By now you’re well aware of the value and necessity of having a well-planned marketing strategy and branded Web presence to build credibility, relationships and partnerships that will grow and sustain your business.
You also know an effective marketing plan includes a blog and messages distributed through social media. These venues involve content development and delivery.
What is content?
Content is every textual and visual component you use to identify your business. It comprises your blog, your website and any venue that communicates something about you to an audience.
Content is one way you stand apart from your competition. It is your staffing firm’s benchmark, identification in the marketplace, and a form of direct selling as it “speaks” for and about you.
Content also conveys subconscious visual subtleties and messages about your firm, staff, values and culture. These subtleties and messages are a form of passive selling (and why everything you put in front of a potential client or candidate should consistently reflect your firm’s brand).
Since these messages reach your intended and potential customers, all content should work synergistically, that is, toward the same goal.
How do you develop a content strategy?
1. Think of the Internet as a living creature. It grows and evolves, and your firm’s presence grows and evolves with it.
2. Do some usability research. Profile your competitors then make certain you benchmark your firm with content suitable for your clients or candidates. Survey your audience by asking directly what they want to know or are interested in learning.
3. Consider the maturity of your audience. Gather information about age ranges, education and reading levels, kinds of topics you wish to blog about, how the blog might be formatted (include outbound links and subheads), and whether you wish to supporting include images or videos.
4. Keep in mind that all visitors are interested in what you can do or provide for them. The easier (more obvious) you can make it for them to find what they need or want, the sooner you begin relationship-building.
5. Content development is more than putting words on a page. A content development strategy is one which responds to your audience. It make take a little while to find the ideal voice, but the point is to start somewhere.
6. Align your blog and social media with the voice of your firm. Some topics will garner lots of response and others little, but consistency is key. Build an archive by topic and make it searchable for visitors.
Enlist expert content development help.
To keep your efforts credible, content development must be professionally written and appear well-formatted. It should be original (and not cut and pasted from undocumented sources) and keyword and SEO compliant.
ASJ Partners can help with a content development strategy for your staffing firm. Contact us or call 610 930-5300
