Quick Tips About Content Marketing Strategy For Small Businesses

In a world where people are exposed to over 5,000 ads per day (LinkedIn), getting through to your target audience has become more work than it is worth. Enter content marketing, a seemingly ancient concept that has been revived in the wake of the global advertisement epidemic. What content marketing essentially entails is the creation of quality, informative and valuable content to promote your business.

Devising relevant content that can entertain and educate your audience along with a little self-promotion allows for a better response by the public. After being exposed to on-the-nose marketing and advertising strategies, offering a benefit of sorts to the target audience facilitates improved customer acquisition. Tactics like blogging or social media posts or collaborating with influencers resonate with people and help promote the brand at the same time.

Why is Content Marketing the Call of the Times?
Lead Generation. If you are a small business owner, your primary target should be increasing brand visibility. And what better way to do that than be visible on Google search results? The love affair shared by Google and quality content is universally well-known. Developing relevant and superior content will give you the edge in marketing.

Better Audience Retention: Any customer goes through a series of decision-making steps before buying a product. By providing them with top-notch research and enough resources to help make that decision, you are, in essence, guiding them to your brand. This way, you can also build a good relationship with your target audience and live in their minds rent-free!

Brand Awareness and Credibility: As a consumer, any individual will look at the quality and recognition a brand provides. While your website and content can increase your online presence and brand awareness, you still need to give people a reason to click that buy button. With content marketing, enough research goes into producing quality pieces. This, in turn, lets your audience know that you are field experts and know enough about what you are selling. Trust and credibility are thus formed.

Wider Reach: The online world connects people from the farthest corners of the globe. Leveraging the reach that the web has by putting out regular content related to the brand image you want to establish can help you connect with people from places beyond your imagination. When you have an audience from across the world, this can increase your sales prospects and clientele.

Quick Content Marketing Tips for Small Businesses: Be Cognizant of Your Target Audience. If your brand is all about baby formula, including the youth in your target audience will yield nothing. Developing a buyer persona and figuring out what ticks and appeals to your clients will help your growth and further your cause. For a small business, focusing on one USP or a niche helps in optimizing all your energies and resources towards that niche. This will give you a better idea of the kind of content you want to create. Once you know that, you will know what channels to use for your business’ marketing.

Interactive Website and Blogs: Plug-ins, widgets, CMS templates are all ways to augment the look, feel, and user-friendliness of your website. Creating a website with a set color scheme can add to your brand identity. Moreover, having a well-crafted and visually appealing website increases viewer retention. You may also create landing pages where you can offer a free resource in exchange for them filling out a contact sheet. If they enjoy the resource, they are sure to visit you again. Most importantly, though, ensure your website or blog is mobile-friendly.

Social Media for the Win: Social media offers a plethora of unique ways to create and post content. Besides, social media has its roots established in every household. Use all the features that such platforms offer to create and promote. Social media platforms can also be excellent communication channels. Interacting with clients and offering customer service to your followers are some of the ways in which you can add value to your brand identity and reputation.

Email Marketing: Once regular content is being rolled out of your website and/ or blog, you can think of offering email subscriptions. Weekly content with the latest updates and special offers builds a loyal customer base and is alluring enough for new clientele to join in. Building an email marketing strategy will streamline the sending out of newsletters. You may even offer special perks to people who subscribe. This will get more clients to your newsletter.

Boost Your Ranking: Using SEO to refine and embellish your content pieces can guarantee a good search ranking. As mentioned before, Google search engine loves superior quality content. Taking advantage of SEO tools will allow you to boost your ranking, in turn driving more traffic to your page. Optimized blogs also let your readers know that you are an expert in that topic.

Visually Appealing Content: While blogging and research articles are fantastic ways of content marketing, not all of your target audience may prefer to read. Per research by HubSpot, 50% of customers prefer seeing videos from brands. Well-captured images and videos tend to appeal to more people than text-based content. In fact, social media platforms are also upping their game to include more visuals. A few marketing videos here and there can significantly boost your company’s presence.

Content Calendars and Blueprints: Laying out your strategies and setting proper goals are sure-shot ways of being successful in content marketing. In a study by CoSchedule, marketers that had set goals are 376% more likely to report success, and 70% of them achieve their goals. Making a content rollout calendar and planning out every step of your marketing will keep you more organized, consistent, and relevant. Content calendars usually also include what channel caters to what audience and lets you personalize accordingly. Instead of promoting everything everywhere, divide and conquer based on your needs and the platform’s reach.

Testimonials: There is nothing better than word-of-mouth promotion. When someone other than the enterprise speaks highly of your brand, it creates a rather significant impact. Prospective customers will find it easier to trust in your business when someone shares a positive and enriching experience with your company.

Marketing Collaborations: Having different channels of marketing will inevitably lead to better campaigns and sales. Collaborating with different brands to promote and cross-promote can increase your reach. Even including influencers in your marketing campaigns can benefit your brand awareness. Let them repost a social media post or talk about their experience with your brand.

Short-Term Strategies: Instead of focusing on long-term gains, start small. Short-term strategies will help you gain ROI sooner rather than later. Getting faster results will help you build more sustainable models for the future. One of the most common strategies includes using only a few channels to promote your content. Spreading yourself too far and wide might be more burdensome to your start-ups.

For small businesses, content marketing becomes more than just promotion. It is a way to establish yourself as a field expert. With benefits such as increased ROI and lead generation, such marketing strategies not only empower your audience but also enrich your business. Methods like blogging, social media promotions, and email subscriptions are getting increasingly popular. Leveraging them to your advantage only increases your chances of excelling in the game. While using the tried and tested content marketing strategies is the way to go, do not be afraid of testing new waters.