A great content marketing strategy works like a spider’s web of content, anchored by meticulously researched and brand-led content pillars. These content pillars start to take shape thanks to bedrock content – some of the most fundamental and important content you will create for your brand.
What Is Bedrock Content?
Bedrock content acts like the foundations of your content marketing strategy. It grounds your content in purpose and a clear marketing goal. For example, if you are a gardening tools brand, you may want to create a piece of bedrock content on the ‘essential gardening tools all keen gardeners need in their shed’.
This will outline all the essentials – the core elements – providing plenty of opportunites for spin-off content on spades, rakes, shears etc. This piece of content can also host hyperlinks to other pieces of content you create. This is where the spider’s web comes into play.
How Does Bedrock Content Relate To Content Pillars?
A piece of bedrock content should be directly related to your content pillars. Ideally, content pillars should be related to the core branded marketing messages of your business. A lipstick brand, for example, may have a content pillar centred on ‘choosing the perfect lipstick’, leading to a piece of bedrock content on matching lipstick shades to skin-tone or personal style.
Here are our top tips to help you create an inspiring and useful piece of bedrock content for your content marketing strategy.
Bedrock Content Should Be Evergreen
News articles are great for keeping customers in the moment and up-to-date with the latest developments at your business. Unfortunately, their relevancy is fleeting, no matter how well pieces are written. Bedrock content should be perennially relevant by focusing on ‘evergreen’ ideas. If you are a jeweller, for example, bedrock content around the formation of diamonds would be long-lasting and interesting today, next year and in 10 years time.
Don’t forget! Lots of jewellery businesses will write about how diamonds are formed. It is important when crafting bedrock content to return to your brand ethos and USP. How can your take on this issue be unique to you? Perhaps it all boils down to the images you choose, the tone of voice you use or the people you call upon to provide expert commentary. Remember, it isn’t about having a unique business, but communicating about that business in a unique way.
Bedrock Content Should Encourage Enquiry and Conversion
Bedrock content should encourage your readers to discover more. They should want to visit the next page you suggest, or read more about a topic that interests them. Think of your bedrock content as a springboard for further debate and conversation, and then crafts these off-shoots into videos, articles, blog posts and infographics over time.
Bedrock Content Should Be Visual, Varied and Engaging
A piece of bedrock content may be long and packed full of interesting and insightful avenues of conversation. Consider how you can visually excite the reader to keep them engaged for as long as possible. Videos, images, infographics, memes, gifs and quizzes will break up long sections of text and keep the reader interested.
Read more: Content Pillars for Social Media
Bedrock Content Should Cover as Many Topics as Possible
Let’s say your content pillar is all about appreciating apples, so you decide to do a piece of bedrock content on the different varieties and the way they taste. In this article, you would want to cover many different types, facts about them, where they’re grown, where you can buy them… but you shouldn’t be aiming to write a novel.
Content should still be practical for the reader to digest. With this example, you may choose to spin two pieces of bedrock content on the different varieties of apple – one for British varieties and one for those grown internationally.
Bedrock Content Should Link to Other Pieces of Content
Your content will only shine if customers (and Google) can find it. The whole purpose of a piece of bedrock content is to provide essential information, in an engaging way, while also creating a web of links across your site. Your bedrock content should feature plenty of links to other articles on your site, and they should link back to it in return.
Bedrock Content Should Be Remembered
Don’t spend hours creating an amazing piece of content only to forget it exists. Keep a record of the content you produce and its wider themes. This will enable you to create fresh links when a new piece of content directly relates to the topic.
Read more: Where to Find Content Inspiration
Bedrock Content Should Be Accurate and Up-To-Date
A long-term piece of content can only be effective if it continues to be relevant to your audience. If it is out-of-date or riddled with errors, it’s more likely to turn your audience off. Part of keeping track of your content is to help you keep it fresh.
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