You’ve heard it many times before, but it bears repeating: Content is King, or, as some would argue, Queen. While there’s no denying the popularity of YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms, in-depth content that informs, entices, and entertains is still very much alive and well. If you want to attract, engage, and retain customers – whether they’re in Madison, Wisconsin or around the world – you need to invest in content marketing.

This content may take the form of ebooks, blogs, how-to guides, white papers, webinars, or even a trainning course. Whatever it is, your customers should be able to find it easily – and preferably, they’ll want to find it themselves! When customers can discover the value in your content and determine that it’s beneficial to them, you’ll build trust and confidence that will encourage them to become engaged in an act of consumerism (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Let’s explore how you can find an online marketing agency in Madison, Wisconsin that can help you with content marketing.

Determine What You Need

Depending on your budget and existing resources, you’ll need to determine what you need in terms of an online marketing agency in Madison, WI. Essentially, you want to find a partner who is a strong content marketer and has lots of experience in providing successful content strategies for various industries. Even if you have an idea of what you need, it’s best to work with an agency that can provide you with objective feedback and analysis.

Consider Your Needs And Wants

As the name would suggest, an online marketing agency in Madison, WI can help you with all things digital – from SEO and content strategy to design and development. As a business owner or marketing manager, you may be familiar with the concept of “needs vs. wants,” referring to the theory that people will only do something for you once they’ve determined that you need it or want it. By definition, needs are based on objective factors, such as your budget, while wants are based on subjective factors, such as whether or not you truly require certain services from an agency.

Your needs vs. wants analysis should involve both your internal team (i.e., the people within your company) and your external team (i.e., those individuals or organizations that you’ll be partnering with to achieve your goals). As a business owner or marketing manager, you may have determined that you want to expand your online marketing strategy, but are uncertain as to how to begin. To meet your wants, you need to consider what you need to expand your strategy, as well as what you desire to see happen. This ensures that you’re both heading in the right direction – and that you’re not wasting your time or funding on unproductive ventures.

Choose A Niche

If you’re looking for an agency that can offer SEO services, for example, you should consider whether or not you want local or national focus. Local SEO focuses on getting your content (e.g., blog articles, webinars, and so on) to rank for local keywords and phrases. National SEO focuses on getting your content to rank for national keywords and phrases, which may be less relevant to you (and your customers) based in Wisconsin but more relevant to people searching, for example, from New York.

If you’re unsure of what type of focus you should put your efforts into, consider whether or not your target audience is more likely to search for products or services that are locally-made or -focused. If so, you may want to consider establishing a local SEO strategy in addition to your national SEO strategy.

Look At Reviews And Testimonials

Besides considering your needs and wants, it’s important to examine the feedback that you’ve gathered from previous clients. If possible, you should look for reviews of the agency – both positive and negative – on sites like Google reviews and the Better Business Bureau. You can also contact the agency directly and ask about reviews or submit a request for a testimonial.

As a consumer, you may be familiar with the concept of customer reviews, whether they come in the form of good or bad – but they can be just as helpful to business owners or marketers as they are to consumers. When someone reviews your product or service, it gives you an opportunity to either respond or act upon the feedback. In a similar manner, when someone writes a testimonial about your product or service, it gives you the chance to respond in kind or brush off the statement. In both cases, you’re relying on your customers to behave in a customer-centric manner and utilize the tools that are available to them (i.e., review sites or testimonials) to give you valuable feedback about your efforts.

Understand The Value Of Metrics

If you want to find a reputable agency in Madison, WI that can provide you with analytics and measurements of your SEO and content strategies, you should look for one that can provide you with clear explanations as to how they will track and report on your progress. The last thing you want to do is have a hard time figuring out, for example, whether or not your content has actually helped drive traffic to your website. To that end, it’s important to work with an agency that can provide you with clear, relatable metrics.

Consider Your Target Audience

Your target audience is the intended audience of your content – whether that’s a blog article, a social media campaign, a webinar, or any other type of content that you may create. Before you put any content out there, it’s important to consider who the audience is that you’re actually trying to reach. This will help you determine what, if any, type of content you should produce.