Scaling Your Small Business Using Content Marketing Strategies: A Quick Guide

Content marketing is critical to the growth of small businesses, which is why it's not surprising that 77% of companies have implemented a content marketing strategy. A Hubspot survey also revealed that around 40% of marketers indicate that content marketing is vital to their overall marketing strategy.

This type of marketing focuses on providing your customers with valuable information that educates and offers solutions to their challenges. Currently, telling your audience that you have great offerings is no longer enough. You need to show your expertise and develop connections with them through expertly crafted content.

As a small business, if you're not leveraging the benefits of content marketing, you're missing out on qualified leads. You're also neglecting a great tool for closing the gaps in your conversion funnel.

What are the Main Ways to Implement Your Content Marketing Strategy?

You already know that content marketing is a powerful marketing tactic. However, there are various channels to utilize. When thinking about which one makes sense for you, consider your audience and how they prefer to consume content.

Here are the top 5 highest performing types of content:

1. Blogging

Blogging is a highly effective content marketing strategy and is especially useful when you're on a budget. It's all about creating content that positions you as a thought leader and provides helpful information on a regular basis.

Performing a survey of your existing clients can help you understand what topics are most relevant to focus your content efforts on. Using a tool like google analytics will also provide insights into what is your most popular content.

2. Video Content

Over 61% of customers say that youtube videos have influenced their purchasing decisions. A solid video marketing strategy will not only enhance your brand awareness but also increase your conversion rates.

Videos are also a great way of engaging your customers and expanding your audience. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine and there are several other social media platforms to distribute your video content.

3. Infographics

Infographics are an interactive way of providing useful information to your customers. They are highly visual and break down complex data into digestible bits that your audience can engage with and understand with ease.

4. Webinars

Webinars allow you to show your industry expertise, thereby establishing your brand authority. They also allow you to hold real-time conversations with your audience and foster personal relationships.

5. Social Media Posts

If your small business isn't harnessing the power of social media to increase their brand awareness and interact with potential clients, then they are missing out on many qualified leads. Your social media content plays a vital role in shaping your customer's purchasing decisions and humanizing your brand.

Other types of content formats to consider include:

• Ebooks

• Whitepapers

• Case studies

• Interviews

• podcasts

How Can a Content Marketing Strategy Help You Scale Your Business?

Content marketing has grown from an exciting digital marketing concept to a necessity for small businesses. Here are the main ways your business can benefit from this marketing strategy.

1. It's a Great SEO Tool

Great content is the foundation of a successful SEO strategy. Before your website is ranked on the search engine result pages (SERP), bots first crawl your content to determine its relevance and usefulness to web users.

If you have high-quality content that has been integrated with the keywords that your customers use, your site will be ranked higher over time. This will, in turn, increase the number of web visitors that find your site.

2. It Has an Attractive Return on Investment

Content marketing is very cost-effective, especially if you focus on blogging and posting on social media consistently. All that is required is a website and creating an account on your preferred social media platforms. Creation of other content types like video content, webinars, and infographics can be customized based on your budget.

3. It Influences Your Customers' Buying Decisions

Consumer buying decisions have experienced a fundamental shift, and online information has become a major part of the decision making process. They want to learn everything they can about a product, including its perceived benefits and alternatives before they make a purchase.

If you provide them with valuable information about your products but based on their needs, you can create greater trust in your brand. This improves the likelihood that you will become the vendor of choice for your audience.

4. It Solidifies Your Brand Authority

Content marketing brings your brand to life. It lets your customers know about your brand story, mission, and values, and this information helps them form opinions about your company.

If you publish thoughtful and relevant content, they will begin to view you as an industry leader. You, however, have to identify the content that your customers really need and then publish it on the platforms that they are most active on.

5. It Can Help You Nurture Prospects

The beauty of content marketing is that it's highly versatile, and you can create it to target buyers at all stages of the funnel.

For example, at the top of the funnel, potential customers have realized that they have a problem that your product can solve and are looking for informational content to help with their decision making process. You can create videos and blogs that are mainly educational-minded or sales-oriented depending on where they are in their consumer journey. The main aim is to provide information that touches on the customer's pain points and progress their consideration of your company.

What are the Best Practices for Content Marketing?

There's one fundamental content marketing rule: create high-quality content and post regularly on a defined schedule. Other best practices include:

• Make your customers the focal point of your strategy. It's tempting to focus on your products, but your audience is mainly looking for information that can solve their needs.

• Use a multichannel approach and distribute your content on various platforms. This will increase your reach and be based on the format of the content you are creating.

• Focus on evergreen content. This is very cost-effective as it will keep providing value to your customers long after you've published.

• Personalization is key. General and vague content won't cut it. You need to create content that is geared towards a particular audience and is aimed at solving a specific need. Buyer personas are a handy tool when it comes to personalization.

• Optimize your content. Conduct keyword research to identify the phrases that your audience is using to look up your services and then use them in your content. This will also increase your web rankings.

Are You Leveraging the Benefits of Content Marketing for Your Business?

Content marketing is an invaluable business growth tool. It helps you connect with your audience, nurtures your leads through the buyer-intent funnel, and solidifies your brand authority. It also influences your customer's buying decisions and gives you a competitive edge. You have to develop a strategy and use the right distribution channels for the best results.

Are you looking for effective ways to leverage content marketing for your business growth? Let us help you. Contact us today for a free consultation.