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Content marketing is a powerful tool for startups to reach their target audience, build brand awareness, and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. It can also make use of a limited startup budget, supporting SEO strategies and establishing brand authority. However, many startups struggle with developing a content marketing strategy that delivers results. These five tactics can help startups and other businesses get content marketing right and drive business growth.
The digital marketing environment is ever-changing and extremely competitive. Every startup that is trying to make a name for itself online should understand a simple thing: content marketing is king. From a startup standpoint, budget is critical. Every dollar, every cent is valuable in order to stay ahead of the curve. Even though every startup enterprise has a very specific task or a business model to follow, it is imperative the marketing side doesn’t lose sight of the big picture.
Setting yourself apart and creating a distinct brand identity is a tricky business. When it comes to startups, the challenge is even more daunting. This is why a traditional promotional strategy that repeatedly talks about your product’s greatness and/or service is no longer sufficient. The problem a lot of startups have is that they may have developed something that their market doesn’t know about yet, which makes it even more difficult to be found. They’re looking to make a splash in a busy marketplace, and content marketing emerges as a very useful strategy to set themselves apart.
Even in a relatively new market, there are probably hundreds or even thousands of businesses like yours already engaging in content marketing. The first job is to determine just how good these competitors are and what kinds of tactics they’re using.
The strategy is carefully prescribed with an approach that assesses the unique needs of your organization. Determining the right strategic mix of content assets to execute a strategy that can distinguish a brand uniquely. Our measurements and metrics revolve around how that content is absorbed, leads people further down the purchase funnel, or results directly in a sale. Of course, the metrics vary depending on your industry.
Customers want to be empowered; they want to gain something from you before investing in your product or service. Producing content that fulfills their curiosity or helps them solve a problem in some way naturally positions a brand as knowledgeable, helpful, valuable, and most importantly- trustworthy!
Content is also useful for search engine optimization (SEO). The production of quality content is a tried-and-tested way to work your way up search engine results pages (SERPs). This is exceptionally powerful because of the cost-to-benefit ratio. Content is relatively inexpensive to produce and syndicate, but it can have incredibly powerful effects. And over time, as more posts are developed, the effects get even stronger.
However, simply creating high-quality or really good content isn’t enough. There is a lot of great content that isn’t seen. In fact, although 53% of businesses know they should have a content distribution strategy, only 26% have implemented one. Many startups spend so much energy creating optimized articles that they almost completely overlook creating a distribution strategy
Content distribution is a crucial part of the content promotion strategy that focuses on promoting your content to your target audience through various media channels. It primarily includes three content distribution networks:
Owned: This consists of any web property that you own, such as your website, blog, mobile app, newsletter, social media accounts, etc.
Paid: Any channel that you pay to boost the reach of your content. Paid content distribution includes all paid ads, social media ads, influencer marketing, remarketing.
Earned: Getting your content amplified through third-party sources, such as press coverage, guest articles, organic social shares, ratings, reviews.
Distributing the right content to your target market is of the essence. No matter how valuable your infographic or social media post is, your effort is futile if it’s not relevant to your audience. Relevance is one of the critical metrics in digital marketing for startups.
Recently, social media channels like Facebook and Instagram have drastically reduced the organic reach of business pages, which limits your ability to use these platforms as a free method of distributing content. There are still a lot of options for promoting and distributing your content, including email, social media, social media stories or live features, or even offline methods.
Content can get you the undivided attention of your customer. Attention is expensive, and content is a relatively cheap method of gaining that attention. Attention = brand awareness or leads, and these two normally lead to sales. Startups need to put a focus on content creation because, if done right, it can yield incredible results.
Define Your Audience and Goals
The first step in developing a successful content marketing strategy is to define your target audience and business goals. Who are you trying to reach with your content? What action do you want them to take after engaging with your content? Answering these questions will help you create content that resonates with your audience and drives desired outcomes.
Develop a Content Plan
Once you have defined your audience and goals, you need to develop a content plan. This plan should include the types of content you will create (e.g., blog posts, videos, infographics), the topics you will cover, and the frequency of your content creation. Consider how your content can be evergreen – where one piece of content (tip of the tree) becomes many other pieces (cascading branches). Be sure to create a content calendar to help you stay organized and consistent with your content creation.
Focus on Quality Over Quantity
It’s easy to get caught up in the quantity of content you are creating, but quality is more important than quantity. Focus on creating high-quality content that provides value to your audience. This can help you establish yourself as a trusted authority in your industry and drive more engagement and conversions.
Promote Your Content
Creating great content is only half the battle – the other half is getting your audience to read it. To reach them, you will need to promote your content. Share your content on your social media channels, email newsletter, and other relevant platforms. You can also reach out to industry influencers and publications to see if they would be interested in featuring your content.
Measure and Analyze Your Results
Finally, it’s important to measure and analyze your content marketing results. Use analytics tools to track your website traffic, engagement rates, and conversion rates. This data can help you understand what is working and what isn’t, so you can make informed decisions about your content strategy moving forward.
Content marketing is a powerful tool for startups to drive business growth, but it requires a strategic approach to get it right. By defining your audience and goals, developing a content plan, focusing on quality over quantity, promoting your content, and measuring and analyzing your results, you can create a content marketing strategy that delivers results for your startup.
