You may have heard that content is king—and it’s true! A solid content strategy is the backbone of any successful marketing effort. It’s all about creating and sharing valuable, relevant, consistent content to attract and engage your target audience.
How a Fractional Marketing Team Can Help You Develop a Winning Content Strategy
Identify Your Audience
To connect with your audience, you must understand their needs. Think about it this way: if you were in their shoes, what kind of content would grab your attention? The type of audience you serve will influence many factors, from the tone you use to the platforms and channels you leverage. For example, a younger audience for a B2C business might prefer a more casual, conversational tone and be more active on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. In contrast, a professional audience for a B2B business might respond better to a more informational tone and be more engaged on LinkedIn.
By understanding your audience, you can also better cater to them during different times of the year. A B2B business might slow down and plan for the new year in Q4. In contrast, a B2C business might find that consumers are ramping up and looking to buy more during the holiday season.
A fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) can be instrumental in this process. They bring expertise in audience segmentation, which involves dividing your audience into distinct groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, interests, and behaviors. This allows for the creation of targeted content that addresses each segment’s unique needs and preferences.
“As a fractional CMO, I’ve had the good fortune to work with many companies on defining the target market,” said Veena Vadgama , managing director and CMO for 512Financial. “It starts with the Ideal Customer Profile, then audience segmentation, personas, brand differentiation, brand personality and so on. In B2B SaaS, oftentimes with complex technology and long sales cycles, the audience consists of the buyer – it could be the security team – but in order to get the security team’s sign off, the company must demonstrate value to DevOps, IT, the C-Suite, and procurement. Mapping out the buying personas and influencers ensures better target messaging delivered at the right stage.”
By tailoring your content this way, you can achieve better ROI and cost efficiency, as your marketing efforts will be more focused and effective.
Set Clear Goals
Got a marketing goal in mind? Whether boosting brand awareness or driving sales, clear objectives give you direction and purpose. The importance of writing down your goals cannot be overstated. Studies have shown that individuals who document their goals are significantly more likely to achieve them. Ensure that your goals are not only clear but also realistic and attainable.
You’ve probably heard of SMART goals before. These are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Try to apply this methodology to your goal setting, and you’ll find yourself feeling more of a sense of direction and more motivated at work. Regularly reassessing your goals, ideally on a quarterly basis, is crucial. This practice allows you to adapt to changing circumstances and ensures that your objectives align with your overall business strategy.
Create Engaging Content
Whether it’s blog posts or infographics, your content needs to be engaging and relevant. A fractional marketing team can provide the creative talent necessary to produce high-quality content that resonates with your audience while remaining mindful of budget constraints. Content isn’t just about throwing stuff out there. Sure, volume matters, but what’s really key is understanding your audience and what makes them tick.
“Always give your audience something of value,” said Melany Joy Beck, director of Marketing at 512Financial. “Equip them with stories and information they will be proud and excited to share. Everyone wants to feel smart and in-the-know. Be the enabler of engagement for the community you are building and do the work to understand where they are and where they want to be. Remember that even the most snackable content must have some ‘nutritional value’ to nurture that association between a great content experience and your organization.”
With so much content on social media, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. So, how do you make people stop, look, and engage with YOUR content? How do you stand out?
On social media, it is important to face down your fears of trying something entirely new. Don’t be afraid to take chances. You don’t need to limit yourself or your team to an overly professional tone. Think about some of your favorite posts or advertisements; many of them use a humorous or light-hearted voice, especially in the B2C space. Offering a refreshing and personable approach can stand out in a crowded feed. Use attention grabbers like bold colors, unique designs, different writing styles, or various video formats. Remember, the people engaging with your content are humans just like you. Make your content relevant and useful. Surprise and delight your audience so they want to tell someone else about it. By doing so, you create memorable experiences that capture attention and encourage sharing and engagement.
Track Your Results
Another crucial aspect of content creation is having a consistent method to track its performance. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. It’s essential to have a system in place to identify what is working well and what isn’t. Take the time every few days or weeks to conduct an in-depth analysis and compare the performance of your content. Identify the factors that contributed to the success of certain content assets and those that didn’t perform as well. While it might seem like you’re only learning small details, these insights accumulate and will elevate your content and increase engagement over time.
“The value content provides goes two ways,” said Anna Waldon, Marketing Manager at 512Financial. “The reader and the marketing team both learn from the interaction. Keeping an eye on who is engaging with your content and which content is engaged with the most is low-effort market research that’s extremely valuable. It could even inform what topic and form of content you create next.”
Staying up to date with performance reports, taking additional content courses, and following thought leaders in your industry are also crucial for continuous learning. This is especially important as audience preferences and algorithms are constantly evolving.
Optimize for SEO
Using search engine optimization (SEO) best practices ensures that your target audience finds your content easily. By improving your website’s visibility on search engines, a fractional marketing team helps drive more traffic and generate leads, maximizing the value of your marketing investment.
At 512Financial, we went from no ranking for quality of earnings (QoE) and QoE-related keywords to ranking in the top 10 for eight keywords in record time. We achieved this by creating valuable content that resonates with our identified target audience. Using the right tools and applying best practices such as backlinking, we achieved our ranking goal and increased our visibility by 22.3% in under three months.
Producing quality content that is relevant and easily digestible is a key facet of SEO. Rather than just adding keywords, a winning SEO strategy is more than just a tactic. It is a critical element of your content marketing strategy that impacts every piece of content you produce.
Embrace Digital Marketing with a Fractional Team
In today’s digital-first world, having a strong online presence is essential. A comprehensive digital marketing strategy, including SEO, content marketing, and social media, is necessary to stay competitive. By partnering with a fractional marketing team, you can ensure that all aspects of your digital marketing efforts are aligned and working together to achieve your business goals—without the hefty price tag.
At 512Financial, our fractional marketing services offer the flexibility and expertise needed to build a high-performing marketing team at a fraction of the cost. Whether you’re developing a robust content strategy or crafting a winning social media plan, our team is here to help you every step of the way.