Contributor: Katie Karpinski 

Content is like candy— it comes in a variety of flavors and packages. Further, people have different preferences when it comes to candy. Whereas some may savor the complementary flavors of peanut butter and chocolate in a Reece’s Cup, others may crave the simple fruity flavors of a Twizzler. Content is no different. The various types of content—be it blog posts, social media updates, or videos can appeal to people in different ways. As marketers, it’s our job to know our customers, what they like, what they dislike, and what they expect from a given brand.

Content marketing can be one of the most effective marketing tactics out there—but it’s also one of the hardest to implement.

So how do you ensure that your content is resonating with as many users as possible?

While there are no short-cuts to formulating a content marketing strategy, there are a few guidelines that are critical to the success of any campaign. The CANDY approach condenses some of these key elements. Keep reading to learn more.

C- Customer

The customer always comes first. As is the case with any marketing task, it’s important to keep in touch with your target market segments and their specific wants, needs, and interests. Further, the demographics of your customers such as their age and gender can help you determine which channels should be used to most effectively disseminate your content. Combined, these customer profile elements can help you determine what type of content to produce, the subject to the content, and where you should publish it.

A- Action

After clearly defining your content audience and channel, another important question to ask is what action you want users to take after encountering your content. Do you want sales or downloads to increase? Do you want more visits to your website? Is social media engagement important? Whatever your goals may be, it’s important to determine the desired action while creating your content. Every piece of content you post should have an intentional goal.

N- Numbers

While content marketing may largely play on building emotional and relational attachments with customers, there is also space for more quantitative tactics as well. Digital marketing is convenient in that marketers are able to track and manage customer actions and behaviors. After posting a specific piece of content, keep an eye on its metrics and digital footprint. Doing so can give you invaluable insight on what your customers do and don’t respond to.

D- Discipline

Content marketing is hard work. It takes more than a few quality blog posts and to produce a sustainable impact on users. Therefore, it’s important to keep at your efforts. Don’t triumph after a burst of increased activity—but don’t give in after one ill-received post either. It takes a great deal of time, hard work, and discipline to create a successful content marketing strategy. Developing an attitude of constant improvement can keep you at the top of your content marketing game.

Y- Analysis

One of the most crucial elements of any marketing campaign, content-focused or not, is to review and analyze your results. This can (and should!) be done on a piece by piece, month by month, and year by year basis. Using the data already mentioned, in conjunction with other metrics, it’s important to measure how well your strategy is doing and thereby determine what your next course of action should be.

Are you interested in learning more about content marketing? Check out these courses that can help you build a *sweet* marketing strategy.