Content marketing is here to stay and it is king because the relevant, interesting and fresh content has the power to engage the customers in effective way. It is a fact that content is indispensable thing for small business but the thing that matters is how to apply it to small business. Problem with small business is that they do not have much money and manpower resources plus tough competition. Data shows nearly 60% of small business owners do not pay much attention to content marketing where as companies using content properly get 6 times more conversion when compared to non-users. Before we move to the process of accurate content we should be very clear about what content marketing is.
What is content marketing– It is mechanism to not only create but distribute using right channels to connect with existing customers and attracting new prospective customers? Content has to be based on needs and queries of target audience as well as it should be relevant, interesting and new.
Small business who have website and internet presence must know they are already content marketing. Companies who are using content in any form know content marketing very well. Whereas small companies who are making proper strategies and plans after finalizing their goals carefully are on their way to become 100% content marketer.
Content marketing strategy– Process of content marketing starts with planning definite strategy to build long lasting relationship with customers while enhancing the brand power of company. Let us analyze some of ways the content marketing strategies can be planned–
- Defining the core audience – Before planning for anything company must define its core audience,their age group, sex,tastes and preferences, income, purchasing habits.This crucial information helps company/business create content that has relevance to targeted audience and will be informative to them.
- Planning for goals to be achieved – Second most important thing is to define the goals that are to be achieved because content marketing strategy must be woven around targeted goals. Every small company /business has its specific goals like retaining existing customers, attracting new ones, for email marketing and enhancing brand power etc. Set the goals first then plan strategy to achieve it.
- Create and post consistently – Creating and posting creative content must be a continuous process though for small business everyday posting blogs is not easy task. It may not always be articles or blogs, short messages, piece of information,videos,infographics etc. or any form can be alternately posted for desired results.
- Take care of SEO – Content creation is not the end but every content created must include selected keywords so that your content is found on search engines. Firstly content must be created that is creative,relevant,informative and useful to customer group, then it has to SEO optimized.
- It is very important to select the right social media as per the content created to get best results choosing wrong social media can make your content fall flat.
- Tracking the success of posted content must be done as to how the targeted audience reacted to the content whether they liked the content or not.