Content Marketing Guide for Small Businesses - Sudarsan9775/blog GitHub Wiki

For small businesses who want to succeed, using some form of digital content marketing is a strategic move.

If you’re not using content marketing, you can be sure that your competitors are, and they’re likely getting a bigger piece of the pie than you.

This isn’t to say that traditional forms of advertising (print ads, flyers, billboards, TV & radio advertising etc.) don’t work, they do. But they tend to cost a lot more than content marketing.

By concentrating on content marketing such as: e-newsletters, blogs, articles, press releases, infographics, podcasts, and social media, you can get great results, without spending a large amount of cash.

Why content marketing?

The beauty of content marketing is that it allows you to communicate with your target audience and convert customers without the hard-sell.

People are too clued-up nowadays about advertising, and they don’t want to be bombarded with sales tactics. They want to do their own research and come to their own conclusions about a brand and its products.

That’s where content marketing comes in. It creates an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with your audience, at every stage of the buying cycle.

Say you own a small shoe business and you’ve just launched a new line of casual shoes and you want to let your audience know about it.

Some of the ways you could do this through content marketing are:

● Sending an e-newsletter informing your customers about your new shoe line ● Letting customers know about the new shoe line on Facebook & Twitter ● Sharing photos of people wearing the new shoes on Instagram ● Writing a blog post about why you launched the new shoes and their benefits.

If you create enough of a buzz, then word of mouth can be even more powerful than any kind of paid advertising.

Creating a content marketing strategy

Dabbling in content marketing every now and again is all very well. But if you want to get consistent, measurable results, such as an increase in sales or an increase in web traffic, then you need to have a solid strategy in place.

A strategy simply outlines the steps that your business will take to use content marketing in a way that you feel best suits your product and your brand. This strategy doesn’t have to be set in stone. It can be adjusted over time as you try different forms of content marketing and see how your audience responds to them.

You may decide to start off with one or two forms of content marketing and go from there. You certainly don’t have to use all of them to be effective. It’s more about being consistent and posting relevant and engaging information for your customers. Quality over quantity is always best.

Checklist for content strategy

Follow this checklist to keep on top of your content tactic and achieve the effective results for your efforts.

● Planning

Planning is key for delivering consistent, high quality content to your followers. You’ll need a content calendar to plan out your blog posts and social media shares. While you may want to blog a few times a week, if you can’t find the time, then twice a month is more realistic.

● SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is important for content and shouldn’t be overlooked. In its most basic form, SEO means your web content and blogs should have specific keywords so Google (and other search engines) can bring up that page when users enter the keywords or related terms.

Don’t keyword stuff though! Aim for 1-3% keyword density.

● Promotion

Work on creating a presence on a few different social media platforms to promote your content. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are a common combination. But it depends entirely on what you’re sharing. If your content is more image based, then Instagram and Pinterest might be a better fit for your business.

● Marketing Tools

You may find it easier to streamline your social media content with the help of a marketing tool. For instance, tools like Buffer and Hootsuite, allow you to schedule Facebook and Twitter posts weeks in advance so you’re free to do other things.

● Measure

Keeping track of your views, shares, engagements and conversions is important so you can compare your results over time.

If you want to start with the basics, then Google Analytics is a must-have tool for keeping track of traffic to your website. Facebook business pages also have an insight tab where you see which posts are performing well, who’s viewing them and when.

For something more sophisticated, a tool like Cyfe can pull data from multiple accounts so you can see all your metrics on one dashboard.

Summary

Content marketing needn’t be confusing or overwhelming. Whether it’s posting on Facebook, regular blogging or sharing photos on Instagram, a simple strategy followed consistently over time can net you great results.

Remember, the goal of content marketing isn’t purely to sell your wares, it’s about information sharing, engagement and brand recognition to build a stronger relationship with your audience.