The purpose of a content marketing strategy is to drive traffic and thus increase sales using that content. However, a solid strategy in content marketing for startups won’t just increase profits, it will increase brand awareness, as well as boosting user engagement. The content should whip up a sales funnel that gathers in new customers, while keeping existing ones.

There are 7 steps to preparing a great content marketing strategy for your startup.

1. Start a blog

It doesn’t take long to create a blog, WordPress is a great place to start as it’s free and there are a number of plugins you can use to track your success. Pretty much every website you visit these days also has a blog page so you can’t skip this step. You can use your blog to publish whatever kind of information you prefer (videos, images, text), but the point is this offers a way for potential customers to interact and reach you.

This is key to your visual identity startups content marketing strategy.

2. Define your audience

What type of people make up your target audience? Most businesses have an idea of who their primary target is, so this should be a straightforward step- but if you aren’t quite sure, then check out your competition. Find out who they are targeting, how they’re doing it and the type of content that their audiences seem to enjoy.

3. Create content your target audience craves

While there are plenty of audiences that prefer videos, there are some that don’t. Some prefer to read masses of text, and others simply don’t. If you aren’t sure what your audience prefers, then check out the competition. Videos do have a high conversion rate, higher than any other content type, so even if you operate in mostly text there is always room for a video or two.

4. Set goals

If you’re familiar with the term SMART, then use it. This is where many content marketing strategies go wrong. The basis of SMART- Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Timely. There is nothing wrong with setting yourself challenging goals, however you must remain realistic in order to deliver.

What do you want to achieve? If you want to double your sales using content, or add a thousand subscribers to your blog- that forms part of your strategy. In fact, you could say goals breathe life into the strategy- because they are the tools with which you measure your progress, and compare results.

5. Plan content

When it comes to content marketing and branding ideas: you must plan. Review the objectives that you have put into your strategy and from that create a planning chart. So, what type of content is to be published? When is it to be published, and how often? Where will it be posted? Who will write the content, and what topics should be covered?

6. Marketing and promotion

Hitting “publish” doesn’t equal reads. Make sure you get your content in front of your target audience- whether that means you pay for adds, use SEO, social media or influencer marketing.

Branding content marketing visual identity puts your business in the minds of others, so do this consistently.

7. Monitor and adapt

Monitor your progress regularly. If things aren’t moving as planned, or you aren’t meeting goals then tweak your strategy.