Content marketing is a proven tactic that works and continues to provide positive results for businesses of all sizes. To compete in the digital age, you have to consider integrating a content marketing strategy into your marketing plan. Here is why: if you don’t then you are missing out on a lucrative opportunity that is not only cost-effective but also provides your business a significant competitive advantage.
A successful content marketing strategy requires several processes working dynamically together to generate positive ROI. In this blog, I will dive deeper into those processes so you can learn how to effectively elevate your small business to new heights.
Topics covered:
- What is content marketing?
- What are the benefits of content marketing for your small business?
- What does content marketing cost you?
- Tips on how to get started
What is Content Marketing?
“Content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media. This approach establishes expertise, promotes brand awareness, and keeps your business top of mind when it’s time to buy what you sell.”
A few samples of content marketing:
- Blogs
- White Papers
- Social Media Posts
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Emails
- Newsletters
Did you know?
- Businesses with blogs get 67% more leads than other companies.
- Forty-seven percent of buyers view 3 to 5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales representative.
- Companies that use content marketing see approximately 30% higher growth rates than businesses not using it.
- Seventy-two percent of business to business (B2B) marketers say content marketing increases engagement and the number of leads they generate.
Stats provided by MailChimp
If you are looking to use content marketing as a way to drive leads, here is how you might consider filtering prospects through a sales funnel:
The 3 main stages of a sales funnel are: awareness, consideration and closing stage.
Awareness stage should focus on top of the funnel content meaning, address your potential customers’ pain points. Take time to get to know your target audience to understand their pain points. The more you know, the better your content will be and the chances of you attracting more customers is quite higher.
Be sure to educate your audience in this stage, providing detailed information around your product/service that addresses the precise pain points that have brought them to your business.
As Seth Godin reminds us, “selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t.”
- Samples of content in the awareness stage: blogs, newsletters, e-books and articles.
Consideration stage content should explain to your potential customer all the ways in which your product or service is beneficial to them and how it addresses their needs. This is the time to demonstrate to them how another client is using your product or service successfully. A case study is one of the best ways to explain how your product or service works providing your prospect an actual example of how they might benefit from using it too.
- Samples of content in the consideration stage: case studies, how to videos and articles.
Closing stage content should explain why your business is the best choice among your competitors. This is a good opportunity to share more case studies and testimonials to further drive home the benefits that your product/service has helped your current customers.
- Samples of content in the closing stage: case studies, testimonials, reports with data demonstrating results.
What are the benefits of content marketing for your small business?
- Builds a brand
- Ignites thought leadership
- Creates loyalty among your customer base
- Increases brand awareness
- Drives sales
- Boosts organic traffic to your website
- Helps you connect with your customers and keep them engaged with your brand
- Adds brand value
- Provides consistency across multiple channels
- Tells a story that can be reshared, expanding your brand to a wider audience
- Increased referral traffic
- Increased social media traffic
- Better conversion opportunities
And the list goes on…
If you haven’t started your content marketing strategy yet, what are you waiting for?
What does content marketing cost you?
It depends on the scope of the project or campaign that you are looking to execute as well as what kind of budget you have dedicated toward your marketing efforts. If you are a small business owner, you have limited time to dedicate toward marketing and your budget is small, you may consider hiring a marketing consultant part-time or a digital marketing agency to help you write quality content, distribute it onto your digital assets, measure its success and repeat.
Every consultant and agency has their own rates. I wouldn’t just assume that you can’t afford help, I would recommend getting an appointment to explore your options. They will likely be able to work within your budget and provide you with expert advice.
So then the question becomes, what are you willing to pay to grow your business? It’s entirely up to you and what your goals are.
Looking for marketing assistance?
Tips on how to get started
Identify who your target audience is. As mentioned above, the more you know about your target audience, the better your content will be and the more likely you are to attract them. One of the best ways to identify your audience is to develop buyer personas. They can act as a guide to you when you are creating your content. Check out my blog, 10 Branding Essentials for Small Businesses.” Scroll down to #4 to learn more about developing your buyer personas. Time and research will be required but the results will be worth it.
Decide what content makes sense for your audience and what that looks like in your sales funnel. As mentioned previously, there are different pieces of content depending on what stage your buyer is in. Be sure to note that and develop your strategy around it.
Decide who will write your content and what kind of distribution schedule you want. This is where hiring a professional may make sense. Small business owners are usually very busy, wearing many hats so by delegating marketing toward an outside resource may help you tremendously. If you believe you have the time, energy and expertise to do it yourself, by all means, do it. My only advice is to educate yourself in this area as much as possible first.
Create a content editorial calendar. Spend time mapping out your content in advance. I typically build my content calendar a month out (on a good day) because I am just as busy being a small business owner myself. There are plenty of resources available if you want to use a template or create your own. Just make sure you are organized and you have a schedule to get your content out consistently.
Understand what success means to you and how you want content marketing to work for your business. It’s important to map out your expectations because if they are not met then you don’t want to just give up. You need to set realistic goals and expectations. There is a lot of work that goes into an effective content marketing strategy, it doesn’t come easy, even to marketing experts. The key is to not give up and if you feel that you are at that point, contact a marketing professional for assistance.
Apply these tips!
Need someone to help you further understand how to use the tools or leverage the tips mentioned in this blog? Schedule a meeting with ThirtyThree Marketing to learn more.