CONTENT MARKETING SUCCESS

A content strategy needs to include more than just one type of content. It includes:

Research and idea generation

Idea validation

Production

PromotionConversion

It's easy to dive straight into brainstorming and idea generation, and sometimes, that can work. However, I'd always recommend a period of research into an industry prior to this so that you can get a feel for what's been done before, what has worked, and what hasn't. This can mean that you go into a brainstorming section far better equipped to generate ideas that may work.

One thing to point out at this stage is that you shouldn't put yourself under pressure to come up with a completely new idea. It's great if you can, but the reality is that it's unlikely that something has never, ever been done before in some form or another. So you shouldn't put this pressure on yourself. The following quote is an apt one:

"An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements."

I think you'd agree that over 75 years later, this quote is even more true now!

Therefore, a big part of the thinking behind our process is looking for inspiration in what others have done and asking ourselves if we can do it a little bit better or a bit differently.

I'm certainly not saying you shouldn't try to come up with brand new ideas, but don't let an idea fall by the wayside just because it has been done before.

The most successful* content that you find will come down to at least one of three things:

The story – If something has a strong story or hook behind it, it's more likely to grab attention and be picked up by mainstream news websites and publishers.

The data – Often tied into the story but not always explicitly, if you have unique data or data that has been sliced/interpreted differently, it can be of more interest to someone.

The production – Sometimes a piece of content may just look visually stunning, and that is enough to generate links and shares.

There is one more which I want to point out, but it's been deliberately left out of the list above. The one other thing that can make a piece of content successful is an existing audience to market that audience to. 

* Successful, in the context of this post, means generating links and social shares that drive quality traffic. Success can mean many things to different businesses, so I just wanted to remind you of this.