If you are a small business owner in 2019, you need to be working on content marketing. While it can be a lot of work, if you do it right it can have some serious long-term benefits.
Content marketing can be a low investment method to build your brand, promote your business and build your business’s credibility, so here’s why you should be paying attention to it.
Content Marketing is a Small Investment
When it comes down to it, the biggest investment for most small business owners when it comes to content marketing is time. It can take a lot of time but in the long run, it really is worth it. In order to ease the pressure and time element, it might be an idea to get the help of an expert content marketing agency that will do all of the work for you, ensuring your business has your full attention and continues to grow.
Content marketing which includes things like your blog posts, infographics, podcast episodes and other content-based pieces that add value to your audience while promoting your business can take a while to produce but when it comes to money, especially if you’re doing it yourself, it can be next to nothing.
It costs you nothing (dollar-wise) to write a blog post about marketing for the blog of your marketing agency. Nor do you have to add any extra dollar investment to create a value-added newsletter for your organization.
When it comes down to it, content marketing simply makes sense. But start small and grow, or you might overwhelm yourself!
Build Credibility & Add Value
Content marketing can be an easy way to build your small business’ reputation and credibility with both potential and current customers or clients.
For current clients, it provides a value-added service, by that I mean it adds value for your clients — preferably actionable content — without asking anything from them. This is HUGE because your client feels like they are getting a little something extra, and you further demonstrate your knowledge.
When it comes to potential clients, content marketing can help build trust and credibility. You can show your skills without them having to purchase your service — if you can create really good content, you can become a go-to voice in your industry so when it comes to hiring someone, you’ll be the first on the list!
Promote Without Selling
Selling can feel sleazy and content marketing can be a great way to promote you, your businesses and your services without actually selling. None of that sleazy “buy my services because of x, y and x” and more genuine demonstration of what you can do and how you can help. For example, if you’re selling an apartment in Minneapolis, you might want to produce some awesome local content like this example from ABODO. You will provide great info to your consumer without being pushy.
To promote without selling to the best of your ability, you need to make sure that each piece of content marketing not only adds value and stays on brand, but it has some component of how your services solve problems — or more accurately how potential clients can solve their own problems using your service.
Show Up In Search Engines
The internet can be a great way for potential clients and customers to find your business. But mastering those search engines can be a genuine challenge: enter content marketing.
Publishing relevant and valuable content on your website on a regular basis is a great trigger for Google and other search engines to pay attention to your website. While there’s a little more to it than simply working on your content marketing to drive people to your website, it’s a great first step to having potential clients land on your page!
Though bear in mind that negative content about your company can show up on search engines too, such as poor google reviews as a result of posting controversial content. It’s important you publish your content and deal with poor reactions carefully. Reputation management Google services may be able to help in this area if you make a mistake, but do not become careless and rely on such services to bail you out every time.
Build A Brand
Small businesses are brands, and for your business to be a long-term success you really do need to pay attention to your brand.
If you want to be able to scale your business long-term, you need to start thinking about the bigger picture — who your company is and why. That’s essentially your brand. And content marketing is a great way to build a brand.
Why do you use content marketing? Share your reasons in the comments below!
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Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!
