Content is the epicentre of what we do as a business except many forget its importance and either do nothing or do it inconsistently.
How then, can content marketing help small businesses?
Every product description, landing page, social media post, article, a blog post are all forms of content.
But content marketing isn’t the sole preserve of big companies if optimised wisely by small businesses; it can be highly effective.
Small businesses can compete with the big guys and on a level playing field.
Google isn’t interested in the size of your company or how many people you have working.
It is all about the content you write and it relevance for the industry you are in.
And if it’s quality content, it can make you stand out from your competitors.
How do small businesses benefit from content marketing?
It is not enough to have a website; businesses need a consistent online presence.
Small businesses don’t want to spend money on marketing their business online because they are hesitant about the real benefits.
Either they don’t understand or have the time to do it because it all takes effort.
But think about it.
Your business offers a host of products and services what better way of promoting them but by writing how they help your customers and, demonstrate their real value using case studies and testimonials.
Having a solid brand awareness; in other words, people know of you locally or maybe as an expert or specialist in your industry is an excellent way for people to chat about you.
Here’s an example of how I picked up a client because someone spoke to her about me.
I was contacted by a potential client to copy edit her e-book.
She didn’t know me but, her friend and business associate who reads and follows OWV recommended me as someone to contact because she had read my blog and felt confident about my services and I know what I am doing.
I secured the work on the back of creating content that my audience is recommending and sharing.
Website visitors prefer articles, features and informative posts than adverts.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Creating informative articles earns respect and admiration from your audience.
You position yourself as someone who has authority, which, takes time to build, but it works, and through one indirect recommendation, I gained a new client.
Of course, the above example is difficult to measure, and it is understandable why small businesses give up on content marketing, especially when they feel they are posting, and nothing is happening.
Website traffic is a more tangible way of understanding how many visitors have read your posts.
Write great posts and visitors will read your blog and hopefully check out your products and services.
Positioning your company as a source of relevant content in your industry is a great way to gain backlinks to your site and earn creditability as Google sees your site as authoritative and relevant.
Content marketing for small businesses should aim to be consistently good
Regularly updated content with relevant internal links to other interesting content on your website keeps Google’s spiders busy by connecting your pages, and this enables Google to index your site.
All of this gives essential clues to search engines as to what your website and content are.
Without content, there is nothing to optimise for search engines, and visitors won’t find you easily.
You don’t need a bottomless pit of money to create awareness and interest.
By writing a series of posts relevant to what you want to promote and then updating it, I like to call it a portfolio of content which you can add and update.
The content you’re writing is what I call the discovery trail; you are aiming to promote exciting, readable and findable content, so people are aware of your existence.
Your aim is to build a long term audience in your niche and be consistent in your activities.
In a nutshell, content marketing for small businesses helps improve your website conversions.
Write for your industry/niche; talk about trends, statistics and share customer stories.
Share it on your social media channels and do it regularly.
Now you know that content marketing can help small businesses irrespective of the size of the budget or time.
Just be sure to create that portfolio of content and keep it fresh and updated.
Further reading for you
https://onewomansview.co.uk/what-are-you-selling/
https://onewomansview.co.uk/what-are-the-7-biggest-challenges-smes-face-when-planning-content/
