Content Marketing Tips for Small Business

This is one of the simplest content marketing activities that will enable you to boost your content marketing efforts. With blog writing, the aim is not to promote your products or services but to inform and entertain your readers while building your credibility as an expert. It can be challenging to come up with ideas for your blog posts. A good place to start is by thinking of questions your current clients ask about your products or services. Are there any areas where your customers and prospects need more information? By filling this knowledge gap you are offering a valuable service while highlighting your expertise. Another good place to find ideas for blog content is on social media platforms. Here you can look for the questions that people in your target audience are asking.

Keep search engines in mind when writing your content. Tools such as Google Keyword Planner and SEMRush can show you what people are searching for in your industry. Including keywords in your content will help you raise your ranking in search results.  

Be sure to keep your blogs up to date. If things change in your industry, or with your products or services, you will want to update your blog posts so that you are not giving your readers outdated information. When setting up your website, you will want to make sure that it is easy to update. Website platforms such as WordPress make it easy for a non-technical person to add new content and update their website.

Presenting information visually makes it easy for your audience to grasp. Infographics enable you to cut through the clutter and present your information clearly and quickly. Most businesses will have some information that lends itself to an infographic. Again, look for areas where your customers have questions to develop. To create the right impression with your infographic, it’s best to use the services of a professional graphic designer to get quality content. A do-it-yourself approach in content marketing can backfire if the infographic doesn’t look professional and convey the information effectively.

It has been said that “Facts tell – stories sell”. For this reason, you will want to tell stories in your content, whatever the format. For example, success stories show how your customers solved a challenge by using your products or services. In your success story, make the customer the hero.

Brain research has uncovered that emotions play a large role in the decision-making process. So look for an emotional angle in your stories. For example, a past workplace health and safety ad campaign showed a family waiting for the dad to come home from his factory job when they didn’t know he had been injured in a serious workplace accident. While mentioning statistics of workplace accidents can persuade people to follow safe working practices, emotional content is more effective in changing people’s behaviour. For this reason, look for an emotional angle in your content marketing. 

If you have a product, you can create instructional videos on how to use it most effectively. By doing this, you can highlight the benefits of your product while providing useful information to your viewers. When creating your instructional videos, think about frequently asked questions and common challenges your customer’s face. For example, Bunnings Warehouse has created hundreds of videos on how to use the products it sells for home improvement and gardening. In addition to showing the expertise of their staff members, they remind their viewers of the home improvement products they offer. This type of content marketing is effective because it helps consumers solve their renovation challenges.

You can create great content but it’s worthless if nobody sees it. Sharing your content on social media will get it out to larger audiences. Start by encouraging your customers to connect on social media platforms. The more interesting the content, the more likely it will be shared by your followers. In the long run, this will enable you to grow your social media presence.

Another way to distribute your content is through an email newsletter. You can start by sending out your newsletter to your customers. In Australia, it’s legal to automatically include your customers on your email newsletter list. If they opt out, then you can no longer send your emails to them. Also, sending unsolicited emails is not professional or legal, so don’t send to people who aren’t your customers or haven’t agreed to be on your list. One way to grow your list is to have an opt-in form on your website. Offering an incentive, such as a white paper or informative article, can be an effective way to get people to join your mailing list when they visit your website.

A printed newsletter is a form of traditional marketing. Although it might seem outdated, a printed newsletter will stand out from the crowd. A printed newsletter can remain on a benchtop or on a desk, reminding the reader of your business to eventually increase sales. So printed content can be an effective form of content marketing.  

With many content marketing ideas, it can be tempting to jump in and try everything at once. For a small business with limited resources, it’s best to start out small and do one thing at a time. Writing several blog posts can be an effective start. From there, you can branch out to other steps such as posting to your social media channels and creating infographics.

With many content marketing ideas, it can be tempting to jump in and try everything at once. For a small business with limited resources, it’s best to start out small and do one thing at a time. Writing several blog posts can be an effective start. From there, you can branch out to other steps such as posting to your social media channels and creating infographics.

Before you start on your content marketing program, you will want to determine the cost and create a budget for content marketing. Also, consider the potential return on investment from your content marketing efforts. For assistance with calculating ROI, use our ROI calculator.