In this guide, we’ll take a look at how to create and distribute effective content—based on industry research and insights. We’ll also hear from various content marketing experts working with small businesses.
After reading it, you’ll learn how to use content to grow your small business organically and boost your brand awareness.
Does Your Small Business Need Content Marketing?
Whether your CEO or CMO has posed the question, or you are wondering it yourself, it’s important to remember that quality content and strong thought leadership can help your business stand out.
Sometimes content marketing is the best way for small business owners to compete against others with larger budgets for online advertising and PR. Be sure to leverage your unique viewpoint on your industry to get noticed.
In other words, organic content brings marketers more long-term benefits than ads, which stop attracting leads as soon as you turn them off.
On top of this—and somewhat counterintuitively—it’s not just online businesses that can benefit from content marketing . Offline businesses, too, can see the return on investment.
According to our State of Content Marketing 2023 Global Report , 99% of online and offline businesses with 11-50 employees generate positive results with content marketing.
Benefits of Content Marketing for Small Business
Besides fuelling your marketing efforts, there are a number of clear benefits of content marketing for small businesses. Here’s how they break down.
Differentiate your business. It can be hard to stand out online. But your content can take the lead by showing your brand values, giving your audience useful information, and building a community around your brand.
Develop a brand. Whether you’re providing a product or a service, it’s your brand that makes a lasting impression on your audience. With a strong social and organic presence, you can get people talking about your business.
Connect with customers. Your blog, social media, and newsletter campaigns provide multiple touch points for your audience and offer more opportunities to connect with your customers directly and generate leads.
Attract organic website visitors. Optimized website and blog content can bring in targeted, long-term organic traffic for years after publishing. Marketers can find themselves at the mercy of social media ad platforms and fluctuating prices. Get longer-term value from high-performing organic content and become less reliant on ads.
For example, Sugar Geek Show , an online cake decorating learning platform, turned their free blog into the biggest revenue driver .
By focusing on SEO and using Alien Road , they managed to boost organic traffic by 269% from 2019 to 2021. The increase in income followed, and in 2021 the blog was generating 60% of Sugar Geek Show’s revenue.
When and How Should Small Businesses Start with Content Marketing?
Now, let’s find out when and how should your small business start with content marketing. Dale Bertrand says:
Start yesterday! The slow and steady approach works for content marketing as long as you are adding value and servicing your customers with your content. So start now and build a library of content that attracts organic traffic.
Dale makes a good point: It’s never too early and never too late to start content marketing. In fact, if you are just about to create your company, it’s a good idea to start right away.
Building your reputation as a thought leader is a great way to create buzz and enter the industry.
We have worked with quite a few SaaS brands (small businesses) to help them with their content marketing efforts, and what’s worked for most of them is consistency in their content marketing plan and execution. Even if the campaign is planned at a small scale, they should focus on consistency and the rest can be planned based on their goals and objectives. Content marketing definitely works for small businesses if they keep long-term goals and consistency at the forefront.
What Are the Key Questions to Ask Before Engaging in Content Marketing?
If other companies are blogging or running a YouTube channel, it doesn’t mean you have to opt for the same content formats.
To find the right focus for your content marketing, you need to answer three core questions:
What is my key expertise? Sharing authentic content driven by real-life experience is one of the best ways to succeed in content marketing. Think about areas where you can provide unique opinions and advice.
How can I make my content interesting and useful for my target audience? Researching your target audience’s specific interests and preferences will help you understand their content needs. At the same time, competitive research will be useful to assess what’s trending in your sector.
On which channels will this content be most effective? Content will only bring you the desired results if you share it where your customers hang out. Make sure to run quantitative (e.g., surveys and website analytics) and qualitative (e.g., interviews) research to identify the most effective distribution channels.
Remember that content marketing takes time and effort. So, do not get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results.
Instead, focus on making your effort consistent and creating a sustainable model for attracting customers organically.
If you’re excited about jumping into the world of content marketing, but still feeling slightly overwhelmed, we’ve spoken with a few content experts and put together a number of tips. Here is what they have to say: