3 Types of Content Strategies You Must Know

Creating a content strategy tends to be intimidating, mainly because it’s complex and has many components. So, I’ve divided it into 3 sub-content strategies that can be used separately or together – the main thing is that they achieve your business’s desired goal.

When I chat with my clients about marketing strategy, they often express the desire for “leads,” or more precisely, “as many leads as possible.” It’s a common belief that having a flood of inquiries leads to increased profit margins. However, this isn’t always the case. A barrage of irrelevant inquiries can exhaust your brand’s resources in an attempt to cater to everyone.

In my approach to marketing strategy, I don’t initially focus on leads. Instead, I believe it’s essential to first grasp how three key elements interconnect: the brand’s voice, the values of the ideal customer, and market data. By understanding these elements, we can craft a strategy that serves your business and customers uniquely.

The crucial first step involves a deep dive into your business goals related to digital content marketing. A precise definition of the goal is essential to building the right steps to achieve it. We need to know where we want to go before mapping out our action options with marketing tools.

Without diving into all the existing marketing strategies, three main types stand out: Thought Leadership, Lead Generation, and Organic Promotion. Each strategy can independently propel you toward your goal, or they can be combined into an overarching strategy, depending on the goal you’ve set.

1. Thought Leadership and Authority Building

Thought Leadership is the skill of taking existing ideas and presenting them with a fresh, interesting perspective within our field. It involves connecting various content worlds to create something innovative and leading in our specific area.

Individuals who become authorities in their field can secure media interviews, land book deals, and sell their products more effectively with less resistance.

In the realm of Thought Leadership, the primary focus is on increasing consistent exposure. It’s a matter of simple mathematics, measuring how many new people we can reach with our content and how our audience systematically grows.

Two crucial characteristics define Thought Leadership. Firstly, the type of content produced matters. In a world filled with templates, true authority comes from creating fresh, provocative, profound, and captivating content.

Now is the time for deep work to understand how you can present your content uniquely. How can you build new models, use bold branding terminology, and create something unseen in your field?

When it comes to Thought Leadership content, it’s not the type of material you can create on a whim. Crafting good content isn’t as simple as waking up one morning and realizing, “Oops, it’s Tuesday, and I haven’t written anything yet.” It requires significant strategic thinking to determine the character we want to infuse into our brand and the authority we’re building.

There’s no direct match between our character and our professional authority, so it’s essential to carefully map out the content, ideas, and added value that can only be attributed to us.

Remember – if you can find it on Google, it’s purely technical content.

Consider how you can convey your thoughts, the uniqueness of what you offer, and your experience in the content. For instance, I worked with a client in web development whose content mostly consisted of tips on choosing providers and website-building hacks.

When I asked him what made his work special, he emphasized the amazing transformation he brings to digital assets – the before and after of a website.

Fantastic! This meant we could focus on showcasing the transformation of the sites he worked on while highlighting his creative thinking and the purpose behind each digital asset.

The second crucial aspect when building authority is the content distribution system.

Expanding the existing audience is vital for building authority. This requires reaching new people consistently and creating content that is attractive enough for others to consume, read, and share.

Emphasizing the importance of not only promoting content on your website but also sharing it on social networks is key. It involves creating deep, storytelling content with examples that can genuinely help others.

As part of the recommended strategy, consider collaborating with others and expanding your audience by connecting with other authorities in their respective fields. This collaborative approach can open up new opportunities for reaching a broader audience.

2. Precision Lead Generation

When crafting a content marketing strategy for lead generation, the focus is on enticing people to join a mailing list. This allows you to maintain permission to stay on their radar, eventually persuading them through marketing efforts. Two essential elements drive this strategy: traffic and a compelling “hook” or tempting offer that the specific audience finds irresistible, motivating them to share their details in exchange for the enticing gift.

Content designed to generate substantial traffic differs from thought leadership content aimed at establishing authority. It’s often practical, addressing a specific need of your audience without being overly deep or lengthy. Guides, tutorials, and checklists serve as mechanisms for lead generation.

It’s crucial to acknowledge the content inflation since the onset of the pandemic. In simpler terms, there’s a lot of content out there that’s essentially like junk. If you genuinely want to invest in a product that generates leads, you need to understand what sets you apart in the eyes of potential customers.

Consider what your offering will save them in terms of time, energy, or money. How will it organize their life and streamline their path?

Even though you’re providing a free product, it tells a story about you and your knowledge, showcasing the kind of service provider you are. It speaks to your professionalism and understanding. Invest in this product.

To achieve real growth, advertising with payment becomes essential. It allows you to reach new audiences who haven’t been exposed to you yet.

While I currently rely on organic methods due to past negative experiences with paid marketers, I acknowledge that embracing paid advertising is crucial for taking clients to the next level. Overcoming reluctance and incorporating paid advertising will likely be a necessary step for further growth.

3. Organic marketing – use the words of your customers

The third type of content marketing strategy focuses on creating content that continues to work for your brand over the long term. This involves the ability to analyze what your specific audience is searching for and crafting content around it using the right keywords.

This process is officially known as search engine optimization (SEO), where optimizing words becomes crucial for success. Almost every business, especially in a country like Israel where searches are conducted in Hebrew, can benefit from the fruits of SEO processes.

When it comes to an organic marketing strategy, the key is understanding what people are really looking for, how they use search engines, and the exact words they use. This goes beyond single words, encompassing pairs of words and even “long tails,” which are several words that are consistently searched together.

A remarkable example is when I started creating content on “storytelling.” Despite appearing on the homepage, it didn’t gain much traction. After some research, I discovered that people were searching for “storytelling examples.” I used this keyword pair to create content, and it remains the top result for that search to this day.

Keyword research often requires a professional to conduct the search and extract suitable words and phrases. It’s undoubtedly not a small task, but an organic strategy is designed for the long term.

For instance, when I went freelance, I wrote an article about “employee turnover,” and even after five years, it continues to shine in my statistics. People still find it valuable and click on it, showcasing the enduring impact of a well optimized piece of content. (Whether it should remain on my site, given my changed focus, is another question to consider.)

In conclusion,

Every business needs to find the strategy that fits. It’s totally cool to stick with one plan or switch things up based on your goals. Just keep in mind, there’s always a bit of overlap in the results.

As a marketing pro, I get that an organic strategy using search terms is all about snagging potential customers searching for your product or service online. It’s kinda like a lead generation strategy because I can use search terms that guide folks to a landing page or product page. Then there’s the whole thought leadership and authority-building thing – that can snag some pretty relevant leads for the biz. And a lead generation strategy? Well, that can also get you noticed as an authority on a specific keyword.

Even with all the overlap, I suggest breaking down these strategies and making a plan for each of your marketing goals. Keep it separate but strategic, you know?