Content marketing is really at the crux of setting up an inbound marketing strategy with the objective of “attracting” your customer. That’s why it’s essential to define an editorial strategy.
The first step is to define your goals and identify your readership. Then, choose the channels you’ll use. It might turn out that there are quite a few! (social networks, blog, e-mail …).
For the following advice on the development of your editorial strategy, I’ll use the “What, Who, Where, How, How much, Why method.
[WHAT]: Your editorial line’s objectives
Your editorial line determines how to communicate in various media. It has to define the tone used, the intended target, as well as dictate the choice of themes and subjects.
Your editorial line should reflect your business and industry. For example, a company that works in the food sector will focus its content on subjects that affect its field: new food standards, novelties in packaging, figures and trends, etc.
It’s important to focus on your core business and expertise. Your editorial line reflects your brand image, reinforces the strength of your discourse, and ensures your credibility.
Defining your objectives is the number one priority when putting together an editorial strategy. So, what are yours?
- Promote your business and your teams
- Increase your visibility and awareness
- Generate leads
- Increase your sales
- Stand out from your competitors
[WHO]: Define your target
Once you’ve defined your editorial line, you can start the editorial strategy phase. This begins with the definition of the intended target. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Who is your content for? Decision makers, prescribers, influencers, B2B or B2C companies, age, interests…
- What are your goals? Generate leads, increase your traffic, boost sales, encourage contact…
The content of your editorial line will have to adapt to your target to be able to capture them, to meet your objectives.
[Where]: Which channels to use, where to publish?
Your target is set, you now know who you are addressing, and that’s great! It’s important to note that behaviors on the web are different depending on the type of person, sector, activities … if your customers are in the B2B sector, favor channels like blogs, newsletters, and social networks …
According to a Quicksprout study
In B2B, 91% of companies use LinkedIn, 65% say they’ve acquired at least 1 customer there. 40% of companies use this network to search for a new service or technology.
85% of companies in the B2B sector use Twitter and 50% consider Twitter an effective social network for generating leads.
In B2C, these figures are different, for millennials they’re different too, and so on and so forth.
The channels you use will depend on your target audience. Those most frequently used are:
- Social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…
- Blogs
- Emailing
- Ebook
[HOW]: Define the content and the editorial framework
To establish your editorial framework, define what type of content you want to broadcast. Your content can be informative, sales-oriented, institutional …
It can be an article, e-book, questions / answers, the important thing is to make your content attractive, and to create the need to find out more.
Define the subjects that suit you well, and on which you can position yourself as a specialist:
Offer advice: Do your customers / prospects often ask the same questions about a service, a product? Be reactive, provide detailed and customized responses
Promote your company: what is your added value, who are the teams, the experts …
Offer technical posts: you are an actor in the automotive industry? Do you sell pool pumps? What information do you think your readers truly crave?
[How much]: establish a frequency of publication
Your editorial strategy is part of your marketing strategy. To be consistent in your broadcasts, establish an editorial calendar with your contents sorted by channel.
In addition to being a great organizational tool, it will allow you to more easily follow your objectives.
It’s up to you to build a calendar that you can easily navigate. Here are some elements it could contain:
- Date of the publication
- Topics
- Keywords
- Target
- Objectives
- Channels
- Author
There are many tools that can help you build an editorial calendar, take advantage of them!
[Why]: Reinforce your expertise, stand out from the competition
As you’ve certainly gathered by now, your editorial strategy is at the heart of your content and fits into your web marketing strategy. An effective editorial strategy will be a major differentiating asset and will strengthen your brand image.
Don’t wait, stand out from the crowd!
