I think the problem with most of us in marketing is that we tend to copy each other. We look at our successful competitors and see what they’re doing, and we also try to copy them. But we don’t know if it’s working for them or not. So, everyone else is doing the same thing without thinking nor researching.
If you think you have something to say, just do it for no other reason than to scratch that itch and see if it works for you. But if the reason is because your competitor is doing it, then you better find a different space.
The thing about content strategy and content, in general, is that you can’t just target anyone in your funnel with the same piece of content.
Knowing What Content to Create
Creating content is the meat of content strategy. People are at different stages in their user journey. If you can do segmentation by their interest or the way they signed up, then segmentation is the key in everything. Because no one wants content that they’re not interested in.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the No Hacks Marketing Podcast. And if you learned something new today, we would appreciate it if you can leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.