A Guide to Content Marketing for Small Businesses
One in ten small businesses doesn’t invest in marketing, which means they’re leaving money on the table. Whether your company has a marketing plan already or not, content marketing is an excellent way to drive results. With content marketing, your SMB produces valuable and educational content for your customers and prospects. That content can drive traffic to your website, create new leads, and help website visitors become customers, although we mostly hear about organic search traffic.
Content marketing can be especially powerful for small businesses. As Michele Kelly of K+L Storytellers explains, the passion that drives founders is compelling for customers: “Small businesses rock the trust barometer when they use their true, authentic voice. A founder's why is always the company's why. What makes your small business different from any other company on the planet is YOU, the small business owner. People do business with you because of you. Why are you passionate about solving customer problems? What language expresses that passion? Your brand's voice -- language, tone, humor, approachability, emotions -- sets you apart, and it's amazing. The misstep many smaller brands make is trying to be like the big guys. Instead, be story-driven. Consider what your voice sounds like as a founder and how it impacts the voice of the brand. Then, share it and give the world something to smile about and believe in.”
If you want to see how content marketing drives search traffic, try this test. Search for “how to write sales emails” in your favorite search engine. You’ll find that many of the top results are from companies that sell email marketing or CRM software. These companies are engaging in content marketing. They’ve created content that answers a question their target customers have, driving prospective customers to their website.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to implement your own content marketing plan to create results for your small business. By the end, you should have a systemized content marketing plan to get you started right away.
Step 1: Define Themes for Your Content Marketing
Imagine if you searched “how to write sales emails,” and the top result was from a pet food company. Even if their guide is the best out there and brings in a hundred new website visitors per day, the people who land on the site aren’t looking for pet food, and they aren’t likely to become customers. For this reason, the first step is defining content themes.
To create an effective content marketing plan, you’ll have to focus on what your audience wants. Some businesses, like lifestyle brands, can pick from a wide array of topics, but many SMBs need to choose a narrower focus. Spending time researching and defining your content themes allows you to target the right audience and demonstrate expertise in a specific niche.
Here are some ways to do that:
Dig into your website analytics, and specifically, your acquisition data. When new website visitors land on your site after a web search, what were they searching for? This should give you an idea of what search terms are already driving organic search traffic for you. Invest in more content related to those search terms and use a keyword research tool to find related keywords and content themes.
If your site has a search bar, check out its search history. Once visitors are on your site, what are they looking for? The content ideas you get from this are like gold for your content marketing plan. Your website visitors are potential customers, and they’ve told you, via your search bar, where their interest lies. You can use the data in two ways: to expand on what’s already popular and to identify gaps where you could produce content for new topics. For example, a facilities management service company might notice that their site visitors are searching for “reducing energy bills,” but there’s no content that matches. As they’re developing content themes, it would make sense to create content explaining different lighting options and automations that reduce energy usage, comparing them, and suggesting the best options for specific applications.
Mine your sales calls. What questions do prospects ask on calls? Once again, your potential customers are telling you exactly what they want to know. Use their questions and concerns to create new content themes. Let’s go back to the facilities management service example: their clients frequently ask how to determine the right mix of meeting spaces with individual work areas. That’s a great question to answer with content.
Take a look at your competitors’ blogs, YouTube channels, and social media accounts, as well as trade publications, conferences, and industry podcasts. What kind of content are they publishing? How well is it performing? The second part is beneficial but can be hard to gauge. Some blogs show stats on how often a post was shared or liked, but not most. It’s easier to judge the effectiveness of content on YouTube and social media since anyone can see basic engagement information (likes, views, shares). If specific topics aren’t performing well, you wouldn’t want to emulate them. Of course, it’s also possible that their content is not well done. In that case, you’re in a prime position to create something better that covers those topics.
When choosing content themes, listen to your target audience. Your prospects may not be emailing you a list of blog posts they want to read, but you can tell what they want by listening closely.
Step 2: Build a Content Calendar
Ideas are great, but having a list of content themes is just the first step. You’ll have to turn those ideas into content. Rather than jumping in randomly, start by creating a content calendar. Showing up regularly with new content is essential. Consistently publishing creates more traction than throwing out a smattering of content every few months. Like much of life, though, the trick is balance. If you create an overly ambitious content calendar, you’re likely to lose steam, get busy, and eventually abandon it.
To build an effective content calendar, you’ll need to know upfront what channels you’re publishing on, the cadence, and the type of content. When you’re deciding on channels and content mediums, ask yourself what is easiest for you and what you’re most excited to do, as well as what your ideal customers prefer. Try to make your content something that you enjoy since you’ll have to spend some time on it. If appearing on video fills you with dread, don’t make video interviews the focus of your content marketing. Hate writing? Focus on something other than a blog.
Once you have an idea of cadence, media, channels, and format, you can start slotting in specific ideas using your content themes.
Here is an example of what your content marketing cadence might look like:
Video Interviews: Monthly, published to YouTube and website
Twitter: Daily, evergreen content
LinkedIn: Weekly
Once you have a rough plan, put it into a calendar view. Seeing all the content laid out in a calendar helps you identify gaps and plan. Once you establish the schedule on a calendar, you may see that it’s overly ambitious, and adjustments are needed. Tweaking is a part of marketing. Continue testing until you find what is right for your business.
Step 3: Systemize Content Creation
Unfortunately, you can’t snap your fingers (or wiggle your nose) and turn a list of ideas into a full blog with scheduled content for the next six months. Content creation does take effort. Since nobody wants to be recording a video on a deadline, knowing that it needs to be published today, you’ll need systems to make the work more efficient and organized. Systems are critical when you’re working without a dedicated marketing staff or you’re a one-person marketing department.
Repurpose with Content Clusters
The content cluster method is one part of systemizing your work. The idea is to spend the majority of your effort on quality pillar content. Then, you can maximize that content by repurposing and remixing it into a cluster of related content.
Pillar content is substantial, like a rotisserie chicken. Sure, you might be able to eat a rotisserie chicken as a whole meal, but, as lots of families know, a rotisserie chicken shines when you repurpose it. On Monday, you might serve chicken drumsticks and a salad. On day two, that chicken gets shredded for Taco Tuesday. On day three, the remaining meat goes into chicken sandwiches and the scraps go into a stockpot for chicken soup. One rotisserie chicken. Four meals.
Let’s use a real example. Our favorite imaginary facilities management service provider loves to talk to people, so she selects podcasting for her pillar content. In one podcast episode, she chats extensively with a colleague about HVAC systems for multi-tenant office buildings. That conversation then fuels the rest of her content for the month: a series of tweets featuring quotes from the podcast and several blog posts covering different aspects of the conversation.
When creating content, it’s overwhelming to work from a blank page all the time. Repurposing, tweaking, and remixing content helps you to scale your content marketing without letting it take over your life.
Batch Content Creation
Batching your content creation can save you time and prevent distraction. Instead of finding 15 minutes a day to write a new social media post (and getting sucked in), sit down for a few hours and create all the posts for a month. You might find it surprising how many posts you can make once you get in a groove.
To do this, you’ll need a tool for scheduling social media posts. I love Edgar, SmarterQueue, or RecurPost for their ability to repurpose content at scale, but there are various options, including Loomly, HubSpot, and HootSuite. Most blog platforms have a way to schedule posts, so you can queue up future blog posts without investing in another tool.
Outsource and Enlist Your Staff
When you’re expanding your content marketing efforts, you may need help with content creation. There are plenty of options that don’t require you to bring in additional full-time staff. You may even find support within your existing team. Perhaps you have a team member who loves podcasting as a hobby -- they may be willing to spend a few hours of their work time editing podcast episodes. It never hurts to ask.
If you end up needing extra help from outside your business, it’s time to look at freelancers. The marketplace is full of freelance content creators making everything from infographics to podcasts. Not sure where to start when it comes to finding freelance talent? I have some tips for outsourcing work.
Step 4: Reach Your Small Business’ Target Audience
Quality content is a critical aspect of content marketing, but you lose opportunities if you ignore content distribution. Once you create content, don’t assume that people will land on your site, YouTube channel, or social media accounts organically. Your small business can reach a much larger audience with a solid plan for getting your content in front of your target audience.
5 Tips for Getting More Traffic to Your Content Marketing:
Make a list of influencers in your industry. Interact with these key accounts. Every industry has people with a large following. By interacting with those people on social media, you introduce new people to your content and brand. But remember to engage authentically, not just drop sales pitches.
Expand your audience by appearing on podcasts and guest blogging. These are great opportunities to expand your profile and share your message with new people in your target audience. Corina Leslie, PR Manager of ZeroBounce, is a big supporter of guest posting. She explains, “If I were to recommend one content promotion tactic, that would be guest posting. Make a list of all the publications you’d like to write for, then start researching and pitching them. Editors are busy, and creating content takes work and time, so they’ll appreciate you lending a hand. Not only will you get a byline and links back to your content, but guest posting is an excellent way to practice your writing and learn more about how the media works. We’ve been guest posting for a long time and that has allowed our content to get in front of thousands of people.”
When posting to social media, tag relevant people in your posts. (This isn’t an excuse to spam folks. Use this method judiciously.) Tag a former coworker that you know will find the content useful. If you’ve interviewed someone for a blog, that’s a great reason to tag them as well.
Promote your content in your email marketing. This can take several forms: Repurpose long-form to create an email series. Announce an upcoming webinar through your newsletter. Or include a teaser and link to the new content with your regular weekly email.
Use paid social media. Michelle Tresemer from T Group Marketing Method recommends using this tool only for your most effective content. “While it's tempting to want to boost every post on social media, I recommend only boosting content that has proven to perform well with your ideal audience first. So watch your engagement on your posts and only boost what's resonating the best. This will ensure you're spending your money on the content most likely to attract more ideal clients.”
Content can only work if people see it.
Content Marketing Drives Powerful Results for Small Businesses
No matter how small your business is, it has a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share. Don’t be afraid of giving away information or advice for free. Reading, watching, or listening about doing something is significantly easier than executing, so sharing that knowledge won’t make your business redundant. Instead, they’ll see you as the expert voice and be more likely to trust you with their business and money.
Content marketing gives you a way to share your knowledge and build connections in a way that produces new leads and secures more customers. But, like many parts of running a small business, the challenge is finding the time and resources to get things done. With this guide, you have a systemized plan for getting started, running an effective content marketing program, and growing your business.
About Tiny Marketing
Sarah Noel Block, President of Tiny Marketing, supports small businesses in the real estate services, facilities services, and construction industries. She builds and executes strategic marketing plans to establish your business as an expert, get you in front of your target audience, and build trust with prospects. For the past fifteen years, she has worked with companies like Apartments.com, The Moran Group, Encompass, and Beyond Design to reach their marketing goals through content creation, email marketing, and social media marketing.
