Content creation: Find your niche vertical and stick with it

Creating epic content is resource intensive, but it pays-off in the long run

Creating new and original content, let it be video, text, blogs, core content, keyword heavy content or even audio, can be a daunting and sometimes expensive task. 

Striking the balance between over/under-investing in content can be a challenge. You must do your research, and learn all about your vertical and what your competitors are doing. 

In this article, we explore the best way to strike the right balance, and get the best long-term return on your investment.

Striking the right balance with content marketing

Arguably, the most important factor to consider when designing a digital marketing campaign, is this; "What are your competitors doing?" I know, it seems a bit counter-intuitive, on the face of it, but if you think about it, this is an important balancing act to get right. 

Of course, you have to know who your target audience is and what keywords they are searching. You might get a pleasant surprise to find out that the niche you are targeting isn't as competitive as you originally thought, or it could be hyper competitive. There are plenty of other factors also, such as: are you targeting customers in a specific geographic region (county, or even town specific), or are you targeting customers anywhere in the world who are looking for a particular product.

When your research these variables, you will start to get a better picture of what type of content you will need to invest in. If our competitors are not very active, you will get by with much less content, if your target audience is niche enough. For example, if you are an accountant in Limerick City, you are probably only competing (for the most part) with other accountants in Limerick. Now, think about this, of course you can target customers anywhere in Ireland, but is that the best use of your limited marketing resources? Why would you try to be the exception to the rule?

In the case of the Limerick accountant, you need to get specific. Your content should be created to attract the types of internet users who are most likely to convert into paying customers for your business. So, be smart, don't be spending time and money buying ads and creating content to target companies in Dublin, who might have 2% conversion rate, when you can be investing in targeting customers nearer to you with a potential 60% conversion rate. 

Unless you have something really special to offer customers outside your niche, don't be wasting resources chasing unicorns when there are stallions all around you. So, now that you have decided who you want to target, and we'll assume you know the relevant keywords by now, you have to get down to brass tax. What are your competitors doing?

• Are they just gaining custom passively, because no-one else is trying online?
• Are they actively generating specific content to target the same customers you want to attract?
• Are they missing a trick? Is their approach too broad, or too specific?
• Are they buying ads?
• What keywords are they targeting?
• When did they last update their online presence?
• Are they using social media?
• Is their content presented in a user-friendly way?
• Have they embraced video, audio content, visual/graphical content (infographics etc)?

These are just a few of the question you need to answer before you begin your digital marketing campaign. We have a full list of question that need to be answered, in addition to these, before we can effectively develop a digital marketing campaign that will gain you new, paying customers.

There's no point in doing 10-times more than your competitors, when doing 5% more will get you ahead of them in the search rankings. In most business verticals, you don't get to number one on Google for hot, competitive keywords and phrases, without some serious effort, but if you pick a niche - you'll be surprised how effective your content marketing efforts can be at attracting new customers to your website.

Speak to one of our experts, today, and begin your journey to growing your business online. We're here to help and you might be pleasantly surprised with the results we can deliver for your business.