To make the case for content marketing, I could start off by dropping some impressive statistics like:
Content marketing generates 3x more leads than paid search advertising. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017)
or
Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing. (Demand Metric)
or
Nearly half (47%) of buyers seek 3 to 5 pieces of content before they’re ready to talk with a sales rep. (Demand Generation Report, 2016)
Clearly, content marketing works. But, does it work for small businesses? Stats like these sometimes seem outsized or not applicable for smaller companies. Before you dismiss them as solely big brand-focused, let’s explore why content marketing makes sense for businesses of all sizes – and specifically why it’s a good fit for smaller businesses.
1. Content marketing is an overwhelmingly cost-effective way for small businesses to stand out, generate viable leads, and build loyal customer relationships.
Here’s the most straightforward definition of content marketing: A long-term strategy aimed at building relationships with your target audience through consistent delivery of valuable, relevant content.
That’s good. But the next question people are sometimes afraid to ask is: what do you mean by content? The answer may surprise you. The first things that probably come to mind are your website, a blog, maybe an educational article, or case study. Yup, these are examples of content marketing.
Today’s definition of content is much broader. Videos, podcasts, lists, e-books, apps, infographics, events, quizzes, games, online courses, polls, FAQs, checklists, Twitter Chats… I’ll stop because by now, the point is made. Content can take a variety of forms to tell your story – all it has to do is deliver value to your defined target audience.
(Here’s a fun fact you can use when you’re sitting around discussing content marketing strategies with your family and friends: Soap operas are an example of content marketing. Companies like Procter & Gamble created the programs on radio and later TV as a vehicle to promote their laundry detergents.)
Create content for each step of your customer’s journey
Maybe the best thing about content marketing is that it works all along the customer journey. When your goal is awareness, content is a way to package your expertise and provide information that your prospective customers are seeking. Think of it as introducing yourself and creating a positive first impression. As you continue to post content on your site, you’ll make it easier for customers to find you because you’re giving search engines more to index.
Over time, a consistently executed content strategy builds trust with your audience and establishes you as a go-to resource for information. It works. A 2017 study by Conductor showed that engaging with educational content makes consumers 131 percent more likely to buy. As your prospects get closer to a buying decision, targeted content can nurture the relationship with additional insights, make the connection to your products and services, and close the sale.
Once you win a new customer, don’t stop with the content. Continue to provide tailored insights and information that’s aimed at reinforcing their purchase and strengthening your relationship. Your objective at this stage is to turn customers into loyal customers and ultimately into advocates who will share your company’s story.
<Related: Create content your clients crave>
2. You don’t need a big-business budget for successful content marketing. But you do need a strategy.
Content marketing success is achievable on an economy budget. However, sustained success that impacts your bottom line won’t happen without having a strategy.
As tempting as it might be to run straight from idea into creating and promoting content, you probably won’t get the response you imagine. It’s worth spending time mapping out a detailed plan that defines your objectives, evaluates your target audiences, and assesses your content competition.
What do you want to achieve?
Be specific. What do you need your content marketing strategy to do for your business? Increase Awareness? Generate leads? Retain customers? Of course, you probably want to do all those things. But when defining your objectives, stay focused. Choose one main goal, and one or two secondary goals. Then, build out your strategy by translating your goals into objectives.
Whatever you do, don’t take the easy way out with vague goals like “Get more leads.” Instead, get SMART by setting objectives that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound. It takes a little upfront work, but it’s worthwhile.
Turn your goals into objectives by outlining exactly what you want to achieve and how you’re going to measure your progress. Most importantly, figure out what’s viable and set a timeframe. “Get more leads” becomes “Double leads in six months.” As long as you’ve applied the actionable and realistic lens as part of your process, you’re set.
Whose attention are you looking to attract?
The other place you’ll want to spend time during the planning process is defining your target audience and doing research to understand what makes them tick… or click! You don’t want to shortchange this effort or rely on what you think you know. Dig in. You might be surprised by what you learn. Plus, creating customer personas won’t just help with content marketing. They’re highly useful tools that can be applied to product development, sales, service – really, all aspects of your business.
To create personas, pretend your target is a single person – like “Single Mom Sally” or “Marketer Mike”. Not only does this make your target more specific, it’s easier to picture them and how your solutions fit their needs.
Once you have your personas in mind, explore the challenges they face, their goals, and where they go for information. Aim to understand what a typical day looks like for them. You can get this information by surveying current or potential customers, as well as doing secondary research online. Round out each persona with basic demographic information – age, education, location.
Where are the content gaps you can fill?
The third area to include as part of your strategy development is an assessment of your content competition. In order to meet your objectives and appeal to your target audience, you need to identify a niche where your content will stand out.
Start with the obvious. Google your subject matter and get familiar with what’s out there. Leverage tools like Buzzsumo to find out what’s popular by topic or website. Look to answer questions like, who is creating content on relevant topics? What’s resonating with audiences? Is the content any good?
Keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s going on content-wise in your category is important. You’ll be able to see who’s doing it well and where you can do it better. You’ll also see gaps that your content can fill.
Say you’re in the healthy snack business. Maybe the competition’s content focuses on snack ingredients, but you know your target persona, “Single Mom Sally” is also looking for ease and simplicity. By building content that connects natural ingredients and convenience, you’ll carve out a space for your messages and grab the attention of your audience. Or, maybe the content that’s out there in your space is mostly scholarly and slightly dense. Your “Marketing Mike” persona wants the information but he’s not against having a little fun with it. By focusing your content development efforts on presenting the facts in a lighter, more personable way, you can differentiate your company from the crowd.
3. Content marketing requires the 3 C’s: Commitment, Credibility, Consistency
Content marketing is a journey. If you expect instant results, you’re setting yourself up for failure. From the outset, keep three C’s in mind.
Commit for the long-term
Strategic content marketing takes time and attention. Think of it like a garden. You plan what you’re looking to grow; then you sow the seeds by creating high-quality content. You tend the garden over time by promoting your content and nurturing the responses you get. You deal with unexpected challenges along the way – topics that don’t click with your audience or formats that don’t work. Finally, you’re able to harvest the fruits of your labor as you turn prospects into loyal customers.
It won’t happen overnight, but when you stick to your strategy, you’ll find yourself with followers, qualified leads, and new customers.
Always be credible
People overuse the word authentic. But it fits here. The best way to ensure your content resonates with your target audience is by being true to yourself.
Of course, the content you create will line up with what you sell. Let your passion for the subject and your solutions come through. But don’t step over the promotional line. To attract the attention of potential customers, your aim should be sharing your expertise and educating them about your subject. You shouldn’t be selling at this point, that comes later.
Small businesses often have an advantage in establishing credibility. Sure, well-known brands may have more recognition. But smaller companies can be more personable, with the messages coming from one or two people. Because small businesses start around an idea or product that the founder has a lot of passion about, that inevitably comes through in the content. At the end of the day, one of the main reasons people choose to work with smaller companies is because they’re able to have a real company-to-consumer relationship.
Focus on sharing information that recognizes the problems customers have and helps them better understand the issue. Answer questions, discuss the pros and cons of different solutions, provide how-to information. Most importantly, be strategic about the key words and phrases you use to ensure that your audience finds your content when they go looking for information. Keyword research is essential. (Need help getting started? Check out this blog post by HubSpot for easy, step-by-step instructions on how to do keyword research.)
When you provide useful, educational information that showcases your expertise and your understanding of your audience, you’re laying the groundwork for potential customers to get to know you, trust you, and do business with you.
Practice consistent consistency
Content marketing boils down to three steps. Step one: Outline a plan. Step two: Stick to the plan. Step three: Stick to the plan. The biggest obstacle to achieving your objectives is inconsistent execution or abandoning the plan altogether.
That doesn’t mean you can’t adapt and refine your plan as you learn from results. You absolutely should. Instead, it goes back to commitment for the long-haul. For content marketing to work for your business, you have to put the work in over time.
There’s no bigger red flag for your target audience than inconsistency. For example, if I’m looking to improve my project management skills, my first step is probably going to be a Google search. As a result of my search, I click to read a blog post that seems to have read my mind by articulating my challenge and providing insights that help me better understand what I need. I’m in. I want more information from this source, but there’s no additional content suggestions within the post. So, I click through to find other blog posts, but there’s nothing recent. What do I do? As a customer, I leave and go elsewhere to find additional information and the project management solution that works for me.
Consistent creation of content is critical. And it doesn’t have to be as daunting as it sounds. Put together a content calendar with timelines for producing fresh content. Plan out a series of complementary content pieces that ultimately come together as a set. Then, follow your content calendar to incrementally create the content.
Within your content plan, build in repurposing of content. In other words, you don’t have to start from scratch every time. Take content that you’ve already created and repackage it in a different format. Turn a blog post into an infographic. Or, expand on an infographic by developing an e-book.
Consistency can be a hurdle for busy small business leaders. Despite the best intentions and a well-designed plan, keeping the business running obviously takes priority. At the same time, the consequences of not consistently adding to your content are real. Consider outsourcing the content creation. There are cost-effective options for writing, design, and website management available. The ROI on these types of investments can be dramatic because the business owner keeps the business on track while still regularly producing relevant blog posts, videos, or case studies that feed the sales pipeline.
<Related: 4.5 reasons to outsource your blog>
At the end of the day, content marketing doesn’t have to be splashy. It just needs to be informative and useful for your target customers. Small businesses have unique advantages when it comes to creating educational content and delivering it in a personable and insightful way. To achieve results that drive business, capitalize on the advantages with a detailed plan and long-term commitment.
