February 7, 2022 
As the online world constantly develops and new trends continue popping up, small businesses often struggle with where to start when it comes to investing time in their marketing strategy. However, in a time when change is so obvious, one thing should remain consistent – your content!
In this article, we break down the importance of content marketing and the value it adds to your company’s digital portfolio.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach used to increase audience engagement, develop your brand, and drive sales through both paid and organic channels. It can serve as a means to answer questions about your product or service, maintain relationships with past and current customers, and develop relationships with future customers.
With any form of marketing, your audience matters. Before deciding which content would best be suited for your business, determine who you are trying to target. Factors such as age, geographic area, and customer personas will all help in deciding the direction you choose to take when creating your content.
From there, ask yourself a few questions:
- What does our audience want to know more about?
- How can our content address customer needs?
- How will our content define our business?
How To Begin:
Once your audience has been determined, focus on the bigger picture. After you’ve pinpointed areas of interest, we recommend creating a content calendar to help fill in all of the missing gaps. Remember that you don’t need to create content daily – the focus is on quality over quantity.
Creating and posting valuable information three times per week, will offer your audience more than posting useless information seven days per week. Determine the primary focal points you want to focus on, and build your content around that!
Different Type of Content Marketing:
While it would be impossible to list all of the different types of content marketing you can use to grow your business, we’ve included a few of the most popular examples you can use to resonate with your audience.
- Email Newsletter
The perfect way to keep in touch with your clientele is through a newsletter. By simply keeping them in the loop on “what’s happening” with your business, you can provide your customers with an abundance of valuable information, all available in one location. To drive your business even further, consider adding images and calls-to-action.
- Blogging
Understanding what information your audience is searching for provides you with the perfect opportunity to create a blog. This can be specific to a product or service you are offering, an outline of tips and tricks your consumers can utilize, and more. The options are endless! For more information, check out Digital Marketing and Blogging for Small Businesses.
- Infographics
We get it– sometimes, people don’t feel like reading. That’s why you can choose to get visual with your content. Infographics are the perfect way to add invaluable information, without overwhelming your consumer. Not to mention how eye-catching they are!
- Quizzes
A great way to boost consumer engagement, quizzes offer your audience the opportunity to interact with your content in a spontaneous way! Quizzes and polls can easily be created through websites such as Survey Monkey, or directly on your social accounts.
- User-Generated Content
Similar to testimonials or reviews, user-generated content is any content created by your audience, rather than your brand.
This could be in the form of videos, pictures, text, and more! In this case, your customers are your greatest brand creators. If they’ve tagged you in something? Repost! Did they write your business an outstanding review? Interact with the post, and more people will engage. It’s an authentic way to show your brand off, and something other customers will be happy to see.
Conclusion:
Content marketing is a strategy built around your business that enhances audience engagement while driving sales. With patience, consistency, and imagination, you will grow your company’s digital presence over time. As your content marketing efforts increase, so does your business!
If you have any additional questions on content marketing or would like to learn more, contact us and we would love to help!