26 Essential Content Marketing Changes for Immediate Success

It's likely you're aiming to enhance your content marketing outcomes. Whether you seek increased visitors, higher conversions, or more sales, your objective is to gain insights into effective content marketing—an admirable pursuit.

IMPACT Branding and Design reports that 77% of marketers employ content marketing, yet 66% of businesses categorize their content as "basic." Surprisingly, 62% of businesses aspire to produce higher-quality content. It appears that content marketing is widespread, but the quest for superior results persists.

I've been involved in content marketing from the start, and throughout my journey, I've discovered that a handful of straightforward adjustments can dramatically transform the outcomes of your content marketing endeavors.

In this article, I'll unveil 26 changes that demand your immediate attention in the realm of content marketing. Putting these suggestions into action will elevate your visitor count, enhance conversion rates, and propel your sales to new heights.

Let's dive right in.

To kick things off, it's crucial to establish a well-defined content marketing strategy.

Although this might appear self-evident, it's surprisingly uncommon, yet it's a pivotal factor that can determine the success or failure of your content marketing efforts.

As per Contently, a mere 39 percent of companies possess a documented content strategy. This is a significant oversight.

When devising your plan, it's essential to consider various pieces of information. 

First and foremost, outline your objectives clearly. Are you aiming to boost product sales, increase trial subscription signups, or simply drive more traffic to your website?

Once you have clarity on this aspect, determine how you'll gauge success. Which key performance indicators (KPIs) will you employ? 

While these may align with your goals at times, they often differ. For instance, if you're selling a high-value B2B product, success may be measured by leads, as it requires ongoing communication to convert those leads into customers.

However, crafting a strategy is just the beginning. In the same infographic, Contently proceeds to elucidate the subsequent step: the implementation of the strategy you've devised.

Given that 72 percent of B2B marketers attribute their content marketing success to strategy, this is a crucial area you shouldn't overlook.

Once you've identified your goals and KPIs, I recommend crafting a content marketing checklist comprising the essential elements you intend to incorporate.

For instance, this checklist may encompass the necessary components for each content piece, your sharing strategy, or the promotional tools you'll employ.

I'll delve deeper into these strategies shortly, but keep in mind: a plan holds little value unless you consistently implement it for every new piece of content you create.

Initiating a content marketing plan is relatively simple, yet maintaining steadfast commitment to it over the long haul proves to be considerably more challenging.

The issue lies in the fact that content marketing isn't a quick, temporary solution. It's a strategy that yields results only when consistently implemented over the course of several years.

HubSpot's examination of their content marketing success revealed a striking statistic: 92 percent of their leads and 76 percent of their views were derived from older posts.

If you find that the rewards of your content marketing system are taking their time, don't lose heart. Keep in mind that the most significant results often materialize months or even years after you hit the publish button.

If you're consistently publishing content but not witnessing significant traction, the root of the problem might not lie within the content itself.

The challenge could very well stem from the strategies you employ for content promotion.

For those just embarking on their content marketing journey, it's important to recognize that initial success with search engine traffic may be limited.

Instead, it's advisable to channel your efforts toward cultivating social shares (which generate short-term traffic) and securing backlinks (which will fortify your efforts in the long run).

CoSchedule, for instance, leverages Google Alerts as a means to build backlinks. Whenever they are mentioned in an article, they proactively reach out and request a backlink.

This straightforward approach aids in promoting your content, ultimately elevating its ranking in Google and yielding long-term results.

By prioritizing content promotion, the task becomes manageable, even if you lack a substantial following.

When it comes to content creation, how do you go about selecting a topic?

If you're akin to most marketers, you might opt for an idea you've had lingering or choose a subject matter that personally interests you.

While these approaches can yield favorable results, they tend to be the exception rather than the norm.

To achieve genuine content success, it's imperative to write in alignment with your audience's preferences, rather than solely focusing on your own interests or presumptions about what they should desire.

A key strategy for crafting such compelling content involves creating and leveraging buyer personas tailored to the content pieces you produce.

While there's certainly value in discussing current trends, relying solely on this approach won't lead to the flourishing of your content marketing efforts.

Attempting to keep pace with the latest trends would necessitate frequent publishing, possibly multiple times a week or even daily, just to remain relevant. This strategy may work for colossal news outlets like The Huffington Post, which churn out thousands of articles per month, but it's not a sustainable path for most businesses.

So, what's the solution? It's rather straightforward. Shift your focus towards producing evergreen content—content that delves into enduring topics and remains valuable for years to come.

For instance, when Drift conducted a content review in June, it discovered that less than 16 percent of its website traffic was attributed to content published during that period. The majority of visits came from their evergreen content that had been published earlier.

CoSchedule had a similar experience. Their timeless content pieces from years past played a pivotal role in boosting their SEO traffic by a staggering 594 percent over the span of two years.

By creating this type of content, you can ensure long-term success.

When many individuals contemplate content marketing, their thoughts typically gravitate towards blogs and articles.

However, it's crucial to recognize that content marketing is as varied as the individuals who produce and consume it.

If your content portfolio consists solely of blog posts, you may be overlooking substantial opportunities. The Online Marketing Institute has identified 11 distinct types of content marketing.

Consider broadening your content horizons by exploring new content formats, such as audio, social media, and even in-person methods.

Optimize Your Content for Social Engagement

While most marketers understand the importance of sharing their content on social media, they often struggle with the execution.

There are countless strategies, but some are more straightforward to implement than others.

One approach I particularly favor for extending social media reach is the Splinter Technique, as elucidated by Digital Marketer.

To implement this effectively, generate bite-sized, shareable snippets from your content. These snippets can be scheduled for social media sharing in the weeks following your content's publication.

The significance of video in content marketing cannot be overstated. You might still underestimate just how pivotal video will be for your long-term content marketing success.

It's worth noting that video is expected to account for a substantial 79 percent of all consumer web traffic by 2018.

Are you adequately prepared for this substantial shift, given that more than three-quarters of web traffic is expected to be driven by this single content type?

One of the simplest methods to capitalize on this trend is by transforming existing content into video format. With a few adjustments, you can convert a blog post, podcast, or even an infographic into a video script. Equipped with some basic tools, you can seamlessly adapt your content into video form, harnessing the potential of this burgeoning content medium.

If you're uncertain about where to begin with your content creation, here's a clear directive: research.

To derive maximum value from your content, it's imperative to incorporate current research and data to substantiate your arguments. Infuse your content with an abundance of graphs, charts, and statistics. This approach not only underscores the foundation of your claims but also distinguishes your work from the deluge of opinion pieces saturating the internet.

Indeed, this form of content creation demands additional effort. I invest hours in research and writing for each post, but the outcomes speak for themselves.

CoSchedule, for instance, specializes in crafting detailed, research-driven content, and this approach has enabled them to amass more than 37,000 backlinks.

Invest the effort, and you'll eventually witness the significant outcomes that result from this approach.

You've likely encountered advice advocating for a presence on all social media platforms. It often feels like there's a constant influx of new trends, urging everyone to join Snapchat, Instagram, or the latest popular platform.

However, dedicating your time to social media channels that don't align with your goals is counterproductive. Curata's data reveals that the optimal platforms for B2B businesses differ significantly from those suitable for B2C companies.

If you operate in the B2B content marketing realm, LinkedIn should be a staple in your strategy. However, it rarely garners significant attention from the B2C companies I've collaborated with.

The key is to discern which platforms align best with your objectives. Don't hastily adopt the latest trends; instead, concentrate on where you're making the most impact.

Previously, I mentioned the importance of creating buyer personas to tailor your content effectively. However, what you may not be aware of is that your customers evolve, and the target audience you originally thought you were reaching might have shifted since you developed those personas.

To prevent your focus from stagnating and losing touch with your content's readers and consumers, strive to maintain ongoing conversations with your customers. According to HubSpot, 42 percent of B2B businesses host customer user groups or other events to gain deeper insights into their target market.

If it's not feasible for you to meet your target customers in person, make an effort to regularly survey them to keep your buyer persona up to date. Customer research should be an ongoing process, not a one-time endeavor.

Surprisingly, many content marketers I engage with do not invest in content distribution at all. Some of them believe it's an unfair method of driving traffic or not in line with how content marketing "should" be conducted.

But why not? I frequently invest in content distribution because it's an excellent way to enhance brand and article awareness. According to MyCustomer, the most common paid methods for content promotion include social promotion and search engine marketing.

If you're not utilizing these methods to enhance your content's visibility, you're missing out on significant opportunities.

Allocate a modest budget for paid advertisements, and observe how your traffic, leads, and sales soar.

Many content marketers publish their content, engage in some promotion, and then forget about it. This is a significant mistake. Every piece of content you create can and should be periodically updated.

Given that your older content has likely garnered backlinks and social shares, it has the potential to succeed again when re-released. You can effortlessly expand on your previous content by incorporating new tips, strategies, or templates.

By doing this, you won't just boost its current popularity, but you can also enhance its ranking in search engine results because Google considers recency as a ranking factor.

Ever wondered what type of content resonates with your audience? The answer doesn't have to be elusive. People tend to prefer highly actionable, step-by-step content that provides a clear process for accomplishing a task.

According to Uberflip, 62 percent of buyers appreciate marketers including prescriptive content with numbered steps to help them achieve specific goals.

The second and third most popular topics are also related to actionable content, with blueprints and toolkits (51 percent) and tools and calculators (37 percent) taking those places.

In essence, your content should primarily focus on teaching your readers how to solve problems.

You've likely heard that visual content is compelling, so why aren't you utilizing it more in your content marketing strategy?

Despite being a crucial aspect of your content, Venngage reports that 71.1 percent of marketers dedicate less than five hours per week to creating visuals.

That's astounding.

You can effortlessly transform your content into visuals using a few techniques that require minimal effort on your part.

Digital Marketer outlines five straightforward methods for visualizing your content: incorporating quote boxes, utilizing images like photographs, creating infographics, incorporating GIFs, and capturing screenshots.

All of these are quick and straightforward methods to enhance the visual appeal of your content, which can significantly boost its shareability.

There's a widespread misconception that blog readers have short attention spans and prefer articles that are 500 words or less. However, this myth doesn't hold true.

In fact, I would argue that the opposite is true. Some of my most popular posts are lengthy, and this type of long-form content performs exceptionally well in search engine rankings.

I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Data suggests that the "ideal" post should be approximately 1,600 words in length.

And if you're aiming for outstanding results in search engine rankings, just like I am, you'll want to craft posts that are even lengthier.

That's why the majority of the articles I produce exceed 3,000 words. They are comprehensive and feature high-quality content supported by thorough research and data.

Given that I write for advanced marketers, this type of long-form content proves to be the most beneficial for them.

If you've been primarily creating short content, consider experimenting with longer, more in-depth pieces to see how they align with your objectives.

Everyone seems to offer various advice on how to enhance your content marketing, which can be overwhelming.

Should you invest time in sharing content on social media, promoting older articles to your email list, or publishing daily?

It's a lot to digest. Fortunately, there's a more effective approach: focus on what delivers results.

While testing various strategies can be beneficial, if you don't observe positive outcomes, it's best to move on.

There's nothing more disheartening than persistently concentrating on a single strategy, only to realize years later that it was unproductive.

Coredna's example to-do list illustrates how many marketers contemplate their approach. They often feel obligated to do it all.

This approach is a surefire way to exhaust yourself and likely achieve minimal results.

Instead, identify the most effective strategies and concentrate your efforts there, prior to experimenting with numerous techniques that may not yield significant results.

If your content serves solely as a platform for sales pitches to your potential customers, you're making a substantial error.

Individuals who will eventually make purchases from you aren't keen on encountering sales pitches within your content marketing—they seek to acquire knowledge.

According to research conducted by Uberflip, 74 percent of buyers expressed a desire for marketers to reduce the volume of sales-oriented messages.

(Additionally, 76 percent of buyers expressed a desire for more data and research, as discussed earlier in point number 10.)

While using your content marketing for sales is important, it's essential to recognize that this should be a secondary objective, not the primary focus of your content strategy.

Begin by engaging new clients and prospects with valuable content, and then transition to sales activities through other channels further along the sales funnel.

When embarking on your content marketing journey, it might feel like the results from your search engine traffic will take an eternity to materialize. It's true that it can take several years before SEO significantly impacts your traffic. However, it's crucial to take SEO seriously right from the start.

SEO plays a pivotal role in attracting high-quality traffic, and your future self will thank you for adhering to SEO best practices now.

One of the fundamental steps to begin with SEO for your content marketing is to strategically place keywords in critical locations on your page. This straightforward on-page SEO practice will enhance the effectiveness of your content and lead to substantial search engine traffic growth in the future.

You can even revisit your older articles and implement on-page SEO to enhance their search engine ranking.

The sooner you prepare your content for search engines, the faster you'll see an increase in traffic.

If you're encountering challenges in maintaining a consistent content publishing schedule, the issue may lie in the content management system you're using.

I recommend creating an editorial calendar to monitor all the posts you create and promote.

The method you choose for this is flexible and depends on your preferences. For instance, Buffer employs a Trello board to keep track of the articles they have in the pipeline, assigning responsibilities for writing and editing.

Using a tool like Google Calendar is an excellent choice for those who prefer a time-based approach.

Regardless of your choice, maintaining clarity in responsibilities and having a well-defined process for managing and publishing your content is crucial.

As previously mentioned, converting your content into video and visual formats is essential, but it's also beneficial to explore various other media options.

The hub and spoke method, as described by Dreamgrow, can be a valuable approach to accomplish this.

To employ this method, start by selecting a piece of your most popular content. Then, transform that content into various formats tailored for different channels.

For instance, you can take a well-received blog post and use its concepts to create a video, slide presentation, podcast episode, infographic, or email series.

The possibilities for this approach are virtually limitless. Instead of struggling to generate diverse content, leverage your existing ideas to reach a significantly larger audience.

If you're uncertain about how to proceed with repurposing your content for different channels, it's wise to examine your industry and identify the formats that resonate most with your target audience.

According to IMPACT Branding and Design, whitepapers are the preferred content format for B2B buyers.

While this might not come as a surprise in the B2B space, very few B2C customers would even consider engaging with a whitepaper, let alone create one.

If you're borrowing strategies from other industries, it's essential to carefully assess how your specific market influences the type of content you produce.

For instance, in the fitness industry, videos may perform exceptionally well, while a podcast may not gain much traction. Conversely, in the language learning niche, a daily podcast might drive more sales than a year's worth of high-quality videos.

Experiment and prioritize strategies that align with your unique requirements and industry.

As mentioned earlier, the hub-and-spoke method isn't just for repurposing content into various media formats; it can also be used to generate new pieces of content.

Suppose you've had an article go viral or achieve a significant surge in popularity. In that case, you can capitalize on its success by creating additional content that taps into the same trend.

Codeless suggests turning a popular blog post into a series of related articles to further expand your reach using this approach.

Break down the key takeaways from your main post and transform each of them into individual articles.

This approach is an excellent way to discover compelling topic ideas without the often time-consuming customer research typically required.

While tackling broad topics that target massive audiences might seem appealing, you'll likely face challenges in generating substantial traffic or achieving high search engine rankings with such content.

Instead, identify a narrow subject that focuses on a specific aspect of your intended discussion. Then further refine it to cater to a particular audience segment.

For instance, instead of crafting content about social media marketing in general, zero in on a specific platform like Twitter. To narrow it down even further, tailor your content for freelance graphic designers.

This targeted approach not only provides more impact within your target market by addressing a specific audience but also allows you to tap into long-tail keywords, which tend to perform exceptionally well in search engine results, as noted by Placester.

Implement these targeted topics to witness substantial enhancements in your content marketing strategy.

Last but certainly not least, don't underestimate the power of experimentation.

In reality, everything you encounter online, including the content I've crafted, is shaped by personal experiences and research that might not align with your circumstances.

While my recommendations are rooted in the best available research, you might discover that your situation warrants an entirely different approach.

If that's the case, it's essential to prioritize strategies that prove most effective for your particular market, industry, and audience.

It's worth noting that 84 percent of marketers employ analytics tools to assess their content marketing efforts, as highlighted by MyCustomer, which is a commendable practice.

Utilize the insights gathered from these tools to conduct experiments with various techniques.

Don't hesitate to abandon strategies that prove ineffective for your specific situation. Instead, venture into new approaches to assess their potential for improvement.

Regardless of the alterations you introduce to your content marketing strategy, prioritize testing and refinement. Concentrate on strategies that deliver the best results for your business.

If you're aiming to optimize your content marketing outcomes, there are likely several areas where you can quickly enhance your efforts.

By conducting thorough customer research, crafting top-notch content, and emphasizing content distribution, you can significantly boost the effectiveness of your content marketing.

As you strive for improvement, continue testing to identify what works and what doesn't. Analyze the strategies employed by industry leaders and experiment with their methods.

Start by implementing one change, then gradually introduce additional improvements until you've enhanced as many aspects as desired.

With these 26 adjustments, you can be confident that your content marketing will gain traction, attracting more visitors, leads, and customers than ever before.

Which changes are you planning to implement in your content marketing strategy?