In 1996, Bill Gates was quoted as saying “Content is King” and the same is true today, over 10 year on. But what is Content Marketing and how can you integrate it into your small business when you already have a full work life?
Traditional marketing is becoming less relevant and less effective by the minute while Content Marketing has become the new approach for a vast majority of businesses. The great thing about Content Marketing is that is can be achieved by both large and small organisation’s.
A good Content Marketing strategy executed by a small business can pave a way for small businesses to compete with the big companies better than ever before.
What is Content Marketing?
Definitions vary, however to put is simply, Content Marketing is any content you create to promote your business, this may include blogs, social media posts and videos that are shared online. Generally the content does not explicitly promote a business but is intended to stimulate interest its product or service.
Advantages of Content Marketing for Small business
To avoid your business being skipped over or ignored, savvy small business owners can craft Content Marketing message that their target audience wants to see. When small business communicates well to their customers by providing information instead of offering a sales pitch, the consumer will stand up and take notice. Your small business becomes a valued information provider building trust and loyalty.
We all know too well that small businesses doesn’t have the resources and cash flow to compete at the marketing scale as the big companies, however Content Marketing for small business is easily approachable and affordable. Don’t get me wrong, we are not discounting that creating content can still be an intensive and intimidating process, but it can be learned and with practice and the right mindset any small business owner can master it.
Content Marketing strategy
If you are just getting started or new to the Content Marketing approach for your small business, you should first write a content strategy. Answer these simplified questions to form the basis of a Content Marketing strategy:
- What are your business objectives? – Understand and align your business goals with your content marketing strategy. Take the time to understand what you are trying to achieve so that you can set measurable goals
- Who is your audience? – Know who you are talking to so you can talk to them in a way they will listen
- Who are your competition? – What are you competition doing, what can you do better, differently to stand out from the crowd?
- Platforms – Understand which platform best represents your brand and what platforms your target audience is using
- Content Type – Decide what content type will work best for your business, will it be video, blogs, or client success stories
- Goal – Understand your goal, what it is you are trying to achieve, do you want to drive traffic back to your website, increase sales and/or drive lead generation
- Content Schedule – Develop a content schedule, this schedule will include:
- Frequency of content
- Time of post
- Type of content
- Listed by platform
- Who is responsible
- Measurement – Identify the system you will use to measure the results of your content marketing strategy
A good Content Marketing strategy will help your small business to bring new customers, encourage existing customers to buy more, promote brand awareness and loyalty. Make sure your content is consistent and regular and keep measuring your results so that your content improves and moves with your audiences desires.
