In 1996, Bill Gates introduced the term “content is king”. Over the past 25 years, this term has taken on a new meaning as technology and consumer behaviors have evolved. So what does “content is king” mean today? And more specifically, what does it mean for the small business owner? For those who are running a small business, there are a few content marketing questions commonly asked. Let’s get those answered.
Common Content Marketing Questions
What is it?
Content marketing is the practice of creating and distributing content. This content should be valuable, consistent, and relevant to the needs of your target audience. The goal of content marketing is to attract and maintain a regular audience of those interested in your product or service. It is used for both customer acquisition as well as retention. This audience should be people who can benefit from your products and services. Ultimately, you can use content marketing to call potential customers to action and create brand loyalists as well.
What are the different types of content marketing?
Content comes in all shapes and forms. When people think about content, they usually think about more traditional forms of content including blog posts and technical articles. But there are plenty of other examples of content marketing. For example, a lot of people are creating podcasts as a way to reach a broader audience. Some companies publish infographics and other shareable bite sized information through social media posts. Even pictures, images, videos and emails count as content marketing. If you run a small business, you should think about how you can best reach your target market using one or several of the various forms of content marketing.
Do I have time to successfully execute a content plan?
If you run a business, you probably have a lot to do during the course of the day. You may feel like you do not have time to produce content regularly. Fortunately, there are trained specialists who can help you do exactly that. You may want to hire a marketing professional who can produce content for your business, as well as ensure that your content is working towards achieving overall business goals. In addition, you can also invest in automation tools that can make content marketing easier. If you take a well-rounded approach, you can make time for content marketing for your business.
How do I know if my content marketing strategy is working?
Before you start generating content, you have to know how you are going to define success. It’s important to be aware of your online marketing metrics, in order to be able to measure the success of your content marketing strategy. To determine what success looks like, you have to decide on the goals of each form of content marketing and how it supports your overall business goals. Are you going to quantify success by generating new subscribers for your email list? Or, are you going to quantify success by the amount of organic traffic every blog post receives? Are you going to quantify the success of a social media platform by the number of likes, shares, and comments it gets? And how do these assist in generating more revenue?
Do I need to change the type of content I am producing from season to season?
This primarily depends on if your business is seasonal or not. For example, if you specialize in providing Christmas trees, your business is probably seasonal. If you run a small business that provides contracting services for construction companies, this service may be seasonal as well. If you noticed that your business waxes and wanes during the course of the year, you may want to change your marketing strategy to make it seasonal as well. Fortunately, there are ways you can effectively alter your marketing strategies from season to season to maximize the return you get on your digital marketing investment.
Will content marketing help my customers and prospects?
When you provide high-quality content, you educate your visitors and those that engage with your business in other digital spaces. Today, consumers are smarter and savvier than they ever have been in the past. If you do not provide them with access to this information, they are simply going to get it from somewhere else. If you show that you are willing to educate your customers, you can build trust, a sense of loyalty and strengthening your long-term relationships with your customers. Content marketing can help you drive up your customer retention rate. If you educate potential customers, they can make an informed decision regarding what their needs might be and then choose your business to fulfill that need.
How much does content marketing cost?
This depends on the type of content you produce. For example, if you are willing to produce your own content, you may not have to pay anything at all. On the other hand, if you want to create the best content possible, you have to be willing to invest in it. This expense depends on the type of content you are producing as well as the frequency. A blog post is not going to be as expensive as a service that can help you produce a podcast or a video series.
If you’re a small business owner, the answers to these common content marketing questions will get you started on the right path to creating content that works for your business.
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