5 Key Principles in Content Marketing for Small Businesses


5 principles that will help you build a solid foundation for your content marketing strategy.

Scarcity


When you're promoting your business online, its tempting to be everywhere. After all, you're product is amazing, so why wouldn't other people want to hear about it?

Look back at the times when you sat in the couch to surf the internet as an average person with nothing else to do. There are plenty of annoying Facebookers, one of which is the constant self-promoter. While there is no ideal time to post on social media, there's a frequency guide to help you out.

You don't need to update website content such as white papers and case studies if it doesn't provide any insightful information. Getting readers to download your stuff is already tricky enough promotion driven content will just drive them away.

This is also very important in blogging, which is an inexpensive marketing tool to start with. Unless you run an online magazine, news website or a monetised blog (ex. Mashable, Fast Company) you don't need to post every day. Business blogs need 1-2 posts per week. The ideal length is 1,600 words (but not required). This helps avoid burn outs, attracts natural search traffic, promotes steady growth, and maintain a regular stock of ideas. 


Consistency


While there is a proven ideal length for online content, there is no formula to instantly attract readers or followers.  You'll have to experiment and find out what works for you. These are the key ingredients to ensure consistency:

Schedule

Create schedule for your social media and blog posts. Hubspot's social media publishing schedule and blog editorial calendar templates are free and convenient. Make sure that you'll be able to post on schedule and have enough ideas to sustain it.

Style Guide

Create a style guide for your content. You need to have a consistent tone, such as a personable website, a sarcastic yet witty blog, or a pun-tastic social media page.

Balance

Balance your business goals with your readers needs. This will help you in determining the frequency of your blog posts. If you want to be an online resource, regular short articles is a must. But if you're audience is more interested in technical details, then you'll end up writing long articles but publish less often.  


Variety 

 

There different types of content, each with their own purpose. You need to create all kinds of content but pick one that best fits your product or service. If you're outsourcing content creation, make sure to manage your content marketing team effectively.


Creativity


You can maximise the value of your content in different ways.

Re-purpose content into different formats.

For example, you can  upload case studies to Slide Share, write a blog post about its key highlights, comment on social media and add its download link from your website, and create a podcast discussing the results.

Breakdown information into digestible chunks.

If you're dealing with a lengthy subject (or multiple ideas), you can write series of blog posts. Add a call to action at the end of every post to link all of it together. You have the option to turn it into an eBook and share it online for free.

Be Creative.

You can make different variations of one topic based on the title. For example, Advantages/Disadvantages/Misconceptions of (subject here). You can also write an opinion piece about the latest trend in your industry. Company websites tend to be robotic and dull, so compensate with a variety of interesting images instead of just your generic stock photos.


Curation


Keep an eye on topics you've tackled to avoid duplicates and identify opportunities for more writing material. Use a content management system (CMS) and analytics to keep track of your published work and evaluate their performance.


Content marketing takes a huge effort but with creativity, timing and patience, it can build a readership and foster a relationship with your customers.

If all else fails, there's always catvertising

Post a Comment

Template developed by Confluent Forms LLC; more resources at BlogXpertise