‘What is content marketing?’, I’ve heard many ask. Not because they’re ignorant, but because they haven’t quite grasped the concept of publishing a string of words and calling is a marketing technique.
My go-to answer here is that content marketing is a growth channel.
Content gets three times the number of leads than paid marketing does. And, it offers six times higher conversion rates than other marketing methods. The right content marketing strategy can help you grab the audience’s attention.
And isn’t that what you want as a startup?
What Exactly Is Content Marketing
The Content Marketing Institute defines it as a technique for marketing which involves consistent, relevant, and valuable content, meant to fascinate a target audience pool and convert them into profitable leads.
Simply put, content marketing is a bargain where you offer information of value, well-written and executed, to the customer. In return, they visit your website. And if they like it, they stick around.
Consider an example. Let’s say you want to understand what SEO is. I’d suggest you take a good look at ‘The Beginner’s Guide to SEO’, an infographic website post by Moz. It’s a free resource. It offers valuable information. And just like you, over 3 million people have discovered the website and business of Moz because they stumbled upon that particular post.
That’s content marketing!
Benefits of a Good Content Strategy for Startups
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It’s Cheap
Neil Patel, the famous copywriter, claims that content marketing is 62% cheaper than traditional marketing means. If you can shell out good content, there is a fair number of marketing networks, both free and inexpensive, where you can publish it.
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Builds Trust
You can use quality content to solve a problem for the customers and educate them along the way. Pick a pain point and present a solution. Let the customer experience how you’re different from your competitor instead of shoving it in their faces with blatant advertising.
Over time, within a pool of targeted customers, your content will build trust for your brand.
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Brings Traffic
Instead of paying Google or Facebook to advertise your content at the top of a search result, invest in high-quality SEO techniques. Choose keywords with care. Offer unique insights to the audience.
Good content pays off in the long run. It’ll attract organic traffic for years. And, it’ll help you build a loyal relationship with the target audience.
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Establishes Your Voice
As your content starts gathering trust from your customers, they begin believing in you as a credible authority on the matter. They relate your brand with your content. You can utilise this positive image, build your voice as that of a thought leader in the market with just a little investment, and grow your brand.
How Should Startups Proceed with Content Marketing
As a startup dipping its toes into the waters of content marketing for the first time, you may have many doubts. What do you do first? Launch a blog? Write and publish case studies on your social media? Create infographics and send them out to every network you can reach?
A study conducted by the Content Marketing Institute revealed that 68% B2B marketers were running their content programs without a deliberate strategy at hand. That’s very much like heading into a burning building blindfolded. You’ll burn, sooner or later!
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Focus on Your Area of Expertise
The Game Theorists, a YouTube Channel, is run by MatPat, i.e. Matthew Patrick. He joined the community in 2009 and currently has a subscriber count of 9.6 million. Superwoman, i.e. Lilly Singh, another YouTube creator who started out in 2010 is now a global figure with over 13 million subscribers.
Both these creators talk about what they know best. They serve as examples for startups who start out with nothing but can build an enterprise out of their niche expertise and good quality content.
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Pick a Medium You Can Afford and Excel at
Choosing the ideal medium is critical to your content marketing strategy. It affects your performance, content quality, and reach among the audiences.
Blog posts can be flexible and generate traffic in many scenarios. Neil Patel claims that a post over 3000 words creates good traffic. Google SEO Algorithms seem to prefer 700 words long blogs.
Videos are more expressive and hence generate better traffic. However, they also are more expensive to create and consume lots of time.
Professionally designed infographics cost more, but they’re the apt choice for the modern market. They are shared and liked thrice as much as other content types on social media. Posts with infographics are 80% more likely to be read than those without one. It’s mainly a capsule of value that leaves a better impact on your audience.
The bottom line is that you must present a point of some value, in a manner that your target audience accepts and appreciates, within time and budget constrictions that don’t make you uncomfortable.
To read more articles like this, visit Voices.