When it comes to content marketing, a few adjustments can make the difference and lead to success.

Here are 7 tips you need to implement to gain the tactical edge needed to stay ahead of the competition.

1. Aim for evergreen content.

Evergreen content is content that stays relevant over a long period of time.

A good example of such content can be seen on MeetFabric. Instead of publishing mass quantities of blog posts, they focus on creating longer content that offers more quality.

These posts are so desirable because they perform well over a long period of time, search engines love them, and they are a great way to keep your website’s content organized and engaging for visitors.

2. Develop a great understanding of the marketing/sales funnel.

The overall performance of your content marketing efforts can only benefit from an increased understanding of the marketing or sales funnel. Simply put, the marketing funnel is a term that describes the three phases that make the entirety of the buyer’s journey: awareness, evaluation, and purchase.

Some content marketers go on to add a fourth phase after purchase called the ‘delight’ phase, during which brand loyalty is established.

The success of your content marketing depends on how much attention you pay to your content funnel in order to learn what pushes buyers from one phase to the other.

As a content marketer, you want to create a 4f-part strategy that meets the needs of your audience at each stage of their journey towards a purchase:

Outreach: Creating awareness about your service or product and attracting potential customers.
Conversion: Convincing these prospects to purchase.
Closing: Making the sale to a customer who purchases.
Retention: Establishing brand loyalty and creating repeat customers.

Read also: Why Your Site Isn’t Generating Leads

3. Constantly analyze the numbers.

A good content strategy is not set in stone. You have to constantly evaluate the numbers surrounding your content strategy in order to find out what works and what needs to be changed.

Information like this is important in the building of your funnel because knowledge about what works in one phase can be used in creating content for the next phase.

Ask key questions like:

• What needs to be improved?

• What content, tools, apps, and platforms are performing well or not so well?

• What is the best use of time and resources as far as conversion is concerned?

• How are all the pieces blending together?

Content marketing need not be a shot in the dark–far from it! By continually analyzing the effectiveness of what you are doing, you gain a clearer idea of your audience’s interests, preferences, and purchasing behavior. The result is a highly effective funnel.

4. Create a content calendar.

A content calendar works for your content strategy in much the same way an editorial calendar works for a traditional publication, and it is just as vitally important.

Check out this free marketing calendar template.

In creating your calendar you want to make room for special dates, like major events and holidays, in your industry.

Just being aware of what is going on event wise will put you ahead of most other companies and help boost your brand. You will also want to leave some blank spots for unexpected events or trending topics that might crop up and require content at the last minute.

Your content calendar can do more than plan what needs to be published. It can also define where it will be published. Plan what channels will benefit your content marketing efforts in the following months, and place them right next to the relevant pieces of content you wish to publish.

5. Learn to repurpose your content.

As you decide on the channels through which you are going to publish your content, you want to keep in mind the purpose for each piece of content. You also want to discover which content combinations can be published together in order to save time and resources.

For example, you may want to consider using guest posting to establish authority, use social media to grow tribes and groups, and compose blog posts in tandem with an email series to create a greater effect.

You can also take old content and reformat for different channels and purposes. For example, you can convert old blog posts to an ebook or infographic to act as a lead generation source.

Read also: 7 Creative and Easy Ways to Repurpose Blog Content

6. Establish a specific direction for your content.

Decide on the various content formats for each stage of your marketing funnel in order to establish a clear purpose for each piece of content. This makes for more impactful content. You could decide on something like this:

Outreach: Infographics, Landing pages, Facebook ads, explainer videos
Conversion: Informational posts, social media, case studies
Closing: Email series, questionnaires
Retention: Exclusive offers, whitepapers, emails, surveys, contests

7. Set measurable goals for your content marketing.

Don’t fall into the trap of creating content for the sake of creating content. Define clear, measurable goals for your business which you want to achieve using content marketing.

For example:

Do you want increased awareness?
Do you want more leads?
Do you want more sales?
Do you want to build an email list?

Having clear goals will give your plan clarity while preventing wasted effort.

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This article was written by Bruno Souza.