We create a content plan in 9 steps based on the customer journey and the persona method

Let’s start with the simple, what is content marketing? It is a marketing strategy that consists of creating and distributing valuable and useful content to attract and retain a target audience.

The main goals of content marketing:

• attracting attention and forming interest in the product or service;
• establishment of trusting relationships with potential clients;
• retention of existing customers;
• increasing brand awareness and expertise of the company in a certain field.

Content marketing is an effective tool for increasing brand awareness, attracting potential customers and retaining existing ones. However, to achieve success in this area, it is necessary to constantly monitor trends and changes in audience behavior, as well as improve the quality of content.

Based on this, what problems of the market will solve what content marketing?

1. “Frontal” advertising stops working. Example: you have launched contextual advertising and you see that there are clicks, people are switching, but they are usually missing something. People switch even if the ads are set up well and they spend a long time on your site, but they don’t understand why they need to buy from you. In addition, all information channels are oversaturated, so “blindness” may occur, namely people begin to block banner advertising and psychologically do not perceive it at all.

2. Cold leads come from contextual advertising.

3. If you have a complex new product, demand must be formed.

4. If you are in the B2B market, it is difficult to influence LPR with advertising.

And the solution to all these problems is: expert content.

Expert content is content that solves business tasks (increasing visibility, attracting customers) by demonstrating expertise with the help of information useful to the audience.

Fig. 1 – Expert content (key elements)

A key channel for those who:

• Sells a complex product: digital, IT, technological start-up, any B2B with design;
• Works with legal entities and wants to get into the info field of “LPRs”;
• Provides services;
• Produces goods, but to order;
• Uses expert sales;
• Advises customers a lot before and after sales;
• “Sales geography” is available.

What gives an expert position?

In general, expert content can be characterized as follows:

1. Demonstrates brand value

Fig. 2 – Example of a value scheme

2.Teaches and develops

3.Benefits on its own (can be used without purchase)

4.Shows product and benefits and sells

5.Increases recognition (increase in brand inquiries)

6.Allows you to sell higher (increase the price by showing value)

So, let’s take a closer look at the example of manager Torii, who was eager to find his customers and establish sales.

Fig. 3 – Case example

Torii was confused and did not understand what he should do next. After all, even those who make websites for a high price have a large flow of customers, comparable to his studio. What does he lack, because compared to others, the prices are lower and the skills are not bad? How to solve this?

Fig. 4 – Price-value visualization

The answer is simple. Consumers often buy something not primarily based on the price of the product, but on whether their values align with the values of the company. If the value outweighs the price, the consumer buys. The more you want to charge for your products and goods, the more value there needs to be. And value can be, for example, cases where you show: how you created this website, that a large team of specialists worked, that A/B tests were conducted, that it was designed for a long time, that the conversion doubled, etc.

7.Differentiating from competitors.

Content Marketing in 9 Steps

Now we come to the most interesting part: how to properly develop a content marketing strategy in 9 steps:

1.Define the goal;

2.Formulate the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and expertise;

3.Study the audience;

4.Build the customer journey;

5.Analyze competitors;

6.Formulate topics;

7.Identify content providers;

8.Determine distribution channels and formats;

9.Analyze results.

Step 1. The Goal of Content Marketing

Let’s start with a rough list of questions that will help you formulate the goal:

• What is your financial goal for 2024?
• Which audience segments are you focusing on?
• Which products?
• What do you expect from content marketing?
• How can you measure what you achieved?

Below is an example of correct and incorrect tasks that you set for yourself:

Incorrect tasks:

• increase sales;
• create an image of an expert.

Correct tasks:

• bring in 15 leads per month in 3 months;
• increase conversion from cold leads from contextual advertising to sales;
• prevent customer drop-off in the third month of operation.

Step 2. Defining Your Expertise and USP

Again, a few questions we should answer:

• Who are you?
• What audience are you focusing on? What is important to them?
• What is your big idea?
• Who is your “enemy”?
• What do you do differently?
• What is your unique resource?

In other words, it can look like this:

We will be the best ____________________ for ___________________ who are interested in ___________________. This will help us ____________________ and ____________________. And unlike _____________________, we do ________________ differently using ____________________.

Continuing the story about our old acquaintance, Tori. What did he come up with in response to the questions asked?

“We will be the best web studio for clients who are interested in affordable, fast, and quality development.”

However, his message does not fully reveal the entire idea and does not outline the horizons to aim for.

After that, the following method “from the unpleasant” was used:

• Which clients do you not want to work with;
• Which ones do you want to work with;
• Are there examples of successful collaborations;
• What is the reason for that.

After thinking for a long time, Thor replied: “I want interesting projects without 101 edits. Recently, I collaborated with a medical center, and I really liked it. It all started with the automation of the clinic: website, patient personal account, journal, records, medical card, treatment plan, waiting list, etc., so it was quite a large project.”

And after that, inspiration struck him, and he decided:

• Who are you? “Automation studio for medical centers.”
• What audience do you focus on? “Medical centers that care about patients and improve efficiency.”
• What is your big idea? “We fight against routine, making it ‘convenient’ for patients.”
• Who is your ‘enemy’? “Analog thinking, ‘Those who need it will find it.’”
• What do you do differently? “Application checklists.”
• What is your unique resource? “Experience + our own technology.”

If you do not understand your positioning and do not have a big idea, you really will have nothing to write about and promote your product.

Step 3. Studying the audience

To determine the audience and identify their pain points, you can use the persona method. Below is how to apply it with an example.

Fig. 5 – Persona Method (example)

Fig. 6 – Customer Journey Diagram