Proper and effective content marketing can really set your business apart. Good content marketing can benefit your business in the following ways:
- More visibility online and in search engines
- Increased customer and audience engagement and trust
- Expanded brand awareness
- Increased conversions
Those are just a few key benefits, but content is super important and there’s also so much of it everywhere making it easy for most people to overlook it even if your content is stellar.
When it comes to content marketing, creating amazing content first should be the key focus, but this takes time, effort, and creativity in some cases. Many small business owners lack the time to even create compelling content let alone figure out they’re going to market it.
In this post, I’ll be sharing 4 key tips and strategies to help you get started on the right foot when it comes to content marketing so you’ll use your time wisely and see results.
1. Start Slow, Don’t Do Everything At Once
Content marketing can be very multifaceted so your best initial approach should be to start slow and focus on one aspect at a time.
There are many different routes you can take and different strategies you can try out over time, but start by outlining your main goal including what you’d like to get out of content marketing.
Then, choose a single platform or action to take. Maybe you want to start by writing blog posts and publishing them on social media. Instead of trying to dominate every social media platform, start with just one or two until you really get the hang of it.
Let’s say you want to start out with advertising. You may want to try Facebook ads if you’re already established on Facebook before you try pay-per-click advertising.
Becoming a master at one thing is much easier when you are trying to juggle multiple tasks and be a jack of all trades.
Don’t feel like you have to do everything at once because you will most likely fall short and end up getting nothing accomplished.
2. Learn More About Your Audience
One of the biggest mistakes I see small business owners make is trying to market their content to the wrong audience. It’s important to know who your audience is before you start marketing to them.
That way, you’ll know important information about them like their age, gender, preferences, interests, hobbies, and more. The more you know about your audience, the better.
If you have a website or blog, you can use Google Analytics data to retrieve basic details about some of the people who are coming to your site and resonating with your content. To find out even more detailed information, you can send out surveys for feedback, frequent the places and social groups where your ideal customer/client hangs out online, or even reach out to someone who’s your ideal customer to ask them a few questions.
See if you can set up a Skype call, phone call, or in-person meeting with your ideal customer to learn more about their interests and to get feedback on some of your marketing ideas. Taking the time to do the proper market research can really impact the results you’ll see from content marketing.
3. Think Quality Over Quantity When It Comes to Content
When you first start producing content, it’s easy to feel ‘behind’ in a sense or like your bare website or blog simply won’t light a candle to established competitors in your niche.
Becoming a content mill is not the right solution in this case and instead, it’s best to start slow and steady. Everyone has to start somewhere and you should start by focusing on quality over quantity any day.
People will not engage with and share your content because there’s an overwhelming amount of it. Instead, they’ll be looking for valuable and personable content that resonates with them and meets a need.
Followers will come back to your site, YouTube page, or social media platforms because your content is awesome and it doesn’t matter if you’re sharing something every day or once a month.
When I started producing content, I’ll admit that I shared way too much information and didn’t have time to promote it enough. Now, I am focusing on repurposing a lot of my content. I’ve created digital guides, social media posts and products that are based on repurposed blog posts. I hope to create some videos in the future to continue repurposing and promoting popular content.
4. Get Organized
Content marketing can seem like a ton of work and that’s because it is. You can make your workload less stressful by getting organized and outsourcing some tasks you’d rather not do. Start by developing a content calendar what allows you to schedule out when new content will be released and brainstorm new ideas.
Experiencing a creative block is never fun. By using content calendar you can make sure you’re always thinking on your toes. I also just started using Evernote which is great for storing ideas and making lists.
Next, you’ll want to focus on working smart by scheduling out as much as possible. Try to stay ahead of yourself in terms of content production so you’re not pushing any hard deadlines.
You can also schedule social media updates out ahead of time. You can do this from your Facebook business page for Facebook or from sites like Buffer and Hootsuite for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Later is a free tool you can use to schedule Instagram posts. Tailwind and BoardBooster are the best tools to schedule Pinterest pins.
Once you develop a strategy that you like and provides you with some positive results, you can consider outsourcing some tasks to others so you can focus on other core aspects of marketing.
For me, I know that I love producing the content and have high standards for what I share with others. I took time to get better at social media and slowly started outsourcing with Pinterest. Then, I did some workshops and training on Facebook and Twitter and now I outsource much of that too.
I’m still figuring out what works best with Instagram, so I haven’t outsourced that yet. Overall taking my time to learn and understand how to master each individual aspect of my content marketing strategy has helped me save time and money.
Now that I outsource some things, I’m also less stressed and overwhelmed.
Summary: Take It Step By Step
Content marketing success can’t be built overnight. It takes time and effort to see the results you want. Focus on taking things day by day and step by step in order to see long-lasting positive results.
Start by identifying your main goal and who your audience is. Your audience/ideal customer profile should help you determine where you should spend most of your time.
Finally, get on a solid schedule and start automating. Develop a solid strategy that shows results for your business. Then consider outsourcing some tasks to others to buy back some of your time.
