All startups crave for growth and seek to climb up the business ladder. However, the bitter truth is that a majority of them never makes it through the first year. In such an unforgiving economic climate, you need every weapon you can get. Luckily the meteoric rise of modern technologies has added some new tools to the business arsenal, while still valuing the power of manual outreach. A marketing field has been leveled, and yet the game is becoming more complex, as the Google raises the quality bar for content every now and then. So, why should a startup bother with content marketing, and what it has to gain from it?
With a game plan
To establish a solid content marketing strategy, one must first understand the central role of content in the online world. Content refers to anything from a whitepaper and press release to tweets and newsletters. For your purposes, though, do not consider content to be anything you come across while wandering the digital avenues and alleys. Instead, think of it as something that adds value to the internet, and benefits users in some way. Startups who fail to understand this will never get their internet presence off the ground.
Furthermore, content marketing endeavor must be encompassed by an online marketing plan. The first step here is defining your target audience in terms of age, occupation, habits, etc. Once you get a hold of that data, it is time to find out what are their favorite social media platforms. This allows you to define clear goals and key KPIs, which usually include bounce rates, visit time, total traffic and social engagement. Only then startups may proceed with moving their plans from the dreamland of ideas to the reality of the market.
The startup stage is set
A vast majority of customers seeks business information online. What is more, many of them have at least given online shopping a try. Therefore, one of the greatest benefits of content marketing is increasing your exposure to the consumers across the nation, and in some cases, worldwide. That is why building brand equity and awareness is closely tied to the process of developing closer relations with the target audience, and getting to know each other. It is best to get the best of both worlds, the local and the global one.
The ultimate goal is to engage, inspire, and spark attention. This does not come easy, as the online arena is teeming with fierce competition. While tech companies have a head start, research has shown that 90% of B2B companies also use content marketing strategies to stay ahead of the business game. The best shot you get is to provide valuable information, deep insights and fresh, daring opinions. Only that way a startup can separate itself from the legions of competition and rise above the overwhelming noise.
Another crucial thing is to avoid the pitfalls of content marketing. For example, many aspiring startups that discover the business benefits of blogging make a fatal mistake right at the beginning. They decide to write a hymn about product superiority and service excellence, without including expert opinion and customer reviews. Nobody will take your word on it, as no one knows who you are. Moreover, do not underestimate the potency of visuals. Staggering 87% of the top shared posts on Facebook have pictures included, while that percentage of Twitter is 35%.
Also, startups are prone to offering content that is devoid of a human touch. Hence, you need to convey your personality, echo the business culture and plant the seeds of your beliefs and philosophy on the great meadow of the internet. Finally, bear in mind that the appropriate content must also be posted regularly. Creating a calendar is paramount, as this enables startups to schedule posts ahead of time. There are some excellent tools for doing this, but do not go on full autopilot when it comes to posting.
An engine room
It takes much more than appealing web design to keep the visitors coming back and make them convert. Quality content does stand out, but sometimes it does not find its way to the customers. To gain an upper hand, startups need to jump on the search engine optimization (SEO) bandwagon. Your content must arrive to the SEO Promised Land, the forefront of search engine results page (SERP). Building inbound links is one of the best strategies there is, so get into the art of making meaningful and natural connections.
Content must not be set aside by this approach. On the contrary, it remains in the focus. The experts from Online Marketing Gurus SEO agency, who work with Niel Patel have explained to us that Google carefully monitors the content surrounding the anchor. That is why the quality of your content has to be top-notch when doing link building. Other aspects of an SEO campaign to keep a close eye on are industry trends and relevant keywords. Identifying these elements boosts the rankings and drives more traffic. If that seems like too much, partner with SEO professionals and like-minded companies.
After all, content marketing is an inexpensive, yet highly effective way to reach both the primary and secondary audience. It can be utilized for branding a startup, even for attaining a position of an industry leader. In fact, startups often have little room for maneuver and operate on a shoestring budget. Such a situation does not even allow them to consider the costly traditional marketing channels. They must make every dollar count, and what better way to ensure it that to align operations with emerging trends and habits of the customers.
Dead or alive
Startups live and die by their ability to address real wants and needs of customers. To pull it off, they must make the best use of content marketing strategies. Relevant, quality content that engages the audience on a regular basis is the only way to make a name for yourself. This kind of content is the king, and other aspirators to the throne, such as copied articles, have little chance of becoming royalty. Tailor your content creation process to the needs of the customers, and see them coming to trust and value you. Deploy a strategic approach and do not engage in random posting and carrying out spur-of-the-moment decisions.
