Content Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide For Business Owners

Content Marketing is writing that your customers are looking for. With the right content, your ideal customer will come to you.

Content Marketing: A Beginner's Guide For Small Business Owners

No matter what industry you’re in, competition among businesses is fiercer than ever. If you’re looking for a way to set your growing business apart from its competitors, you need to have a solid content marketing strategy in place.
The good news is that you don’t have to be a tech guru or a marketing pro to develop and implement a successful content marketing plan. By having a basic understanding of how content marketing works, how it can benefit your business, and what makes up a content marketing plan—you can get to work in setting your brand apart.
1950's man with microphone

What is Content Marketing, Anyway?

In a nutshell, content marketing refers to any content you create and publish online to connect with and engage your organization’s target audience. One of the first things that may come to mind when you think about online content is social media content; platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are incredible content marketing tools for businesses. Regular posts on social media can be used to engage with a brand’s target audience, create a sense of community around a brand, and even boost conversions.
Of course, social media content isn’t the only type of content marketing that can help a business grow. Consider some other popular content marketing types that can be incorporated into your strategy, such as:
  • Website Content
  • Email Content
  • Infographics
  • Videos
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts

Benefits of Content Marketing

Now that you have a better understanding of what content marketing entails, you might be wondering exactly how it can benefit your business. There are dozens of advantages to consider, but we’ve highlighted a handful of the most significant below.

#1: Boost Your SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your business “be seen” on popular search engines, such as Google. When a potential customer searches for a keyword that’s related to your business, they have a statistically higher chance of landing on your website if you rank among the first page of search engine results. In fact, it’s estimated that sites on the first page of Google search results land up to 73% of click-through traffic
The point? A solid content marketing strategy can significantly boost your search engine results. As you publish more and more unique, quality content, your organization’s site also has more indexed pages on popular search engines. This is especially true if you use targeted keywords in your content to further boost your SEO.
And as you publish more useful content, you also increase the chances of being backlinked by other sites online. This in-turn increases your domain authority, which makes you more likely to end up at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

#2: Improve Your Brand's Reputation

The right content can also boost your brand’s overall reputation by building stronger relationships with your target audience and increasing brand awareness. As you post more content that your audience finds interesting and useful, your business gradually becomes seen as a true authority in your industry.

#3: Grow Your Social Media Following

Getting more followers on social media is another great way to help your business grow; by publishing excellent content not only to your business website and blog but to social media as well, you’re more likely to generate shares. These shares can turn into more followers and get people talking about your brand.



#4: Optimize Your Marketing Budget

From an ROI perspective, content marketing is one of the best investments for your growing business. This is because once you’ve developed the content, it doesn’t cost anything to keep it. Compare that to ads, whether online or traditional, where there are fees for every time you run the ad. In some cases, if you are willing to write your own blogs and posts, it doesn’t cost a thing other than your time. These facts make content marketing a smart and cost-effective choice for small businesses with limited budgets.
typewriter and monitor hybrid concept

Who Needs a Content Marketing Strategy?

Simply put, every business can benefit from having a content marketing plan in place. No matter how small or large your business may be, having a strong online presence begins with publishing and sharing content that your target audience will find useful and relevant. And remember: if you don’t have a content marketing strategy in place, your competition probably does.

Building Your Content Marketing Strategy

Not sure where to begin when it comes to building a content strategy? Follow the steps below to get started.

Decide on Goals and Outcomes

Before you start cranking out content, you’ll want to have some specific and measurable end goals in mind. Setting short- and long-term goals for your content marketing will help you refine your strategy. Some potential outcomes you may want to focus on include:

  • Improving brand awareness
  • Boosting customer engagement and loyalty
  • Increasing overall revenue and conversions
  • Optimizing your search engine rankings
As you define your content marketing goals, make sure you have a reliable means of measuring and analyzing them as well.

Conduct Audience Research

You can’t expect to create valuable content if you don’t have a solid understanding of your audience, their pain points, and their interests. This is where conducting some extensive audience research will go a long way. By compiling data about your target audience and what they care about, you’ll be able to tailor your content to suit their needs. 

Some specific information you might want to know about your audience includes:

  • Their geographical location and time zone
  • Their age range
  • Their general interests
  • How they spend their money

Designate a Content Creation Team

Who will be responsible for content creation? Depending on the size of your business, you may want to designate a team within your current group of employees to tackle your content marketing strategy. In some cases, it may make more sense to outsource this to freelance professionals that include content writers, graphic designers, video production experts, and the like. Regardless of who you designate to be part of your content creation team, you’ll want to make sure that everybody is aligned with your organization’s goals and outcomes.

Brainstorm, Research, and Create

Once you have a better idea of what you’re trying to get out of your content marketing strategy and what type of content you’ll be producing, it’s time to start creating. One of the most important things to keep in mind when brainstorming ideas for new content is to keep it fresh. 

When you come up with a blog idea, for example, take some time to research the topic and make sure it hasn’t already been covered. If it hasn’t, great! If it has, though, you’ll need to find a new spin that will truly engage your target audience. The more unique, relevant, and useful your content is, the better the chances it will be shared and that your audience will engage with it.

This is also a good stage to consider the content marketing funnel, which can help you decide which type of content is best suited for each stage. Blog posts and social media updates, for example, tend to be best suited for your audience’s “discovery phase,” where they are first learning about your business. As your audience moves through the funnel towards the ultimate goal of making a purchase, your content may need to become more specific and targeted (think customer testimonials, detailed product specifications, demonstration videos, and the like).
Depending on how frequently you’ll be publishing new content, you may also want to utilize a content calendar to help you stay on top of different topics, their publishing dates, and more.

Measure Outcomes and Revisit Content Regularly

The key to any successful content strategy is to constantly analyze your results and adapt as needed. If your content seems to be missing the mark when it comes to engaging your target audience, it may be time to revisit your strategy and conduct more audience research. If one medium doesn’t seem to be successful in generating interest, maybe it’s time to experiment with some other types of content.

The Bottom Line on Content Marketing

A little planning and creativity can go a long way in making your content marketing strategy a successful one. Whether you decide to focus on blogs, video content, SEO content, or any medium in between—we hope these practical tips will help you move towards defining and launching your content plan with confidence!

Might Good Marketing is a digital marketing agency located in Flowery Branch, GA and serving the metro-Atlanta area. Interested in developing a successful content marketing strategy for your business? Contact us today at 1-866-935-5699 or fill out our form to schedule a free consultation.

Why Choose Mighty Good Marketing?

Your business is unique; your marketing should promote the advantages of choosing your brand over others. We spend the time to learn what your company delivers and what makes your brand unique. Many other marketing companies deliver a one-size-fits-all marketing solution to a specific industry. They use the same messages for all their customers – customers that may, in fact, be your direct competitors. We deliver custom solutions for your business.