These content marketing tips have helped us grow our clients’ traffic values by over $85 million — every year.
That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident. It happens with content marketing done right.
With a variety of content types and a litany of proven benefits, companies of all sizes are hopping on the bandwagon because of the results this type of marketing can have for their bottom line.
But in order to reap the benefits of content marketing, you have to have the right strategies in place.
In this guide, we’ll share the exact content marketing strategies we use to scale traffic, boost brand authority, and drive revenue.
- Start With Audience Research
- Develop a Content Strategy
- Prioritize Efforts by ROI Frameworks
- Leverage Proven Keyword Frameworks
- Create a Passive Link Engine
- Focus on Low Time to Value
- Produce Engaging Visual Content
- Keep Content Fresh
- Build Up Your Blog Index
- Give Your Audience a Reason to Keep Reading
- Optimize Content for Search Engines (Beyond Keywords)
- Put CTAs on an Island
- Develop Pillar Content
- Use Hybrid Title Tags for a High CTR
- Create Evergreen Content
- Think Outside the Blog
- Create Valuable Content That Solves Problems
- Promote, Promote, Promote
- Make Sure Your Content Is Accessible
1. Start With Audience Research
One of the biggest content marketing tips that will make an impact on your business is to start with audience research. Of course, everyone wants their content to rank for the biggest terms, but if you start your content journey by conducting keyword rather than audience research, you risk targeting terms that are difficult to rank for and have relatively low conversion rates.
By starting with audience research, you’ll be able to get to know your ideal customer on a deeper level, find the keywords they actually use, and even create buyer personas that you can map each piece of content to.
To conduct proper audience research, you can use tools like SparkToro or Brandwatch to learn where your audience hangs out, the hashtags and phrases they use most often and what media they consume to make sure your content matches their preferred style.
Focus on what your audience would actually search for in each stage of the buyer’s journey if you really want to create valuable and high-converting content.
Pro Tip: Your audience wants to see themselves represented in your content and walk away feeling like it was made with them in mind. Use diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) marketing best practices to accomplish this.
2. Develop a Content Strategy
Having great content ideas isn’t enough — you need a comprehensive content strategy to turn those ideas into measurable business results.
Start with a content calendar that maps out your publishing schedule at least three months in advance. This isn’t only about consistency (though that’s important). It’s about strategically timing your content to align with industry events, seasonal trends, and your product launch schedule.
Your keyword research should go beyond just finding high-volume terms. Map keywords to specific stages of the buyer’s journey:
- Top of funnel: Educational, problem-aware keywords
- Middle of funnel: Solution-aware, comparison keywords
- Bottom of funnel: Product-specific, buying-intent keywords
When it comes to content types, diversify based on where your audience consumes content. If your analytics show high video engagement, invest in video content. If your audience loves detailed guides, prioritize long-form blog posts.
3. Prioritize Efforts by ROI Frameworks
When planning your editorial calendar, you’ll first need to understand how much it’ll cost you to create content and get links. This will help you determine what projects to prioritize because depending on your industry, some will have a higher content marketing ROI than others.
Consider the following frameworks for your industry to help determine what content marketing strategies to move forward with first.
- Ratio of content creation: Check out how much content your competitors publish each month. Do you need to have a high content ratio to bring in traffic, or can you lower your scope without risking your audience? If competitors succeed with a low ratio of content creation, consider a similar strategy.
- Cost per link: You can determine how much links are worth in your industry by dividing competitor traffic value by their total links. Compare that to your cost of producing link-worthy content to decide if it’s worth the investment.
- Keyword opposition to benefit (KOB) analysis: Here at Siege, we strongly believe that every content marketing strategy should start with a KOB analysis. It helps you find low-competition, high-value keywords so you can rank faster with less effort.
4. Leverage Keyword Frameworks
The smartest marketers know that writing SEO content is about more than just keyword research. To truly meet your business goals, you need to create content that targets how people really search. Even if that means going against what the keyword research tools tell you.
The following keyword frameworks have been proven to drive traffic and leads in a variety of industries, because they target terms that readers really want to know.
If you pop any of these terms into a tool like Ahrefs, their low search volume (SV) may surprise you. While some may only have five to 10 searches a month, those searches are from readers at the bottom of the buyers’ funnel, and you can easily convert them by appearing at the top of the SERP.
By thinking ahead, you can rank for these types of terms before keyword tools even start to suggest them to you or show search volume for them (and trust us, SV is coming).
5. Create a Passive Link Engine
Securing links without conducting outreach is possible if you put your brand in the right position. This type of coverage is known as passive linking, and you don’t need to be a unicorn startup to take advantage of the SEO benefits of free press. All you need to do is leverage the information you already have.
Proprietary data is a goldmine for creating passive links. By targeting keywords in your industry that researchers often search for (such as “statistics,” “data,” “roundup,” “trends” or “calculator”), you can get your internal data in front of those who will share that information with the public.
This is a much more powerful strategy than just collecting third-party data, because most journalists will link out to the original source anyways.
Once you get a few of these internally driven posts live on your site, make sure to link them to each other toward the top of each page. This will create a passive link engine that helps churn out top-tier coverage on a variety of topics, leading to better brand awareness over time.
6. Focus on Low Time to Value
Picture this: You spend thousands of dollars and hours on a big piece of high-quality content, only to see it fall flat in conversions and page views. We’ve all been there. However, to really scale your content marketing efforts, putting a focus on lower lift and high-value content is crucial.
Low time to value content includes:
- Calculators with pre-filled information for ease of use
- Content with subheaders above the fold to make the answer easy to find
- Posts targeting keywords with high passive link intent
- Curated roundup posts to build relationships with other bloggers
The goal is to make your content as simple to understand and as interactive as possible to boost user experience and keep them coming back for more. Check out an example of a pre-filled calculator below.
7. Produce Engaging Visual Content
Sure, great copy matters, but pairing it with visuals can skyrocket engagement and keep readers glued to your page. It also dramatically boosts your brand’s visibility — after all, a picture’s worth a thousand words.
Not sure where to start? Consider these visual elements:
- Custom graphics and illustrations: Create branded visuals that explain complex concepts. Tools like Canva or hiring a freelance designer can help you create unique assets that competitors can’t replicate.
- Interactive elements: Calculators, quizzes, and interactive infographics can lower bounce rates and transform passive readers into active participants.
- Data visualizations: Turn boring statistics into compelling charts and graphs. Help visual learners understand your data at a glance.
- Video content: Even simple explainer videos or animated GIFs can boost engagement. You don’t need Hollywood production values — authenticity often trumps polish.
- User-generated content (UGC): Showcase customer photos, testimonials, or case studies. UGC builds trust while providing authentic visual content.
The goal is to make every visual element work hard for your content. Each image, video, or graphic should either clarify a point, provide additional value, or make your content more shareable.
Pro Tip: Create templates for your most common visual content types. This ensures brand consistency while speeding up production time.
8. Keep Content Fresh
On most SERPs, new content has an advantage over older articles. That’s why keeping your content fresh by evaluating freshness distance — or the distance between the most recently updated and the oldest post on a given SERP — is so important.
If you’re seeing your content fall on the older side of your freshness distance scale, it might be time to make some updates.
While we recommend updating all your content at least once a year, this timeline can shrink if Google deems newer content more worthy, so make sure you’re watching the SERP behavior carefully.
By dedicating just a few hours to updating your older content, you can ensure your brand stays relevant and see huge long-term growth without much extra effort required from your content team.
9. Build Up Your Blog Index
Have you ever come across a blog index that only shows a few pieces of content? If so, you’ve likely felt the pain of having to click through dozens of pages just to read a few articles.
Don’t do this to your readers. Instead, build up your blog index to include at least 15 posts on the first page. You can even add an “editor’s pick” or “featured content” section to your blog hub to help your most important content stand out.
This strategy will not only improve user experience and engagement by giving them more content options upfront, but it will also help reduce click depth, an important factor in how search engines understand your page’s level of importance.
10. Give Your Audience a Reason to Keep Reading
We all know how important blog introductions are for drawing in a reader. However, there are things you can do outside of the first line of copy to help increase credibility and time on-page. This is known as the PPB Formula, or Preview, Proof, and Benefit.
First, you’ll want to give your readers a preview of what your content is about. You can do this in several ways, including in a subheader underneath the title or in your first line of copy.
It’s also important to show your audience proof of why they should trust you. This can be done through high-authority author bios or other E-E-A-T best practices.
Finally, clearly explain the benefit to your readers. You’ll need to explain what they’ll get out of reading your content and why they should care. From learning the ins and outs of a complicated topic to how your tips have helped others be successful, there are plenty of ways to show benefit to your audience.
11. Optimize Content for Search Engines (Beyond Keywords)
Like cargo jorts and asking Jeeves, the days of keyword stuffing are a distant memory. Today, Google prioritizes content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, also known as E-E-A-T. Your content should clearly communicate these traits to build credibility and visibility.
To nail E-E-A-T, focus on:
- Sharing authentic, real-world experiences and detailed insights
- Writing authoritatively and confidently, backed by reliable data and expert sources
- Creating personalized content that genuinely meets audience needs
- Establishing clear authorship credentials to prove your trustworthiness
Remember, Google’s goal is to surface content that genuinely helps users. By focusing on E-E-A-T, you’re creating content that truly serves your audience’s needs.
12. Put CTAs on an Island
Copy that stands on its own stands out.
When writing CTAs within your content, it’s a good idea to put them on an island no matter if they’re located in the middle or at the end of your article.
This will help draw the reader’s eye and catch the attention of those just scanning your copy, meaning they’ll be more likely to click than they would if you hid the CTA deep in a paragraph.
Embroker does a great job of this, like in the example below.
13. Develop Pillar Content
While churning out blog posts weekly has its place, creating in-depth pillar content can establish your brand as the go-to authority in your niche. Pillar pages anchor your content around key topics, position you as an industry thought leader, keep readers on your site longer, and naturally attract links. They’re detailed, evergreen, and loaded with valuable insights.
When creating pillar content, keep these best practices in mind:
- Target broad, highly relevant topics that are central to your business and have lasting relevance.
- Include original research, data, or insights competitors can’t replicate.
- Cover your topic thoroughly — no reader questions should be left unanswered.
- Structure content with a detailed table of contents for easy navigation.
- Support with related cluster content that links back to the pillar.
- Regularly refresh pillar pages to maintain freshness and accuracy.
For example, if you’re in the email marketing space, a pillar piece might be “The Complete Guide to Email Marketing in 2025.” You’d then create supporting posts about subject lines, automation, design, and metrics — all linking back to your pillar.
While giving readers a ton of value, this hub-and-spoke model also signals topical authority to search engines. Plus, one great pillar piece can attract more traffic than dozens of lean blog posts combined.
14. Use Hybrid Titles for a High CTR
When it comes to writing title tags, how do you balance keyword placement with attention-grabbing copy? While it may seem crucial for SEO to include your target keyword at the beginning of your title tag — think again.
Over the years, Google has gotten hip to those trying to trick the system, and it now penalizes sites for over-optimization practices such as keyword stuffing. What does this mean, exactly? It means that you have to get smarter about your copy to solve for the reader and for Google all at once.
This is especially true for highly competitive SERPs, where you’ll likely have to include adjectives like “actionable” or “best” to help your post stand out to users. These adjectives aren’t naturally found in many keywords you’ll target, meaning you may have to bump your target keyword farther down the title.
But the good news is that Google will reward you for putting the user first, meaning a higher probability of moving up the SERP over time.
15. Create Evergreen Content
Evergreen content, or content that’s relevant and useful to readers for a long period of time, is a no-brainer addition to your digital marketing strategy. Unlike content that capitalizes on current trends or passing fads, evergreen content is information that users are always looking for, and can help your business grow steady, long-term traffic.
For example, you can create content that helps break down industry jargon, touches on a recurring event or holiday, or even shows readers how to do something.
Another bonus? Evergreen content doesn’t need to be updated as regularly as topical content does, so you can hit publish without worrying that you’ll need to rewrite the whole post in just a few months.
16. Think Outside the Blog
While blog posts are certainly every content marketer’s bread and butter, a well-built marketing plan shouldn’t stop there. Content can take on many forms, but one tried-and-true strategy is to repurpose the same piece of content into multiple forms to help extend its usability.
For example, a long-form piece of content could get turned into smaller “bites” by sharing insights on LinkedIn.
You could also take that same piece of content and create an infographic or podcast episode about it, capturing visual and auditory learners who may not have read your piece otherwise. Bottom line: make sure your content has the right V.I.N.E.S.
V.I.N.E.S., or Video, Images, News, Experts, and Social, is an acronym we created that helps highlight out-of-the-box research methods. By using these avenues when ideating content, you can expand your reach with ease.
However, it’s important to be strategic when repurposing content in order to capture the right audience.
You’ll likely need to make some adjustments to each piece to match what’s successful on every platform, such as re-editing videos or turning a long infographic into several smaller images.
By rethinking and expanding the content lifecycle, you can cast a wider net without sacrificing much more time or effort from your content team.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, visit our post on content marketing examples.
17. Create Valuable Content That Solves Problems
An important question to ask yourself when creating content is: “What problem does this content solve for my target audience?” If you aren’t sure, it might be time to take a second look at what you’re creating.
Good content should either inform or solve a user problem, and great content should do both.
If you’ve done step one well, you’ll likely already have an idea of the main questions your audience has in every stage of the buyer funnel. Use this information to create targeted posts that will help build trust with readers and get them that much closer to the buying stage.
If you haven’t done audience research, take some time to get to know your audience’s main pain points before you produce any more content to begin to see real results.
You can accomplish this by digging into Reddit threads, YouTube comments and Facebook groups in your industry. Or, you can just send out a customer feedback form if you want information straight from the horse’s mouth.
18. Promote, Promote, Promote
Once you’ve created a great piece of content, your work isn’t over. Now you’ll need to get eyes on what you’ve created, and there are plenty of ways to accomplish this goal.
Internal promotion options include:
- Internal linking in prominent places
- Social media
- Email list
- Newsletter
- Webinar
External promotion options include:
- Digital PR
- Manual outreach
- Guest posts
- Broken link building
However, it’s worth noting that you may need to tweak your content depending on how you promote it, to make sure your promotion is tailored to each individual audience.
For more information on the best external strategies to implement in your business, check out our post on link building strategies.
19. Make Sure Your Content Is Accessible
Making your content accessible is just good business. Not only does Google take accessibility into consideration when determining rankings, but you can also risk losing potential customers if your content isn’t easily understood by all potential audiences.
Accessibility best practices include using large and highly contrasted copy, descriptive alternative text on all images, proper content hierarchy, captions, or transcriptions for all video content and a blog with a great UX.
Making These Tips for Content Marketing Work for Your Business
Truth be told, you don’t need to follow every single one of our content marketing tips to see growth for your business.
No matter if your B2B content strategy is brand new or a B2C company that’s been around for ages, the key to successful marketing is to focus on just a few content strategies and do them really well.
This will lead to far better outcomes than trying to stick your hands in a hundred different pots, since focusing on too many strategies can lead to diluted results.
Need help determining what content marketing strategies to focus on to skyrocket your growth?
Reach out to learn more about our top-notch content marketing services that will help scale your business.
