What is content marketing
In order to generate interest in their products or services, businesses employ a content marketing strategy that involves producing valuable informational content such as blog posts, videos, and infographics. While the primary goal of this type of marketing is to enhance brand visibility rather than directly sell specific products, it can also be utilized to introduce new offerings.
Content marketing offers distinct advantages compared to other forms of advertising. To begin with, it has the ability to captivate a broad audience, regardless of whether they are actively seeking or aware of your brand. Consequently, businesses can enhance their online traffic and organically raise brand awareness.
Content marketing is a cost-effective strategy that involves creating high-quality content at a low cost. This content can be freely published on a business’s blog or social media platforms. Social media platforms have the added benefit of allowing users to share the content on their own accounts, expanding the reach of the brand at no additional cost.
Benefits of content marketing for small business
Here is a breakdown of the clear benefits of content marketing for small businesses, in addition to fueling your marketing efforts.
- Differentiate your business. It can be hard to stand out online. But your content can take the lead by showing your brand values, giving your audience useful information, and building a community around your brand.
- Develop a brand. Whether you’re providing a product or a service, it’s your brand that makes a lasting impression on your audience. With a strong social and organic presence, you can get people talking about your business.
- Connect with customers. Your blog, social media, and newsletter campaigns provide multiple touch points for your audience and offer more opportunities to connect with your customers directly and generate leads.
- Attract organic website visitors. Optimized website and blog content can bring in targeted, long-term organic traffic for years after publishing. Marketers can find themselves at the mercy of social media ad platforms and fluctuating prices. Get longer-term value from high-performing organic content and become less reliant on ads.
Content marketing tips for small businesses
1. Work on your foundations before rushing into content creation
Before you can scale your content marketing efforts, it is important to have all the assets and resources in place. Content is just one component of your larger marketing strategy, and it can only be effective when all other elements are functioning correctly.
- Your website—optimized for users and search engines
- Design and copywriting capabilities
- Follow-up and conversion strategies, such as email marketing for downloadable content and CTA (call to action) buttons in your blog posts
- Analytics (e.g., event tracking in Google Analytics) to help you assess your progress
2. Document your content strategy and plan from the start
Being strategic from the beginning is a wiser approach than randomly creating a significant amount of content without achieving any results. Therefore, it is important to start building and documenting your content marketing strategy early on.
It has been found that 80% of companies that achieved high success in content marketing have a documented content strategy, whereas 52% of unsuccessful companies fail to establish their strategy. Therefore, before engaging in blog post writing and tik-tok filming, it is crucial to define and document the key components of your strategy.
- Your audience
- Goals and metrics
- Content topics
- Content formats
- Content distribution channels
According to our research findings, 67% of companies that have between 11 and 50 employees have documented their content marketing efforts, while the remaining 33% have not yet adopted this practice.
3. Put stories at the heart of your content marketing strategy
By using narrative structures, brand storytelling aids in translating your company mission, background, and unique identity, thereby serving as the basis for your content marketing strategy and setting you apart from competitors.
In terms of establishing a connection with your audience, stories prove to be an ideal medium through which individuals can better comprehend. In addition, stories assist in capturing people’s attention by appealing to their emotions, and they tend to deliver information in a manner that is more likely to be remembered.
4. Understand your audience
When it comes to content marketing, it is possible to engage with almost anyone online, especially if the content becomes viral. However, it is not advisable to aim for a very wide audience. Rather, your content should focus on attracting the attention of your target audience.
Your content marketing plans are shaped by analyzing your customer base and trying to understand what drives them. You need to determine where they initially encountered your brand, what kind of content generates the highest level of interaction, and what their interests are.
If your target market consists of educators, they are seeking to enhance their teaching skills. An instance of tailored content for your desired audience is Instagram infographics that offer advice and resources for teachers.
5. Tailor your content to your marketing funnel
In order to effectively move customers through the marketing funnel, all marketing materials, including content marketing, should be designed to reach customers at any stage of their journey, whether it is the initial stage of awareness or the final stage of taking action by making a purchase.
Below are some examples of content that are appropriate for different stages in the marketing funnel.
- Awareness (the customer is learning about your brand): Blog posts, podcasts, or social media updates related to your industry, but not necessarily your products
- Evaluation (the customer considers purchasing a product or service): E-books, webinars, or emails that further educate customers about your brand and include a call to action (CTA)
- Conversion (the customer makes a purchase): Customer testimonials or product demonstration videos to add extra value to the purchase
6. Start a blog
For small businesses, a branded blog is considered to be a highly significant tool in content marketing. It serves as an excellent platform where you can generate content that effectively increases website traffic, enhances search rankings, and offers valuable insights to your customers.
Your small business’ blog can include a variety of content, such as educational posts, interviews with industry thought leaders, company updates, and more. As long as the content provides value to your customers, it is a valuable marketing asset.
7. Build a social media presence
Nowadays, brand awareness and social media marketing are closely connected. Creating content for social media is generally free, easy, and has the capability to reach a large audience.
For small businesses with limited budgets that need to optimize the effectiveness of every marketing investment, these advantages are crucial. When formulating your content marketing plan, it is important to give priority to social media.
8. Create an email newsletter
Although businesses have numerous new channels to connect with customers, traditional email marketing still proves to be an effective tool in guiding customers through the marketing process.
By following a logical sequence of steps, the text can be rephrased while retaining its original meaning. No additional information should be added, and no information should be removed. The utilization of weekly or monthly email newsletters by brands ensures that they remain prominent in the minds of their customers, leading to a substantial return on investment (ROI) for their marketing endeavors. Numerous tools for content creation and automation facilitate the process of constructing and delivering email newsletters, thus allowing for the seamless integration of email marketing into one’s arsenal of techniques.
9. Use a content calendar
With various channels available such as email, social media, and blogs, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Fortunately, there is a helpful tool called a content calendar that allows you to organize and keep track of your marketing efforts. This calendar helps you plan ahead, stay organized, and analyze how modifications to your marketing strategy impact your reach.
10. Repurpose your content across different channels
If you interview an industry leader for your blog, that would count as one piece of content. However, you can actually repurpose that interview to create content for all your marketing channels. For instance, you can post a transcript of the interview on your blog.
To maximize the value of everything you create, post a video of the interview discussion on YouTube and create clips from insightful comments to share on your social media pages.
11. Leverage user-generated content
It is great news that you do not need to be the sole creator of content for your brand. Both customer reviews and influencer marketing play crucial roles in a content marketing strategy. This particular type of content helps establish trust in your brand and generates fresh traffic from the audiences of other users.
12. Track your progress
It is crucial to set goals and measure your progress for any marketing strategy. Without monitoring the impacts of your content, you cannot determine if it is effectively reaching your audience and generating the desired impact. Therefore, tracking impressions, click-through rates, and other metrics is essential to evaluate the success and value of your content.
13. Be experimental and avoid creating generic content
Sandip Acharyya, Founder of MarTech Sprout, provides valuable tips for small businesses on confidently promoting their brand.
Because of your small size, your reach is limited.
2. The subject matter/topic you are utilizing for your content is already addressed by larger corporations.
Sandip continues by stating that
- Be bold and experimental. Use anything that sets you apart. For example, you can use memes, satire, and pop culture comparisons to attract your audience. They provide a much-needed break from repetitive blog posts flooding the intent.
- Share your opinion. Your audience already knows “the best strategies” or “10 trends to follow” in your domain. Rather than following the herd, share your opinions. Tell your audience where you stand on the topic.
- Be visually attractive. A unique headline, a colorful cover image, and the use of other visual elements can make a difference.
14. Diversify and repurpose content that hits the KPIs
Do you have content that is negatively impacting your KPIs? Great! It’s time to modify it in order to cater to your target channels. This entails repurposing your successful content for various platforms, enabling you to engage with customers across multiple platforms.
For instance, a blog has the potential to be transformed into a sequence of Instagram stories, a report has the ability to be converted into a webinar, and the outcomes of a survey can be utilized to create an infographic.
15. Be selective with your content distribution channels
Avoid trying to do everything at once. While it may be tempting to create content on every platform, it is not required. Instead, concentrate on the platforms where your most valuable customers can be found, as this will vary for each business. Use your customer research insights and analytics to determine the best platforms to share your content.
