11 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Be Producing Content
Content Marketing For Your Small Business
Small business content marketing is on the rise. With all of the clever marketing strategies, content is still king, and always has been.
In contrast, organic content will create a rapport with the audience. People crave authenticity and will connect with another person who can deliver it. Over 70% of people would rather learn about a small business through an article as opposed to other methods.
Businesses need to get the word out there, and in a world where everybody is online, marketers can spread content to a specific audience like never before.
Content Marketing entails the creation and distribution of content to build a long-term relationship with the prospective customers.
According to the latest data, paid advertising and other techniques have lost their effectiveness.
In contrast, organic, authentic, timeless content is as valuable as ever and will help small businesses to flourish.
The following are 11 reasons why small business enterprises should use content marketing to further their goals of growth and expansion.
#1 – The Audience Prefers Content
People still respond better to content compared to other forms of advertising. Put simply, people have grown to hate advertising models due to the invasive nature of modern ads. They are on all kinds of devices and browsers, and a whole industry of ad blockers has become necessary to deal with the problem.
Make sure to do some research and find out what type of content your customers prefer!
Consumer’s attention is no longer focused on expensive billboards and electronic signs. Attention is on the individual’s phone and a smart business owner would take advantage.
#2 – It’s Cheap
Small business content marketing costs 62% less than traditional advertising models. Obviously, the price of a content marketing strategy will depend on the team hired to create the content and the amount of content required. There is a wide variety of options, particularly for online writers.
If you are doing it on your own, then it can be free! There are many different platforms to spread your content including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Email, & Youtube.
The process is simple
- Produce blog posts on a regular basis.
- Convert the blog posts to content appropriate for social media
- Share it far & wide!
Obviously this process is easier said than done.
#3 – Better Customers
If your small business is new to content marketing, it can be beneficial to take on a marketing agency. If you are paying someone else who is experienced, then you can be assured that the content will be appropriate and delivered on time.
Content marketing leads to long-term repeat customers. This is because the content is orientated towards creating value for the customer. This creates a positive relationship and the customer has a tendency to read more and more.
Repeat customers spend 67% more than once off customers and customer loyalty is a valuable resource. This is why content marketing is superior to all other forms and is used by global firms such as P&G, Microsoft, and John Deere. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, it is seven times more expensive to gain a new customer compared to keeping an existing one. This should be a huge incentive to utilize content marketing for repeat customers.
#4 – More Leads and Conversion
According to a HubSpot study, companies with a blog generate 126% more lead conversions than those without. Small business content marketing is far superior in terms of leads and conversions.
While simply having a blog is not a cure-all, quality content is still the best way to acquire leads and to keep them. It is important to produce content daily and to frequently update content marketing strategies to acquire prospective customers.
#5 – It’s Organic and Natural
People do not like being advertised at 24 hours a day. Content marketing is different. It pertains to issues in the daily life of a customer and subtly indicate how a product or service can help.
This is what real marketing is about, utilizing a product or service and communicating to help people with solving a genuine problem.
People simply respond better to authentic marketing than to other techniques of ‘hacking’ growth by bombarding customers.
Instead of mindless marketing that is usually irrelevant, the customers are connected with you on a very real and tangible level.
Content marketing efforts should all be organic and natural.
#6 – It’s Focused and Targeted
This is primarily what leads to more leads and conversion. Content marketing is tastefully orientated towards a specific group.
The customers get the content that they need.
The advertising industry has bombarded customers with their brands to a point where nearly all consumers view ads negatively.
The result is a tired and infuriated populace who turn to ad blockers. Relevant content delivered to a small and targeted audience is infinitely more effective than irrelevant content blasted at everybody.
Content marketing gets better results at a more affordable price.
#7 – Potential for Global Relevance
Small business content marketing that is high-quality will be relevant to everybody in your target audience.
You want to create content that people want to share.
Create Content that customers want to share.
The best kinds of content marketing will be liked by large segments of the population.
A well-executed piece of content can stay alive for months, with every single share. Compare this paid advertising which dries up after a certain time and has fixed limits on its expansion and potential.
#8 – Content Marketing Can be Used to Compete with Big Companies
Small businesses can do very well in search engine rankings with a little time and diligence. Page rank depends on a number of factors and bombarding Google with content does not work, no matter how rich a company may be.
With a careful selection of keywords and attention to a number of SEO metrics, it is entirely possible to rank for a chosen keyword.
Search engines do not care how big a company is or how nice the landing page looks.
All search engines care about it providing searchers with the answers that they are looking for.
With other models, such as PPC campaigns, larger companies generally have more resources and have something of a lock-down. These kinds of campaigns are often driven by big data analytics and metrics, areas where small businesses may not be able to compete without hiring a professional.
#9 – Establish Presence as an Industry Leader
By publishing good content over a long time period, a company can establish a reputation as an expert in the industry.
It is another way to build brand awareness. First, customers will turn to your site for free content because it is engaging and interesting. Over time, they will see the benefit of the product or service.
Once they are comfortable with you being the “expert” they will be comfortable to purchase, or recommend, your services & products.
#10 – Generate More Website Traffic
Content marketing is a great way to generate website traffic and visibility for a particular brand.
More traffic is always a good thing, though far better when the content is targeted and relevant. With content marketing, people will be drawn to your site purely for the value generated.
Even if the traffic is not directly related to your current product or service, you still have the attention and presence of the customer, which is a precious commodity.
#11 – It’s Evergreen
Last but not least…
Content marketing is incredible because it allows you to produce marketing that is everlasting.
Let’s compare this blog article to a magazine article.
This article will benefit my small business for years to come.
If I were to submit a similar article to a magazine, it would take a huge amount of effort or a huge amount of money to get it published. The results would probably be decent, but they would be temporary and short lived as people toss out the issue.
Creating this article took time & energy, but once I have it published, it lasts forever. I can easily drive traffic to this article and it can be found in search engines.
Content Marketing benefits your small business forever.
Bottom Line for Small Business Content Marketing
It is the best.
Content marketing is cheaper, preferred by the audience, leads to more sales, and builds long-term relationships.
In other words, it is hands down the best kind of marketing for small businesses compared to more intrusive ads.
Nearly all large companies rely on content marketing to further their plans, and small businesses owners need to jump on board with a content strategy soon.
Don’t overthink it.
- Find out what your customers need help with. Communicate and talk to your current customers to find out what it is that they struggle with. If they are struggling with it, then your potential customers are as well.
- Think about where your customers are spending their time. Your content marketing plan needs to be designed to generate leads! For example, if your audience is teenagers and young adults, then marketing on LinkedIn will be unsuccessful… Think about your potential customers and create content to help them.
- Create the content. Create content that helps to solve the above problem and is appropriate for the above channels.
- Share it far and wide. Your content is specifically designed to help people for FREE. There is no reason that you should hesitate to share it with everyone who might find it helpful.
Originally written at: https://www.measuretwicemedia.com/small-business-content-marketing/