If you’re looking ahead to 2022 and planning to connect more with your customers, a content plan is a good place to start. Content planning doesn’t only help you to resource and execute new material for your business, it also helps you to focus your attention on the information your customers want to hear.
Let’s take a closer look at how content planning could benefit your business.
Improve the search performance of your website with fresh content
Google is constantly searching for the most active and relevant website to match the queries it receives online. Fresh content is a smart way to demonstrate that your business is both.
A content plan is a great way to identify what your customers are searching for and put plans in place to provide content that answers those queries. With the right keywords and a relevant message, adding new content to your website across the year can increase your organic ranking and the chance of Google promoting you over your competitors.
Active businesses are a key part of Google’s algorithms when they are ranking websites. If you haven’t added new content to your website you’re more likely to miss out on a potential customer’s search query. A content plan helps you to make sure you’re making regular updates, so you’re continuously sharing new news.
Take a look at your competitors and see what content they are providing. What the competition is doing is a good way to set a benchmark for how much you need to add into your plan.
Sharing content is a great way to promote your business on Google Business and social media
If you’re active on social media and you send out emails to your customers, you may experience the challenge of ‘what to share?’. A content plan is an effective tool for aligning your communications with your business messages, and making sure you have the right messages in place when you connect with your audience.
Building your content plan should start with a calendar of what’s happening in your business, what’s happening in your customer’s lives and how you want to connect the two across the year. Now you know what you need to talk about, you can create content that shares your important messages and keeps your customers up-to-date.
Give your customers more reasons to use your product or service
Do your customers understand the benefits or range of your products and services? If you want to broaden or deepen their comprehension of how your business can support them, content is a great tool to make it happen.
Your content plan can start by making sure your website content shares the full details of all of your products and services, and clearly explains the benefits of each. Articles, case studies, press releases and blogs and provide additional depth to this content that you can plan across the year.
Every time you share more information about what you do, you add more relevant searchable content to your website and increase the tools you have to educate your audience.
Content is also an important tool to demonstrate your understanding of your customer’s needs. When you create your content plan, challenge yourself to talk about what your customer needs to make life easier – not just what you want to sell them.
Planning a relevant conversation that supports your customers beyond your immediate offering is a powerful way to connect and push the relevance of your business. Examples could be a car mechanic who provides tips for taking road trips; a plumber who shares the latest trends in renovation and home makeovers; or a beautician who writes about taking care of your skin with a healthier diet.
Stand out from the crowd with search engine optimised content.
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Make it easier to recommend what you do
Content drives loyalty and loyalty drives recommendation. Planning content that offers your customers the information they need demonstrates that you care – even if it’s only recognised on a subliminal level.
When your happy, loyal customers recommend your business; fresh content also ensures they understand what you do. For first time customers your website will contain all the information they need to back up the recommendation and make a purchase.
New products, new services, new team members? Your connections to your customers are stronger when you involve them in your business and inform them as you grow both your offering and your team.
Content planning can help you to make sure a new product launch or service extension is quickly communicated to your existing customers. Planning ahead and making sure you have the right information on your website increases the chance of publicity through local press or radio, and of recommendations and purchases from visitors to your website.
Build trust by being current
A content plan doesn’t need to be complicated and it is possible to start small. To begin with you can focus on making sure that your website is always up-to-date. Your content plan could include a bi-annual review of the information on your website so you can update anything that’s no longer relevant.
Tweak or replace your company information regularly to keep it current. Remember photos are a great way to update your content and show that your business is functioning, trustworthy and available.
A content plan helps you to deliver
Many website owners have good intentions but the day-to-day running of a business gets in the way. It doesn’t take long for a new website to become 2 or 3 years old and there has still been no time to create articles and find more ways to engage with customers.
If you’re not currently adding any new content to your website, your content plan can be as simple as adding in a seasonal update and reviewing your products, services and company information once or twice a year. Once you work out what you want to achieve, a content plan makes it easier to manage how you will deliver it.
From planning to project management to writing.
We’re got your content needs covered.
Just like you need an expert to service your car’s engine, using an expert content writer can be an easier way to keep your website up-to-date. Good content writers can let you know how much your content will cost, can make sure it’s optimised for search, and can supply the expertise and resources you need to interview customers or research topics that form the basis of your content.
If you’re planning to create your content inhouse, a content plan can help you to schedule your content for when you have time to deliver it. Keep your initial content spaced out and try to stick to timelines so you can tick off each piece of content as it’s complete. Remember quality not quantity is always a good place to start.
Providing content planning and delivery to Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne
caddie digital can offer your business direct access to our experienced content writers to plan and execute your content calendar. From project management to customer interviews to content creation. When we write content it brings your brand to life and gives you the tools you need to connect with your customers.
Why not connect with our team today and find out what’s possible.