5 Key Elements in the Best Local Content Marketing Strategy

How do you write the best-performing blog post or case study? A Chicago content marketing agency combines five elements to make any copy work.

This article talks about:

• Goals or objectives
• Branding
• Target audience
• User-intent keywords
• Content quality and value

Join us as we delve into each of these factors below. Let’s go!

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1. Goals or Objectives

You might be one of the local businesses that believes content is king. However, unless you know why you are creating content in the first place, it is a waste of valuable resources. Do you want to

• Increase brand awareness or online exposure?
• Launch a new product or service?
• Beat a strong competitor on the search results?
• Improve your existing content marketing plan?
• Generate higher revenues?
• Enhance brand reputation or even mitigate a PR disaster?

One of the most effective goal-setting methods is called SMART. This acronym stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Let us say that you are a new Chicago tech startup specializing in cashless payments. Your initial online campaign for your product can have the following objectives:

• Specific: Increase sales for our cashless payment product in the Chicago area
• Measurable: By 30%
• Achievable: Allocate 5% of our overall budget for the marketing campaign
• Relevant: We want to target people who have not used a cashless payment option before
• Time-bound: Within one month

Ticking all these attributes means you can set more realistic expectations for the outcome of your campaigns.

2. Branding

Have you ever read an Animal Planet article and thought about hearing David Attenborough’s voice in your head? Do you feel empowered watching TED Talks videos, or can you easily distinguish a Subway ad from a McDonald’s?

Such is the power of branding. It helps you stand out, gives your business personality, and defines your company’s vision and organizational culture.

Meanwhile, a Chicago content marketing agency uses this element to maintain a consistent message (brand tone and voice) and design across copy types and channels.

The question is, “How do you identify your brand?” These ideas can help:

• Look into your competition and determine gaps and missed opportunities. For instance, Apple eventually killed Blackberry when it launched the iPhone with a touchscreen.
• Get deep into your history. Why did you open the business in the first place? Is it because of a community need? Are you trying to solve a problem or cater to an underserved market?
• Establish your unique selling proposition (USP). What is the one statement that summarizes your differences and distinguishes them from others?

3. Target Audience

Your article is not for everyone. Writing for all Internet users is never practical because your copy will lack direction and depth. Instead, you do it for your target audience — but who are they?

One of the biggest challenges in local content marketing is that entrepreneurs assume they share the same ideal prospects as their competitors. In reality, even the smallest differences in demographics or consumer behavior matter.

Consider Pepsi and Coca-Cola. They compete in the same market, but their target audiences have different characteristics.

Pepsi is often the drink of choice for younger consumers, while the latter is more popular among soda drinkers who like a more timeless taste.

It takes a thorough market analysis to determine your target audience or whether your copy attracts your preferred leads. You can study where the traffic is coming from, their visiting pages, session duration, or the devices they use to reach your website. You can also:

• Analyze customer feedback. Interview customers, review online reviews, and pay attention to social comments.
• Keep an eye on the competition. Monitor what other businesses in your market do with their web presence and marketing strategies.
• Ask for help from experts. Work with a digital marketing strategy consultant or agency to help you develop an accurate customer persona.

Once you know your audience, you can tailor your content to their pain points, language, and interests.

4. User-Intent Keywords

Keywords still count in content marketing, but your choices can make a big difference. To grab the user's attention, you should repeat a long-tail keyword several times to rank well in search results. But remember to avoid the appearance of keyword stuffing.

Google has changed its algorithm and is using RankBrain, an algorithm that sorts search results and also helps Google process and understand search queries. In addition to addressing the new algorithm, recall that the best content marketing plan should support every stage of the customer journey.

Consider these examples of user-intent keywords and how they work:

5. Content Quality and Value

The last (but not least) marketing element a Chicago content marketing agency considers is quality. What value does the copy provide to your target audience and your brand?

Business owners and sometimes marketers often debate whether copy should be over 1,000 words before they can be considered good. However, search engines have already stressed that length does not matter, although long-form content has benefits.

Instead, the best article (and the ones most likely to perform well in the search results) meets the following criteria:

• Presents new, original, or interesting perspectives that answer questions directly. This way, the audience does not have to look for more information elsewhere.
• Showcases your firsthand experience on the subject. For example, if you are marketing Chicago real estate properties, your content should include real photos, videos, and accurate descriptions. If you are in the healthcare industry, you should possess the right degree or professional background to discuss medications or diseases.
• Is helpful, which means the copy is user-oriented, not written for search engines.
• Includes adequate research, statistics, and quotes from industry experts. All these add more credibility and trustworthiness.
• Matches the customer journey. Consider these effective content marketing types for plastic surgeons, which are very aware of the customer journey. Usually, blogs work better for those in the awareness stage. Case studies and comparison guides, on the other hand, are great for leads in the consideration phase.

Summing Up

Excellent local content marketing works when you have the right elements in place, and this article shares five of them.

Digital Authority Partners (DAP) makes your online marketing copy shine by going beyond the basics. We go through keyword research and classifications, content organization, and other optimizations crucial to the success of your content marketing campaigns.

Our team of experienced marketers can provide you with well-crafted copy that speaks to your target audience in a language they understand — and gets their attention. Contact us today to learn more.