NEW YEAR, NEW RULES, NEW THINGS.
BUT, new doesn’t always mean better, and when you feel overwhelmed with New Year shenanigans like:
- New Year’s resolutions!
- Goals!
- What to do better!
- What to do more of!
- What to do less of!
There’s something we forget when it comes to content – you don’t have to keep doing MORE, BETTER, NEWER things to prepare your content strategy for the New Year. You can work with what you have now, improve it, and start seeing results immediately.
Work through these 4 tips to prepare your content strategy plan for next year:
4 Tips to Prepare your Content Strategy Plan for the New Year
1. Go through your existing content and update/fix links
If you’d like to increase your Google search rankings and SEO – an easy fix is to go into your existing content and:
- Update information
- Fix links
- Add new links to outside reliable sources
- Add inbound links to your own blog posts
- Change the “last updated” date (if you’ve got timestamps in the URL of your content)
By doing this, you’re telling Google (all hail the powerhouse search engine), that your content is “newer” and “fresher”. Although I always say gear towards “evergreen content“, search engines like Google still keep track of when posts are published.
You can also update the format of your existing content by:
- Adding new & relevant information
- Updating keywords
- Creating headlines and adding bullet points
- Changing the TITLE to be more catchy!
We all want fresh, new, and relevant content, right? Well – you can update OLD content to make it new, fresh, and relevant, without taking too much time.
LEARN: How to Use SEO & Content to Rank on Google and Reach More Clients
2. Clean out your email list
This can mean different things – but here’s what you can do to clean out your email list:
- DELETE inactive subscribers!
- Segment your list further
- Send an email to inactive subscribers to re-engage them!
Yes. I’m telling you to DELETE email subscribers.
But before you do, let them know that they’re going to be deleted!
If your click-open rate for your newsletters has seriously been hurting (I’m thinking less than 50% open-rate), it’s time to try re-adjust your strategy. A simple way to prepare your content strategy for the new year is re-engaging the people who’ve already opted into your business but may need the right type of content or offer to get them interested again.
For example, you can follow this email strategy to either re-engage, segment, or clean your email list – so your audience only receives information that they’re interested in.
- Send an email to your inactive subscribers to ask them what they’re interested in seeing (vacation rentals, hottest deals at your hotel, latest tours, etc.)
- Send out a few of these throughout the next few weeks
- After 2-3 weeks of re-engagement, look through your data to see who is STILL not engaging.
- DELETE those subscribers or send them a little perk to have them come back to you! (ie: discounts, an additional add-on to a tour, etc).
- Re-segment your list based on the subscribers that re-engaged in your latest email chain
3. Research on trending topics in your field in the upcoming year
Before writing or sharing any new content – stay ahead of the game by researching trending topics in the hospitality and tourism industries for the upcoming year! If you’re not sure what to research – ask yourself:
- What new regulations are currently being put in place that will affect your business?
- What is the new generation interested in?
- What trends have been rising in popularity during the last 3 months?
- What’s making a comeback in your niche?
While researching, write down trends you see that will impact your business and your clients. From there, you can brainstorm new marketing ideas and content that you can share to your audience earlier!
How does this help?
- You’re ahead of the curve with content that people WILL be searching for
- Your business will be a “thought-leader” in this topic (ONLY do this if you plan on incorporating it into your overall messaging and branding)
- When your audience searches for these topics, your content will be the first to appear
4. Define your goals and work backward
If you’ve worked through this entire list, I APPLAUD YOU!
The last tip I’ve got is to define your goals for next year and work backward.
Think: BIG PICTURE –> Steps to get there –> Audience you want to target –> What content do they like? –> Get creating!
While working with 1:1 clients, we always work backward with their goals and readjust who they target their content towards. Each piece of content needs to have:
- A purpose
- Clear Intention
- and Call-to-Action
So after developing quarterly or monthly goals, it’s time to take those and break them down further to create action steps on what to do next.
Start with a simple and SMART goal – like, “We’d like to book 100 rooms in our boutique hotel during Quarter 1!”
NOT, something like, “We want our boutique hotel to be seen as one of the best and friendliest hotels in our city.”
How do you measure the 2nd goal? Well, it’s subjective. Creating content for a goal like that gets messy and unclear. Creating content and a strategy for booking 100 rooms in Quarter 1 is achievable, measurable, and gives a specific timeframe to accomplish it.
Stick to simple and SMART goals and AVOID THE REST!
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So, how can you prep your content strategy plan for the New Year?
- Refresh your existing content! (Update keywords, inbound & outbound links, and make your content “fresh” again)
- Work through that email list and clean it up (Re-engage your inactive subscribers, delete them – if necessary, and re-segment)
- What’s trending in your field? (Research trending topics and news that will directly affect your business, niche, and your clients)
- Get clear on your goals for the next year and work backward to create content (Remember: SMART GOALS, y’all – I don’t want to see those vague goals that fizzle out)
- BONUS TIP: Work with a content strategist to help you plan, organize, and strategize your content strategy for the new year! (That’s me!)
And if you get nothing from this post, know this:
YOU DON’T NEED TO CREATE NEW THINGS ALL THE TIME.
What’re you excited to implement in your content strategy plan for the New Year?
Enjoyed this post? You might like these, too:
3 Keys to a Successful Content Strategy for your Boutique Hotel
Using Content Strategy for your Restaurant
How to Incorporate Video Content into your Brand Strategy
How to Create Consistent Content Quickly
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