Engineering Copywriter Blog

Content marketing tips and insights to help grow your engineering audience

May 16, 2022

Steps to Create an Effective Content Strategy for Your Engineering Blog

Content Strategy

A comprehensive content strategy guides industrial marketers on who, when, why, and how to engage with their readers. Ideally, this overarching strategy is the very first document the marketing team will create before they start the planning and execution stages of their content. While there is no standard format used when creating a content strategy template, a comprehensive one generally includes the following: 

    • –  Company objectives
    • –  Company message
    • –  Target audience
    • –  Content details
    • –  Measurement and evaluation

     

An effective content strategy defines how and why content can help achieve both your marketing and business goals. It also helps marketing teams define their objectives, maintain accountability, and monitor results. Here are some guidelines for developing a successful content strategy for your engineering blog.

Marketers as Engineers

1. Establish your objectives

Content strategyBefore you plan your engineering content, you have to figure out the specific purpose and objective of your content strategy. You can divide these goals into business goals that will focus on the company’s overall mission and marketing goals that will focus on the team’s digital marketing objectives. Some goals can focus on the following questions:

    • – Do you want to have a prominent online presence?
    • – How many more visitors do you want to your engineering website?
    • – How many more readers do you wish to reach?
    • – What’s your goal in terms of increased sales?

     

Clear and well-defined objectives will guide decisions within your content strategy and make the whole marketing process run smoother.

2. Conduct research

Once you’ve laid out the business and marketing goals, you will need to research your target audience and your competitors. Doing so will help you understand the factors that can make your content marketing efforts succeed or fail.

You can regard your content as the bridge that connects the company to your audience. Before you start planning your content, it is essential that you understand their needs. Below are some questions to ask:

    • – What is important to your target audience? 
    • – What are they concerned with on a regular basis? 
    • – Is there any engineering information that is not readily available to them online? How can we fill in the gap?
    • – What are their purchasing patterns? 
    • – What kind of content do they like to consume? 
    • – What time of the day do they conduct research?

     

When you have a clearer picture of their content consumption habits and their needs, you can create a better content plan that will reach readers on the correct platform and at the right time.

Additionally, researching your competition gives you an insight into the type of content you’re up against. It also helps you understand what works for your target audience so you can better assess your content strategy. You can do this by using various competitor analysis framework methods to understand them better and make an effective marketing strategy for your company as well.

3. Establish content details

Content strategy Once you have a clear picture of your audience and competitors, you can then establish your content details. At this stage, it is important that your team decide on the:

    • 1.  Type of content to be published. Examples:
    • a. Weekly blogs
      b. Video tutorials
      c. Social media posts
      d. Podcasts and webinars
      e. Case studies
      f. White papers
    • 2.  The tone of voice to use for brand consistency. Examples:
    • a. Conversational
      b. Authoritative
      c. Formal
      d. Informal
    • 3.  Distribution channels to share content. Examples:
    • a. Social media platforms
      b. Press releases
      c. Company website
    • 4.  Promotion strategies to implement. Examples:
    • a. Advertisements
      b. Influencer marketing

     

When listing the content details, it is important to also take into consideration your business goals and available resources. For example, when deciding the types of content to produce, take a look at your writing team.

    • – Do you have the capacity to create the content you’re considering?
    • – Are your technical writers capable of creating engineering case studies and whitepapers?
    • – If not, can you afford to outsource to agencies that employ engineering writers?

     

After you’ve established the content details, decide on your accountability metrics and lay out the production plan to accomplish what you have listed above. For example, identify the group that will focus on producing content, assign who will review the content, and agree on necessary processes. Additionally, list the resources such as manpower and online collaboration tools that the team will need in order to complete their tasks.

4. Set measurement and evaluation metrics

A content strategy is expected to deliver results. To monitor this, you need to set up your evaluation metrics to measure the growth and effectiveness of your content strategy. You will also need to schedule periodic meetings to consistently monitor your plans. Some content marketing metrics to measure are:

    • 1.  Website traffic
    • 2.  Lead generation rate
    • 3.  Conversions
    • 4.  Keyword rankings
    • 5.  Follower growth
    • 6.  Post engagements

     

Aside from these, you can also schedule content audits for a more comprehensive evaluation. A content audit is a process wherein all content is analyzed to understand which performs better. It is also an effective way to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. Remember to choose someone who has a thorough understanding of the content you produce and is well versed with the marketing metrics listed above.

Create an effective content strategy today

Creating a content strategy demands more than merely publishing consistent engineering content on your website. It also focuses on the brand and the target audience. When creating one, marketers need to understand the relationship between the 4 key considerations to achieve their content marketing goals. If you need help creating engineering content that aligns with your content strategy, contact us today.

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