Today, there’s no escaping the digital reality that we’ve created, so content marketing is a must step for all entrepreneurs. Sure, the very expression ‘content marketing’ is enough to make some people scared, but with a good guide through the nuances of it, you’ll find your way around it. You might not have months and years to read everything written about content marketing online, but you have time for this little guide with quick and easy tips:
Start a blog
One of the first things to do when starting your own business should be to create a company blog. This is a great way to provide your customers with a source of content they can count on and boost your branding. And make sure to be consistent, publishing content regularly, a few times a week. This can be hard in some cases, especially when you run out of ideas, but more on that later in the post. According to experts, 3-4 posts per week and 16+ posts a month is a good starting point.
Select the right tools
Content marketing has managed to develop a ton of tools, some more useful than others. And your success doesn’t depend on the number of tools but on your selection. During the startup phase, be frugal and invest in just the basic management tools that will improve your and your client’s bottom line. A common mistake we can often see is the entrepreneurs investing in cheap tools and platforms, most of which accomplish very little for their content marketing efforts. And these tools are popping up every day—no one can keep up. What you can do, though, is opt for a custom CRM solution, task management app and marketing automation suit and your projects will all run smoothly.
Hire experts
In the beginning, it’s hard to keep up with your content marketing strategies, and your efforts can take a lot of time away from what’s truly important, which is your business and your products. In that case, you might benefit from consulting with a content marketing agency and opting for some of their products. With your content and their knowledge on how to bring it close to your customers, you’ll get to connect to your audience on a much deeper level while still keeping up with your production and customer satisfaction.
Aim for quality instead of quantity
Many businesses make content for the sake of content, but this will not result in wanted shares and engagement. Your user needs to see the value in your content, so share your experiences, offer tips and hacks you know about and talk about your failures. And those who still lack experience in their field can consult with industry influencers. The key is to choose engaging topics that are useful for the reader—quantity is not the goal.
Use colorful media in your posts
Today’s readers have a pretty short attention span, so it’s necessary to use images, infographics and videos in your posts to hold the readers’ attention. Adding useful, interesting and high-quality media to your content will boost the average time on site, help the users stay interested in what you have to offer and elevate your small business.
Make things sustainable
It’s almost impossible to always have new topics and content on your blog, but what you can do is present old content in a new way. Reusing your posts is a popular strategy that works wonders. For instance, you can combine posts into white papers or use data to create an infographic. This will make your content marketing efforts much easier in the future.
There are countless types of content for your blog and channel, and it’s natural to be overwhelmed. But to prevent that feeling, you can adopt a few formats and distribution channels, and then do some testing. After a while, your efforts will start paying off, and the customers will start rolling in.