A robust digital marketing strategy relies on quality content. Even Google rewards businesses that offer valuable and relevant content in various formats.

The majority of marketers advocate for a strong content strategy. But the catch is this: you can only achieve a good strategy with a good content development process.

Read on as we delve into effective content development. We’ll discuss how to align your content ideas with your business goals. We’ll also look at how to distribute your content to ensure maximum return on investment (ROI).

Upgrade Your Publishing Workflow

Effortlessly export your Google Docs to WordPress with just 1-click.

Get Started Today

What is content development?

It’s the process of creating, refining, and distributing content to meet strategic goals. It involves the following key stages:

• Content strategy. Deciding what you want to say, who you want to say it to, and how you’ll say it.
• Content production. Writing articles, making videos, or designing graphics‌ — ‌whatever best fits your message.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Helping search engines ‌locate your content and improve search engine rankings.
• Content publishing. Put your content where your audience is. Think: on the company website, social media, or other platforms.
• Content promotion. When you share on social media, send emails, and get people to notice your content.
• Performance tracking. Keep an eye on how many people see, click on, and engage with your content.
• Content review and refreshing. Monitor your content performance and update things to improve results.

Content development vs. content marketing

Content development is a critical component within the broader content marketing umbrella. However, they serve different purposes when marketing a business.

Let’s review the differences in detail.

	Content development	Content marketing
Focus	Creating and refining content focusing on quality, relevance, and organizational goals.	Takes a broader strategic approach. Uses content as a tool for marketing and business growth.
Process	Involves generating ideas, planning, creating, editing, and distributing content to meet specific objectives.	Goes beyond content development. It includes audience analysis, competitor research, goal setting, and performance measurement. It involves creating a comprehensive content strategy for marketing objectives.
Goals	Make high-quality and engaging content that connects with the target audience. The content should provide value and also meet informational or entertainment needs.	Attract, engage, and keep the target audience by delivering valuable, relevant, consistent content. It seeks to drive profitable customer action.
Scope	Covers the whole content creation journey, from initial idea to product distribution.	Involves the entire content ecosystem. It integrates content development into a larger strategy. This includes audience targeting, distribution channels, and content marketing analytics for assessing success.

Types of content

In 2024, 50% of marketers intend to increase their content marketing investment. Here are some popular content formats you can incorporate into your process:

Blog posts

Write blog posts about your industry to show you know and understand the latest trends. Make a plan that helps people with problems and guides them.

For instance, suppose you’re in the contract automation software business. In this case, you can write about the contract management cycle and the risks of poor contract management.

Or, better yet, write an ultimate guide on the topic. To do this, Google your keyword, “contract management cycle” and take a look at the top search results. As you can see in the screenshot below, they’re all explainer guides on the stages of the “contract management cycle,” and what that means.

Screenshot provided by Author

To meet your target audience where they are (in their search), you’d need to write a similar, but better guide. Answer the same questions the other guides do, but answer them more thoroughly. Answer additional questions – you can find them in the “People Also Ask” section of Google.

Screenshot provided by Author

Videos

(Image Source: Oberlo)

Video is the most versatile piece of content. You can use them for how-to guides, customer stories, or product demonstrations. But making good videos isn’t easy. You need to plan well to create impactful video content that ranks well (read: is search engine optimized).

Before filming, consider the following:

• Will you include subtitles, and will they be transcribed or automated?
• Do you have all the necessary equipment and software?
• Will you have a voiceover or record yourself?
• Will you prepare and follow a script?

There are other important questions to ask yourself after filming, like:

• In what ways can you reuse or repurpose your videos (include them in other content)?
• How will you optimize your video (don’t forget about voice search)?
• How will you distribute your video?

Case studies

Case studies act as tremendous social proof.

Use them to show how your customers have tackled problems with your product or service. Add background information on the customer and details about their problem. Especially important here is to provide a lowdown of the proposed solution. You can also add testimonials to prove your solution’s effectiveness.

Suppose you sell procurement management software. In that case, you create a case study of one of your clients, showing how your software solution transformed their procurement and spend management processes, leading to greater efficiency, cost savings, and improved supplier relationships. This case study illustrates the potential benefits that organizations can have by adopting modern procurement solutions.

Newsletters

Leverage newsletters to build a deeper connection with your audience. Use personalized emails to highlight sales, white papers, or industry-relevant recommendations. In contrast, newsletters and emails are great for sharing industry news and stories. This way, you can provide valuable content your audience is sure to find useful.

Podcasts

(Image Source: HubSpot)

Podcasts are internet versions of radio programs. They are a bit harder to make than blogs or social media posts. But they’re great for reaching people who like listening. So a podcast could be perfect if your audience prefers to hear content while going about their day.

White papers

Share detailed info about specific topics or solutions through white papers. Some companies even give free tools or templates to make the content more valuable.

White papers are also a great way to get people interested in your offer. Put them on your landing page, and when visitors download them, ask for their contact info. Think of it as sharing useful stuff and getting to know people at the same time.

Efficient contact management systems can help you organize this information, making it easy to follow up and nurture these leads effectively.

Why does content development matter?

Content development offers the following benefits:

• Attracts audiences. Good content grabs people’s attention. Creating helpful stuff that speaks to what they need makes them want to know more about your brand.
• Builds brand identity. Consistent and high-quality content contributes to a positive perception of your brand. It tells people what your company stands for, what you’re good at, and why they should like you.
• Prevents overwork and overspending. Planning your content helps you (and your content team) avoid working too much and spending too much money. Setting realistic deadlines lets you have a steady online presence without getting stressed. Choosing the right promotional channels to tell people about your content and then checking how well it’s doing is also important. This targeted approach maximizes your content’s impact within budget constraints.
• Establishes authority. Informative and insightful content positions you as an industry leader. Audiences like to engage with businesses that seem reliable.
• Facilitates goal accomplishment. When you spend time learning about your audience and industry trends, you can create better content. This helps you connect with people and meet your goals. Exploring resources like life coaching books can enhance personal development skills, improve mindset, and boost creativity, which ultimately contributes to more effective content creation.

Mastering the content development process

Here’s a quick rundown of the content development process:

Defining your goals

Effective content development begins with a clear understanding of your goals. Before diving into content creation, understand what you want to achieve.

Are you looking to increase brand awareness? You may want to convert traffic or position yourself as an industry thought leader. If your goal is to improve brand awareness, your content should focus on storytelling. You should also be highlighting your brand values. Doing this will help you better connect with your audience.

To ensure you’re on track, consider using a goal-tracking app. Such apps can help you monitor your progress, analyze the performance of your content, and adjust your strategy as needed. By regularly reviewing your goals and the impact of your content, you can make more informed decisions and drive better results.

Creating target personas

Next, develop detailed buyer personas representing your ideal customers. Consider purchasing behavior, pain points, and demographics, then tailor your content. These details will make your content more engaging, improving the likelihood of a conversion.

Personalized content is a powerful tool in digital marketing, designed to meet the unique needs and preferences of individual customers. By leveraging data and insights from buyer personas, businesses can create content that speaks directly to the interests, challenges, and behaviors of their target audience.

(Image Source: Breadcrumbs)

For example, let’s assume you’re a fitness brand targeting young professionals. Consider publishing content addressing ‌strict time constraints with quick workout routines. Or offer nutritional tips for their busy schedules.

Brainstorm content ideas

Don’t be afraid to be creative and experiment. Publish different content formats to find what sticks best with your audience. For example, if you run a travel agency, you could write blog posts like “Top 10 Family-Friendly Places in [City].” Even a quiz like “Travel Quiz: Find Your Ideal Vacation Spot” works to catch their attention.

The idea is to provide your audience with a diverse content mix that keeps them hooked.

Keep key objectives top of mind

Throughout the content development process, stay focused on your key objectives. Every piece of content should reflect your goals and help drive your strategy.

If you want people to see you as an expert in the industry, write white papers, create guides, and talk to experts. Show off your expertise and remind people about your brand message. This helps make people trust your brand more.

Create high-quality content

Suppose you’re a tech company. What do you think your audience will prefer: simple videos on how to fix common software issues? Or a jargon-filled blog post with no visual cues?

The choice is clear. You see, high-quality content goes beyond information. To resonate with your audience, focus on creating valuable, engaging, and shareable content. Prioritize attention to detail, readability, and visual appeal to achieve this goal.

Hiring a content strategist or a content marketing agency can be a good idea if you don’t have the skills or the bandwidth to develop this on your own. A content marketing agency specializing in creating, publishing, and distributing content.

They aim to attract new customers, engage with existing ones, and enhance brand presence. These agencies bring specialized skills and tools to the table. This enables businesses to execute sophisticated content marketing strategies more easily.

When creating industry-specific content, it’s often helpful to focus on tools and workflows your audience already interacts with. A great example is the mental health space. Here, when you’re producing content that explains how clinicians can streamline patient records or manage appointments using an EHR for psychiatry, it will resonate well with practitioners while addressing real operational challenges.

To make it even more relevant, you could touch on budget considerations, which are often at the top of mind for practices evaluating digital tools. For instance, discussing the cost of EMR systems alongside workflow benefits can provide a more complete picture for your audience.

Amplify content: 7 tips for strategic content creation and distribution for maximum ROI

Content development involves more than creating weighted content. You also need to distribute it to the right places to maximize your ROI.

Here are some insightful tips:

• Establish clear workflows: Content development is like playing chess‌ — ‌you need a clear strategy from start to finish. Create a workflow that covers every step. Assign responsibilities within your team, and use project management tools like Asana and Jira to track progress and deadlines. Use Jira templates to streamline common content creation tasks and ensure consistency across projects. Tools like Wordable can simplify the publishing process and let you optimize your content with just one click.

Here’s a quick look at creating content workflows in Wordable:

(Image Source: Wordable)

• Tailor content for different platforms. Customizing your content for each platform is essential, as not all content works the same across them. Take into account the distinct qualities and inclinations of every audience. For example, a detailed blog post might work great on your website. However, shorter visual content is better for platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
• Put promotion strategies in place. Your content won’t go far if no one sees it. Create a detailed promotion strategy to ensure it reaches the right audience. Use organic tactics like social media sharing, email newsletters, and influencer giveaways. You can also use paid strategies like sponsored content and targeted advertising. Experiment with different techniques to find what works best for your goals.
• Leverage content repurposing. Don’t let your good content collect dust. Repurpose it! You can turn a blog post into an engaging video, a social media post, a podcast episode, or an infographic. This is an easy way to reach new audiences and reinforce your key messages.

(Image Source: Search Engine Journal)

• Embrace generative AI. When done right, artificial intelligence is a great way to boost content creation. Generative AI development can enhance your ability to brainstorm ideas, create headlines, and even generate content. It can be used in almost any sphere and in many different ways. To find out more about it you can explore generative AI use cases in insurance, banking, marketing, education, and any other industry.
  Modern content teams are increasingly incorporating generative AI data solutions to analyze audience preferences and identify trending topics within their niche. These advanced tools can process vast amounts of information to reveal content gaps and opportunities that human researchers might miss. By leveraging these insights, content creators can develop more targeted, relevant material that resonates with their specific audience segments.
• Measure impact and adjust. Numbers tell a story and can help you make data-driven decisions. When it comes to conveying insights effectively, mastering the art of data storytelling is crucial. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) and analytics to gauge your content’s effectiveness. Keep an eye on indicators like website traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. Based on your findings, adjust your approach to enhance performance and improve ROI.
• Engage with your audience. Content isn’t a one-way street. Engage with your audience in conversations on several platforms. Respond to comments, messages, and reviews promptly. Encourage feedback and discussions around your content. By leveraging a real-time digital twin of your audience’s preferences and behaviors, you can tailor your engagement strategies more effectively. Building a strong rapport with your audience nurtures brand loyalty, driving long-term growth.

Final takeaways

If you’re struggling with content marketing, your content development process might be to blame. Success depends on a consistent approach. Even small gaps can mess things up.

But there’s good news. If you put in the time and energy, you can create and distribute amazing content your audience will love. Of course, you still need to engage with your audience.

But, in the end, your efforts can yield positive long-term results.

And there are tools that can help you do the heavy lifting. Take Wordable, for example. It makes creating and sharing content easier. Put in your finished work, and Wordable will do the rest, saving you time.

Check Wordable out today.