5 Steps to Creating a Powerful Content MarketingStrategy� |� Alex Pirouz

In the last decade, internet and online marketing techniques have drastically altered the way inwhich we share information, introducing a profound impact upon the world of internet-relatedbusinesses.

Especially throughout the last few years, there has been a focus upon inbound techniques overoutbound tactics, and more businesses than ever are discovering the advantages associated withpublishing original content on a regular basis, instead of embedding advertisements into externalcontent.

Never before in the history of the world, has the playing field been so level for companieseverywhere. The advent of social media and blogging has completely democratized the businessworld, and opened doors for even the smallest of business.

By now you've likely heard the buzzwords -- cloud computing, big data and responsive web design,etc. Well the latest and hottest to join the bandwagon is "content marketing strategy."

It refers to the power of content and understanding of how you can create appropriate contentstrategy and market it for attracting the right kind of attention.

One of the fundamentals of a good content marketing strategy is that it should initiate a "two-wayconversation." Not only should your content be shareable, but should trigger discussions andencourage followers to comment.

The basic strategy of content marketing requires you to have a clear vision of your businessobjective. This will help you create viable web content strategies for engaging both your targetcustomers as well as search engines -- helping you generate better ROI by improving search engine

rankings and ultimately the all important sales.

The essence of online businesses nowadays is togenerate maximum web visibility and garneronline reputation in the process. One of the basicrules is to provide your customers enough qualitycontent for them to talk about and engage with.

To gain a deeper insight into this topic I recentlyspoke with Aaron Agius from Louder Online.

Over the past decade Aaron has helped some ofthe lead brands around the world built powerfulonline marketing campaigns by using anintelligent mix of Search, Content and Socialtactics.

Some of the businesses he has helped onlineinclude Ford, IBM, The Star, LG, MLC, MillionDollar Woman, as well as a broad range of smallbusinesses.

"The importance of a content marketing strategy cannot be understated. Content is the foundation ofany successful online marketing campaign. A great strategy is needed in order to fuel social mediaactivity, to create high converting landing pages for pay per click marketing, and to power increasesin search engine rankings for target keywords.

Businesses of all sizes can benefit from implementing a solid content marketing strategy. Smallbusinesses have just as much opportunity as big businesses to reach an increased audience troughcontent marketing -- the key element that needs to be monitored is consistency. Consistent contentcreation and marketing is what sets apart businesses from the many similar businesses jumping onthe content marketing bandwagon." Aaron Explain

In my opinion every organization today needs a digital marketing plan in order to be successful. Andwhile they may be able to maintain or even grow their revenue without one, companies without astrong digital marketing plan aren't only leaving money on the table, they are loosing customers tothose companies that do have a digital marketing strategy and plan in place.

Furthermore, Google's algorithm is continuously changing, meaning this pretty much guaranteesthat the quick win strategies that may have worked in the past will no longer work in the future.Now is definitely the time to develop a new type of strategy to garner links and traffic.

Thought leaders and marketing experts from around the world, including the likes of Seth Godin andhundreds of the leading thinkers in marketing have concluded that content marketing isn't just thefuture, it's the present

Whether you already have a plan in place or been inspired by this article to design one, below Aaronshares his 5 steps you need to take in order to create a content marketing strategy that not onlyengages with your audience but ultimately into sales:

1) Focus your plan around being able to consistently create high quality content.

2) Ensure your content strategy covers a wide range of different content types. Text blog posts,advanced guides, infographics, images, video -- the more types of media you create the greater thepotentially reach and the number of different distribution channels you can use to get eyeballs onyour content.

3) If need be outsource your content creation, but only do so once you have developed strictguidelines around tone, style, voice, and the core messages that you want your content to speaktowards.

4) Identify the problems in your industry, the questions people are asking and focus on being aresource that creates content that solves problems and puts you in a position of authority withinyour industry.

5) Don't forget the marketing in content marketing. This is the most important point. People are nowcreating endless amounts of content and thinking they are doing content marketing. You should bespending as much time in marketing the content as you are creating the content on the first place.

What's your number 1 tip when creating a good content marketing strategy?