Every company and every online marketing agency needs a content strategy

I experience it not only with my customers. Also with many Online Marketing Agencys in Munich and the rest of the republic, I observe it. A lot of work is being done. A lot of campaigns are being set up. Google Ads are being placed. Social Ads are added. SEO is started. Content on websites and landing pages is optimized. And and and. And all without a clearly defined Content Strategy. Why is this not a recommended approach? And how can an online marketing agency help companies with this?

What does online marketing involve?

Online marketing is the umbrella term for a variety of marketing activities that take place online. These include a range of paid forms of advertising, so-called Paid Ads. These are placed in search engines, especially Google. Here one speaks also of Search Engine Marketing SEM. Paid ads are also placed on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Banner advertising on a CPM basis was a huge topic in the early Internet years (Display Advertising). Here, the banners shown were billed depending on how often they were viewed. This was based on the previously known billing methods on TV or billboards. The method was the thousand-contact price CPM. However, this form of online marketing has become almost irrelevant due to the high efficiency of click-based billing in Google Ads.

Nevertheless, banners with click-based billing continue to appear. These are particularly interesting for advertising that "follows" you after you have viewed a website. One speaks here of Retargeting.

There is a whole smorgasbord of other Special advertising formssuch as sponsoring, pop-ups, affiliate marketing or guest posts in blogs. However, these have only secondary importance for most companies. This is true even though there is a specialized online marketing agency for almost every category.

Important and too often underestimated is the Newsletter Marketing. Building your own list of prospects and sending them relevant information and offers on a regular basis can be a very effective way to make contacts.

At Social Media Marketing on LinkedIn, Facebook and Co., one's own posts are displayed to potential customers. This is ultimately very similar to banner ads in the last century. These posts can contain text, images and increasingly videos. This is supplemented with influencer marketing. Here, profiles with a wide reach are used to display advertising for brands.

Another form of online marketing is the Search Engine Optimization SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A series of measures are implemented to achieve the highest possible ranking in the organic search with the most important keywords for the company. Important sub-areas here are keyword analysis, onsite optimization and link building.

Also the Content marketing can be considered a discipline in online marketing. Here, the content of websites is optimized, website relaunches are implemented and new pages are created.

What do all these online marketing measures have in common?

The aim is always to show a specific form of content to potentially interested parties. These are then to be motivated to take action.

Why is content strategy important?

In companies and in online marketing agencies, a large number of Variety of employees with the measures listed. In larger companies, these are often spread across several departments. The website is organized in Marketing. Paid ads are also placed here. But Sales also has its own campaigns running for new products. SEO hangs in the technical department. Social marketing is taken care of by an intern who sits with the management. And retargeting has been outsourced to a special agency because there is no in-house expertise.

Exaggerated? No. Reality. And even when all of these measures are combined in a digital department, specialists often work side by side in their own offices (or from home offices) here as well. The necessary coordination is too often dispensed with.

Also, a whole Series of websites created and maintained. In addition to the main website, these include dedicated landing pages for special solutions or industries, event pages, promotions, subsidiary companies and much more.

Without a content strategy, everyone works for themselves.

What is the result of this?

The result is a high inefficiency:

• Paid ads run for keywords where the company already ranks #1 anyway due to SEO successes.
• Several departments think independently of each other about how customers should be addressed in the various phases of the customer journey. Workshops with almost identical content take place twice and three times.
• Campaigns are launched without the employees concerned having thought about the customer journey. The result is a large scattering loss.
• Texts are created again and again.
• Content is published that is incompatible with the company's core values.
• Images are used inconsistently. Licenses purchased multiple times.
• When sending the newsletter, the latest landing pages are overlooked.
• And in the extreme case of social media marketing, the user has the impression that the appearance does not match the other online communication.

This list could easily be extended. Just think about all the things that happen in your company.

And what follows from this?

The Follow of which are:

• Dissatisfied bosses because they rightly feel that budgets are not being invested efficiently
• Frustrated employees because they do not know how to coordinate in a goal-oriented manner
• Confused customers because the company's communication is not cohesive

How can an online marketing agency help?

As an agency specializing in content marketing, we are an online marketing agency with the specific know-how for the overarching content strategy. Hiring an agency for this makes sense whenever the specific know-how is not available within the company. Or if several departments are to be sworn in on a central line.

Since inefficiencies happen every day and destroy valuable budget every day anew, setting up a central content strategy should always be at the beginning of all online marketing measures. Or at least initiated as soon as possible.

The management, all involved employees in the different departments and your customers will appreciate it.