Guest post by Hendrik-Jan Francke

If you are not actively implementing a content marketing strategy – because you don’t have the time, expertise, or don’t see the value – you are actively denying yourself the visibility and opportunity to get in front of prospects who want what you have to give. You are denying yourself more business!

Even if you do implement a plan, there is always room to improve. Learn why you need a content marketing strategy and a few tips to improve what you’re already doing.

Content marketing increases visibility, trust, and value of your brand

61% of consumers say custom content improves the way the they feel about a company and are also more likely to buy from that company.  Why do you need content marketing? Because consumers want it. Content marketing can help you:

• Get found by more people
  The more you post to your blog and promote content across social media, people will start to take notice. You will drive more traffic to your blog and to your site.
• Build brand trust and credibility
  By positioning yourself as a subject matter expert on the web, people will recognize your content is valuable and listen more intently to what you have to say.
• Boost your SEO rank
  Content marketing is not an SEO strategy, but should be part of your SEO strategy. Relevant, insightful content, basic keyword optimization, and strategic social sharing can boost your traffic and improve your site’s overall SEO standing.
• Prime and prepare prospects 
  When prospects that are primed with your content, prospects that already value your expertise, contact you for your services – why wouldn’t you close that deal?

Tips to Make Content Marketing more effective

So know you know the why, but the how takes more time and expertise. Time is fleeting, so take advantage of these tips.

• Limit involvement to what is manageable
  You don’t need to blog daily or spend your day posting to social media to be effective. Limit your involvement to what is manageable. Create a content calendar to map out and schedule your blog posts, set aside a few hours each month to write, then use a tool like HootSuite to batch schedule social media posts promoting that article.
• Know when, where, and how often you should post
  Maximize engagement by sharing and posting content where your audience will find it. If your audience isn’t on Pinterest, you don’t have to be either. But you can increase impressions and clicks by using analytics to track when your audience is most active on each social media platform.
• Recycle your content to make it go further
  Generating 50 new blog ideas can be exhausting. Instead, take one strong piece of content you have and break that down into 10 web-friendly chunks you can use as blog articles. A little spit, polish, and strategic optimization can give your old content new perspective.

Bonus Tip: Know when to delegate!

This is probably the most important tip you need. If you can’t get the work done, delegate the tasks to an expert who can. You have the subject-matter expertise that your prospects want, but a partner that has the web writing, social media marketing, and key word optimization techniques can more effectively reach those prospects.

Start putting your plan into action

Take a quick survey of the content you already have - a book, presentations, white papers - and jot down a few ideas of how you can convert that into a blog and share it. The sooner you start your content marketing strategy, the sooner you will get results.

Ready to delegate the content marketing grunt work to a strategic partner that can amplify your results? You might be ready for your own Content Marketing Concierge.

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Hendrik-Jan Francke is the owner, creative director, usability expert, and lead generation specialist of Bright Orange Thread. He and the Bright Orange Thread team deliver digital marketing solutions that engage visitors, encourage action, and result in more – and better qualified – leads.