You’ve just opened the business of your dreams. Everything is ready for the first wave of customers.
But instead of a wave of enthusiastic prospects, all you’re getting is a trickle of interest in your products or services.
What went wrong?
In our information-saturated age, it’s important for any business to establish a strong foundation in content marketing. Without a bullet-proof content marketing strategy, a small business may never reach its full potential.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Instead of always selling and pitching your products or services (an approach that may intimidate or frustrate potential customers), you focus on providing relevant and useful content to help prospective customers solve pain points.
If you’re wondering how you could afford a full-blown, bullet-proof content marketing strategy, how to begin setting one up, or even why it matters, you’ve come to the right place. Here we’ll cover the basics of content marketing for small businesses, as well as tips for getting started right away!
What Is Content Marketing for Small Businesses?
Content marketing is creating consistent, high-quality content that directly responds to the needs and interests of your small business’s main audience while presenting your services and products as a way to solve problems they might be facing.
An example: A home renovation products company creates and publishes a DIY video on how to properly install flashing on a roof. This video provides valuable information to its viewers while introducing them to the business’s products and services.
Each kind of content comes with its own difficulties and benefits. Here we’ll cover some of the most impactful content channels available to small businesses.
Blogging
Adding relevant, high-quality content to your website regularly grows your small business’s website authority, traffic, and rankings. The more eyeballs on your website, the more sales you’d probably get, and the closer you’d be to succeeding as a business owner.
Blogging is a simple and amazing way to educate and entertain readers while building credibility within your industry and introducing your products and services to your key audience. If blogging hasn’t been a part of your marketing plan so far, our complete guide to writing effective, educational, and entertaining blog posts is a great place to start.
As you explore this type of content, you’ll come across a term called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. SEO refers to the process of making your site rank higher in search engines whenever people type in keywords related to the niche you’re in.
The higher your site ranks, the more visible your business is to the general public, the more traffic your business receives, and the more sales your business is likely to generate.
Content marketing approaches such as blogging help to place your business near the top of search engine results whenever someone looks up a specific topic related to your industry.
Social Media
Social media promotes online traffic and revenue by reaching a larger audience and building connections directly with your customers.
Begin by encouraging existing clients to connect with you on social media, and then create interesting content they’d love to share with their friends and family.
Use social media to run sales campaigns, share blog posts or new videos, engage with your audience, and more. These tips on using social media effectively from Forbes can be a great launching pad for those new to social media for business purposes.
Email Marketing
Email marketing refers to building an email list of customers you send consistent, interesting, and relevant messages around your business.
These email messages keep readers engaged and interested in what you offer and notify them of upcoming sales or changes to your business.
Video, Images, and Infographics
Videos have become one of the most effective ways a small business can connect with its customers. Take advantage of this growing trend to build awareness for your business and engage more powerfully with your audience.
Even quick videos like a personalized thank-you video for a client, a short demo video showcasing a new product, or an informal interview with a happy customer can help with SEO, increasing your business’s visibility and moving your business forward.
Consider using videos on blogs, websites, and a dedicated business Youtube channel to expand the reach of your visual content. Don’t forget that eye-catching headlines and intriguing descriptions are as crucial for video content as they are for blog posts.
Why Your Small Business Needs Content Marketing
After all is said and done, what does content marketing do for your small business?
More than you might think! Because of its affordability and the long-term, evergreen use of the content produced, having a robust content marketing strategy in place can put small businesses up against large companies so they can carve a place in a competitive market.
In other words, you can create content on a budget and make a small investment that pulls in significant, positive, and lasting results for your business.
Still not convinced? Check out three of the most impressive benefits of content marketing for small businesses:
- Increase your traffic by up to 800%, and generate more leads (and sales!)
- Rank higher on search engines and get noticed by more people
- Establish authority in your niche, and gain respect and appreciation
Why not take your small business to the next level and start creating world-class content that genuinely serves your audience and drives your business to success?
Small Business Content Marketing Tips
Whether you’re new to this idea of content creation or have been in the content game for a few years, reviewing these practical tips for building a winning marketing strategy will help you level up your entrepreneur game.
Determine Target Audience
How would you know what to communicate if you don’t know who to create content for? Or even worse: what if you create content for the wrong audiences?
As with any other business strategy, make sure you know what your business is for. Your content should be relevant to your product or service and be relatable and useful for your target audience.
Sell coffee and specialty desserts? A blog post on losing weight by doing plyometrics probably doesn’t fit your content marketing strategy. But an in-depth video on how different kinds of coffee are prepared certainly would.
Create a Content Calendar
Consistent posting is crucial in maintaining interest and establishing authority and a presence in your industry niche.
A content schedule with consistent publishing of articles, social media posts, or videos that serves your customers also helps with internal organization. Not sure where to start? Here’s a list of content calendar templates to inspire you.
Consistency keeps the passion and energy of your business alive, which makes all the difference for customers and yourself!
Determine Your Goals for Your Content Marketing Strategy
Without a goal, no strategy works. Know your goals for the content you’re creating before you decide on a particular content marketing strategy.
Goals for a marketing strategy (that you could actually reach!) include:
- Establishing a brand identity
- Building trust among existing and potential customers
- Establishing yourself as an industry thought leader
- Marketing and promoting your business
- Maximizing your Return On Investment (ROI)
But goals for how you would work with content are also important. Set guidelines for your main objective, deadlines, and how much time and money you will invest into your small business content marketing.
Share Your Content
Even if you’re putting out the best content, all your videos, blog posts, and infographics will do no good if no one actually comes across them. That’s why you should consider sharing content on social media channels, email newsletters, and industry forums (if applicable).
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “People will find my business eventually if I keep offering my products and services.” Word-of-mouth is powerful, but relying on organic searches and random social media shares is risky for consistent sales is risky. Don’t be shy to promote your own content!
Measure Your Content Marketing Success
It’s virtually impossible to build or improve on a content strategy without analyzing the results of your efforts. Tracking metrics like conversions, traffic sources, and engagement rates on your social media and blog posts is important as you continue creating and publishing content.
Analytics and data tracking can be taken a step further by implementing conversion tracking, which measures lead generation, sales, and other important actions that happen on your website.
Tracking and understanding your content marketing strategy results is vital, but it needs to be analyzed regularly to guide the marketing plan in a successful direction effectively.
Google Analytics is a great tool for analyzing page views, click-through rates, conversions/sales, and bounce rates. This information helps you make smarter, tailored decisions on improvements to your content marketing plan.
Getting Started With Your Content Marketing Plan
Now you see how content marketing drives sales through:
- Building brand awareness and thought leadership
- Reducing the need for paid ads
- Providing relevant, helpful, and practical information to customers
- Increasing customer engagement
- Improving search engine rankings
- And much more
Content marketing strategies abound; explore and experiment until you find the perfect one!
Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur who’s just opened a new small business, or a brand-new business owner looking to grow and develop your dream, okwrite is ready to help you level up your content marketing game. Speak with our experienced content professionals today!
