4 Things You Need to Know about Creating Well-Researched Content

Well-researched copy for content marketing contains relevant data that has come from different reliable sources. This data will support your ideas, which can assure your audience that your content is dependable.

The four W’s — What, Who, Where and Why — represent the trends, audience, media and competition that are essential to creating effective copy for content marketing. (Source: Inc.)

1. Discover the Trends (WHAT)

A trend could be related to fashion or a topic that is subject to many posts on social media and other platforms within a short time period. (Source: Oxford Dictionary) In content marketing, trends should be taken in consideration because these subjects are regularly being searched online.

Trends can also help you to identify the relevant data that will resonate with the target audience. (Source: Inc.) The trending topics, people, places and events can be used in order to adapt to the audience and what they are likely to be interested in at a certain period of time.

Google has a tool called Google Trends. It provides a chart that can identify the search frequency of words, phrases and topics over time. This also informs the user about the regions that have the highest number of searches for every topic. (Source: Webopedia)

2. Know the audience (WHO)

Knowing your audience is vital to recognise the behaviour of your potential customers. It will show you how people look for information and assess the available products and services, as well as how they make purchasing decisions. (Source: Inc.) This can also help you to realise the things you need to include in your content to urge them to take action.

Your content should speak to a potential customer, with a particular need, at a certain period of time. (Source: Convince & Convert) You can produce more effective content with remarkable content ideas, specific types of formats and visual aids such as image and videos. (Source: Forbes)

3. Assess the Media (WHERE)

Assessing the media can help you to recognise the best online “media and influencers” in the industry of your business.

Assessing the media will also direct you to the sites and platforms that can best promote your content. These sites and platforms also define the type and format of content that you need to produce. In addition, this will generate more traffic once the readers have clicked on the content.

4. Identify the Competition (WHY)

According to a market research expert, Stephen Phillips, “businesses need to spend more time watching their backs and looking at what their competitors are up to.” Knowing the activities of your competitors is essential because it allows you to gain additional ideas and strategies that can also benefit your company. (Source: Marketing Donut)

Identifying the competition can help you to maximise the strategies that your competitors are using in their content. (Source: Inc.) When you realise these things, you can also come up with better ideas for your content marketing strategy.

Knowing the trends, audience, media and competition is not enough. These things should be thoroughly assessed and properly applied in creating effective copy for content marketing.