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4 Key Factors for a Content Marketing Program

david@vayaconnect.com (David Navarro) — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 16:40:04 GMT

The success of your content marketing programs rests upon several key factors:

1: Well-defined strategy

Content marketing should be tied to specific goals and key performance indicators for the overall roadmap (aligning the digital program with corporate performance measures). The power of content lies in original, authentic, engaging content that provides information people want to see. It must embrace emotional and intellectual drivers to provide content that informs, entertains, and produces meaningful connection. Ultimately, the goal is to provide a value so inherent that the content itself creates subscription, sharing, and brand preference - accelerating the journey from discovery to advocacy.

The content marketing plan should include a mix of content types and destinations including: on-site, off-site, articles, social, blog posts, newsletters, case studies, infographics, white papers, webinars, micro sites, data-driven content, polls, quizzes, photos, videos, tools, recipes, and buying guides.

Content types should match the stages of the customer decision journey: awareness, engagement, consideration and connection, conversion (sign-ups, purchases), loyalty, and advocacy.

2: Goals for each piece of content

Key metrics for each piece of content will define its contribution to overall content marketing goals. Each piece of content should be considered in light of how it will help a customer, what need it will satisfy, and what key metric will measure its effectiveness in achieving goals outlined. Content should be written for the customer first (as opposed to overt sales messages or content primarily aimed at search engine rankings) providing an authentic value related to customer issues, pain points, and interests.

3: Clearly defined target audiences

Target audiences will match primary customer segments and customer profiles. Data from a variety of sources can be used to gain insights into customer profiles. This profile information may include demographic information (age, gender, geography, and income level), products purchased, amount of purchases, channel most frequently used, and content topics of interest). Writing content for specific audiences or “personas” helps to ensure relevance to specific needs. Testing can be done with sample customers from each segment to confirm content is on track and rated highly.

4: Content Governance, Workflow, and Variations

Governance is the process of ensuring that all aspects of the content marketing plan are clear and organized for execution according to defined standards. A well organized schedule and process for content production, review, publication, and measurement is critical to content marketing effectiveness.

The plan should include standards for content:

Style guide: look and feel
Editorial guidelines: tone and voice
Emotional and rational elements of customer experience
Plan for consistency across channels and devices
Assign roles of content creation, review, and distribution
Define guidelines for content variation by audience segment, content type, and destinations
Archiving standards

As competition increases and digital platforms rapidly evolve, it is important for brands to create and distribute relevant content at the right time.

3 Tips to Boost Your Content’s Appeal

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 16:40:03 GMT

1: Reach your audience on an intrinsic, relatable level

The first step to content marketing is to thoroughly understand your audience. Research the driving forces behind their actions. Spend time with them online. If you are listening to what they are saying on social media and other venues, you can tailor content to their interests. The time you take understanding your customer personas will help create more relevant, engaging, and valuable content that they consume, share, and act upon.

2: Deliver value

This can take many forms: Giving your audience information they can put to use in their everyday lives, delivering new infor- mation that they find interesting, or simply entertaining.

3: Mind your P’s and Q’s — literally

The quality of your writing, your tone, and your style all play an important part in creating popular and shareable content. Over time, build up a library and style guide so that your brand is consistent and new content is easier to create.

Case Study for The Vitamin Shoppe

david@vayaconnect.com (David Navarro) — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 16:40:02 GMT

Launch of a Full Featured Mobile Site Grows E-commerce Revenue 18.5%

The Challenge

The Vitamin Shoppe is a leader in health and wellness products with over 700 locations throughout the United States. As more competition entered the market, The Vitamin Shoppe looked to Vaya to help create a seamless purchasing journey to remain competitive.

The Results

Vaya created The Vitamin Shoppe omni-channel (Web, Mobile, Social and Store) user experience strategy roadmap to meet investor goals for $600 million + increase in overall revenue through digital deployment and integration.
Focus on a fully integrated content, community, and commerce experience through all stages of customer journey (awareness, acquisition, conversion, loyalty and advocacy).
Developed a mobile user experience, fully integrated to a central user profile for content personalization, offer optimization, and robust logged-in user experience. Our innovative approach to architecture was recognized by Internet Retailer and resulted in 18.5% increase in digital revenue contribution to sales.
The eCommerce strategy and designs for The Vitamin Shoppe were validated prior to launch. A/B testing and analysis of the final designs using a full featured prototype were tested against the current live site. Optimizations were implemented before go live for an accelerated return.