Nowadays, businesses evolve at an exponential rate and there is a competition like never before at the hands of technology. There is already a flood of good content out there and you only have so little time to grab a potential customer’s attention. Are you ready to make a hit with your content and see your sales go through the roof? Dive into our 10-step guide and you will master the art of data-driven content marketing.

Data for the win

Data is now at the heart of many modern business strategies, with AI, machine learning and deep learning playing an increasingly important role in decision-making, as highlighted by KPMG. Consequently, marketers can no longer rely on traditional techniques in the present-day content marketing climate.

As maintained by Hubspot, nearly 50% of consumers claimed that they wouldn’t engage with content if not personally relevant. Moreover, when it comes to B2B buyers, the Forrester report found that 69 % of the respondents would not extend their contract in lack of useful content from a company.
With data-driven content marketing, you won’t have to depend on guesswork in your creative process anymore and you will make more informed decisions about your selling strategy. In the lines to come, we will disclose the blueprint for your business success.

Golden rules to skyrocket your sales

1. Set your goals. A great content marketing strategy starts with attainable objectives. Plus, data will make your goals even more realistic.

Increased sales, cost savings, and profit are just a few of the collateral benefits that a great content marketing strategy can provide to your business. Read the article on our blog and you can gain a better understanding of how you can achieve all these.

2. Use CRM, analytics and tracking tools. They monitor each stage of the buyer’s journey and garner insights about your customer interactions. You may find Semrush, Salesforce, Hubspot, Hootsuite and other alternatives helpful.

3. Design buyer person, Hubspot says. There is no more room for generic messages. Customers prefer services or products that are specifically tailored for them. Analyze demographics and preferences instead. 

4. Implement test campaigns. Make personalized ads and test their performance on relatively small audience segments. Forbes informs us to use KPIs and A/B testing.

5. Address specific pain points. Data analysis helps you identify them. There’s nothing that wins a customer’s loyalty more than making content that addresses their problems and offers solutions.

We improved our client’s digital marketing strategy in the rental and mat services industry by identifying  their clients’ pain points and guiding customers through the buying journey. The strategy included blog articles, SEO optimization, ads and email marketing campaigns. Take a better look at how we managed to drive our client’s business success here.

6. Pay attention to customers’ reviews and feedback. You will gain insight into their preferences and future purchases. 

7. Up your email marketing game. Use data to optimize your messaging and timing and target the appropriate audience.

We compiled the latest tips on email marketing optimization in our article here.

8. Make your website user-friendly. Optimize your content for each format and device to improve user experience and boost sales. Bonus tip from the Harvard Business Review: purchase prospects are mostly ensured by computer users, not mobile.

9. Constantly optimize and analyze your strategy with the help of data, as advised by Marketing Evolution.

10. Manifest a growth mindset. It will put your new strategy into real motion. KPMG Advisory Jason Galloway suggests asking the right questions for your business success and see what answers your data gives you: “Which keyword prefers each persona?”, “What platforms have the most activity?” and so on.  

Challenges of data-driven content marketing

Nevertheless, data-driven content marketing has its own challenges, just like any other approach. For effective implementation, you should consider:

  • The volume of data you will collect and analyze can be overwhelming at times, especially when you don’t have expertise in data analytics. To effectively use data to inform content marketing, be prepared to work with large amounts of information from multiple sources;
  • The ever-changing landscape of content marketing. You need to ensure up-to-date information constantly and keep up with the latest trends and technologies.
  • In-depth audience understanding. It is also necessary to be research-oriented. You cannot identify the exact preferences and behaviours of your target audience and create appropriate content without a perfect  mix of both quantitative and qualitative research. 

Data is an essential part of every modern running business. A data-driven content marketing approach allows for a perfect fusion of creativity and analytics, making it possible to speak directly to your audience and boost your sales. Give some of the ideas above a try and see how data-driven content marketing can benefit your business. 

The key to your future-proofed content strategy is here. Just book a call with us.