How content marketing helps small businesses grow - Pt 1

12 months on from my presentation to a local networking group all about the ‘Joys of Blogging’, I agreed to do another presentation. I enjoyed the first one so much that I agreed to share my ideas about how content marketing can help you grow your business.

A quick show of hands at the start of the session confirmed the majority of the room was already doing some form of content marketing, without even realising it.

• Web content

• Blogging

• Sharing ideas and news articles on social media

• Creating and sharing videos

• Presenting at meetings

• Sending a newsletter

• Producing a customer case study

These are just a few of the many different forms of content marketing. The crucial element of any piece of content is making sure it’s valuable and relevant to your audience.

Content marketing is huge in the world of digital marketing. A study carried out by Smart Insights found that the majority of marketeers in global businesses prioritise content marketing over other popular forms of marketing such as mobile optimisation and SEO. I believe it can easily be an integral part of any small business marketing strategy too.

Why is content marketing so great for small businesses?

Content marketing is about sharing knowledge, insight and expertise through channels appropriate to your audience. It’s a way to demonstrate your credibility and experience, and explain how your services can add value. Content marketing is your chance to show the world why you’re so great at what you do!

You already have the foundation for great content marketing within your team:

• Knowledge

• Insight

• Expertise

Here are some other reasons why content marketing is a great promotional tool for small businesses…

It’s free

You can produce most basic forms of content for free and publish on platforms you already own or control, for example you can produce video on your phone or write a blog and publish it on your own website and social media channels.

Exercise your awesomeness

It’s a chance for small businesses to show how awesome you are; to showcase your knowledge, insight and expertise. It’s an opportunity to make your business stand out from the crowd, and perhaps larger competitors, by sharing all the reasons why you’re good at what you do.

Being helpful builds trust

When you share information that customers find interesting and helpful, they’ll look forward to receiving your content. If they really enjoy it they’ll start to develop trust with your brand and share your content onwards, thereby expanding your reach and potential customer base.

Create loyalty

Long-term client and customer relationships are a small business owner’s dream. That steady repeat income that you can rely on every month. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well customers that begin to value and trust your content will likely become loyal customers whose business you can rely on.

SEO opportunities

I can’t talk about content without mentioning search engine optimisation. Google loves fresh content so adding new information to your website and social channels on a regular basis is a positive step towards raising your profile in organic search results.

So there’s part one of how content marketing can help you grow your small business. Please look out for part two when I’ll cover some of the Do’s and Don’ts of content marketing. In the meantime, if you have any content marketing questions or would like support on content strategy and planning, please get in touch.