You need a modern content marketing strategy
To succeed today, you must go beyond search. Winning attention now means understanding and engaging with your audience where they already spend time online.

A modern content marketing approach is built around your audience. It begins with discovering where they are, how they spend their time, and how your brand can naturally fit into the conversations they follow. Yes, it can seem overwhelming, but this approach combines the strength of traditional search with an audience-first mindset to deliver real and lasting results.

Step one: Find out what influences your audience
Some audiences still rely heavily on Google. Others are active in niche online spaces, dedicated social media communities, or specific content formats like podcasts and video. Some read industry newsletters or follow influential blogs. Every audience is different, so you need to uncover what your audience pays attention to before you can market to them effectively.

Luckily, this does not have to be complicated. You have three main tools at your disposal:

✔ Surveys
✔ Direct interviews
✔ Scalable data tools

Many marketers know keyword research tools like Google Trends, Semrush, and Moz. These are useful but limited. They will not tell you:

✔ What social platforms your audience uses
✔ Which websites they visit
✔ Which podcasts do they listen to
✔ What subreddits do they follow
✔ Which YouTube channels do they subscribe to
✔ Which influencers or creators they trust
✔ What newsletters do they read regularly

To find this kind of insight, you need broader research. Surveys and interviews are a good starting point. But tools like Brandwatch and Audiense give you larger-scale visibility into your audience’s habits. Whether you use software or manual research, the goal is the same: find out what already captures their attention.

Once you know this, you will have a real competitive edge. That understanding sets the stage for every content decision you make moving forward.

Step 2: Find resonant topics that are likely to earn amplification.
The combined insights from keyword research, audience research, and social media listening will help you find the best topics. Try a keyword research tool to help you find some high-volume (or at least, medium volume) keyword opportunities. Then, do some audience research and social media listening to get a sense of how to prioritise your topics and what types of information to include in the meat of your content.

After that, use a couple of social listening tools to see what your audience is talking about online, if they’re talking about you, and to understand how you can join the conversation.

Having an overall understanding of the marketing opportunity of a given keyword alongside what people are searching for and talking about online will help you generate meaningful, relevant, and maybe even timely ideas.

Step 3: Keep an eye on the competition.
You’re a savvy marketer, so of course, you keep a pulse on your competitors. The trouble is, it’s not often as easy to figure out who your content competition is. This is someone who ranks for a keyword you wish to rank for but might not necessarily be a direct competitor.

Gaining instant access to the top-ranking URLs for your audience can speed up your ideation process. At the very least, it gives you a clear view of which brands successfully engage with your audience. This insight can open up collaboration opportunities, whether pitching to write guest posts or exploring co-marketing partnerships with those brands. It provides a fresh perspective on potential allies in your content strategy.

Step 4: Distribute like a pro.
Create Once, Distribute Forever. You now have some excellent content pieces – some blog posts, YouTube videos, templates, and more. You can’t just rely on search engines to send traffic your way.

Next comes your distribution strategy, which never really ends. There are social channels for you to add zero-click value, not to mention repurpose your insights time and again. There are websites, publications, podcasts, and other social accounts that can amplify your content. You might already have a few friendlies in your network who you could contact for a quick amplification favour or to partner with on a webinar. But chances are, there are additional brands to uncover.

Rinse, Repeat, Repurpose, and Recycle
You can go back to step one to conceptualise new content ideas. You can go back to step three to see if there are new content formats that you can repurpose your existing content into. And you should go back to step five to revisit distribution channels every chance you get.

Your mileage may vary, but you should now have an easily repeatable process for creating and distributing content. Good luck out there!