The thought of developing a content strategy can be overwhelming. However, getting a good strategy in place will ensure your audience finds what they need to inspire action. This will boost your business through engagement, increased traffic and sales.
If content strategy has been on the back burner for some time, it’s refreshing to note that you can make great progress in just half a day. Asking yourself five questions could give you the framework to begin producing expert content that will help you achieve your business goals.
1. Who is Your Audience?
Thinking about who your target audience is will help you cater for their needs. It is possible to cater for multiple audiences, so jotting down a list of all your potential users is helpful, too.
For a healthcare business, your audience could include:
- Individual/private customers or consumers
- Businesses
- Relatives and friends
- Healthcare professionals
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Equipment providers
Each audience will be looking for a specific type of medical content, and will likely use a different channel to search for it. Recognising how to deliver specialist health content to the right audience will help attract (and keep) prospects.
2. What Problem Will You Solve?
Potential clients or customers are commonly trying to solve a problem. When they reach your website or view your content via another channel, they want to be coached and supported to find the answers or start working towards a solution.
The solution could be guiding them to the right product, or providing relevant, well-researched facts on a particular topic.
To understand the problems that your general audience might want help with, it is beneficial to interview your existing customers or conduct market research of potential clients. A starting list for learning more about the needs of your target audience might include learning about their:
- Habits and preferences
- Demographics
- Biggest perceived problems
- Usual reading lists or educational standard
- Ideas regarding potential or ideal solutions
3. Why Choose Your Business?
The internet is awash with businesses, and this means potential customers need to know why your product or service is better than your competitors’.
Write a list of your assets, and think about which one makes you unique. Perhaps you have far more experience than newer businesses, have an exclusive product or provide a service that no-one else can.
Once you have your USP, prove why potential customers should trust you with their time, money or resources by infusing this information throughout your content.
4. Which Format is Best for Your Content?
Discovering where your audience hangs out will help ensure your content finds them. Once you know where they are, you can decide on the format of the content you produce. You may need to consider several of the following:
- Social media posts
- Articles or blogs
- Images or short reels
- Long-form video content
- Podcasts
- Producing guest articles for other relevant sites
- Direct marketing
- Free guides or handbooks
5. What Should Your Content Calendar Look Like?
Once you have worked through the above 4 steps, it’s time to begin putting it altogether. Whether you are working alone or as part of a team, you will need to decide which content you need to produce, and when you want it to go live.
Content can be grouped by target audience and topic. To establish yourself as a thought leader, you may at first prefer to produce a range of content across all relevant topics and in a variety of formats. Creating a calendar of when you intend to publish each item will help you stay on track. Once your core content is in place and you have captured your audience, begin planning how and when you will highlight each topic to provide solutions potential clients are searching for.
Final Thoughts
The thought of developing content strategy might fill you with dread, but following the above 5 steps is a great way to begin producing expert content that will be relevant and valuable to your target audience. Understanding who your audience is, what they need, and how they like to digest their content, is key to helping you achieve your business goals.
Hiring an experienced health content writer will help your business grow. If you’re ready to book expert health writing, get in touch with me today.