Small Business Content Marketing Doesn’t Have to Be Hard—Start Here
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You probably already know that content marketing is an essential part of running a successful business. However, it might feel overwhelming if you’re just starting out.
What content should I be posting?
What topics should I cover with my content?
How often do I need to post?
These are all questions you’ve likely asked yourself. Luckily, we know a thing or two about content marketing for small businesses, so we’re going to give you a basic rundown.
Content Marketing, Specifically for Small Businesses
Content marketing is an effective and strategic way that small businesses can attract a clearly defined audience without spending huge amounts of resources on advertising costs. It’s all about providing value to your audience in ways that help them learn, trust, and eventually choose your business.
However, creating periodic and high-quality content for your audience, while incredibly effective, also requires a good bit of creativity, time, and consistency. Oftentimes businesses will start strong but then struggle to continue producing content regularly. Or, in some instances, the content marketing efforts your small business is trying are not producing the results you were hoping for.
But don’t worry—it’s not about being perfect, it’s about being intentional and flexible with your strategy. In this overview, we’ll provide you with some actionable and simple content marketing ideas for small businesses like yours, along with helpful tips to keep that momentum going.
Creating a Content Marketing Strategy
Before you can explore ideas for content marketing for your small business, putting a plan in place is a great place to start. A strategy helps you get organized, stay consistent, and avoid the unnecessary stress that often comes with content creation.
1. Define Your Goals
Before doing anything, you should start by identifying your main goals for content marketing. Ask yourself questions like:
Am I aiming to educate my audience about a product or service?
Your goals will guide the type of content you create and the platforms you focus on. Depending on what you want to get out of your content, the type of content you choose will differ. For example, if lead generation is your priority, you might want to focus on blog content that answers specific questions paired with email sign-ups or downloadable content like e-books.
It’s also important to note that your content marketing goals should align with your overall business goals. The only reason to invest in content marketing is to help accomplish your overall business goals, so they need to be in complete alignment or you’re just wasting your time and resources.
2. Know Your Audience
A strategic content marketing strategy focuses completely on the targeted audience(s). Think about your ideal customer’s pain points, preferences, and where they spend time online. A good way to do this is to create customer personas. They can help you visualize who you’re speaking to and ensure your content resonates with their needs. Plus, it helps to have a visual aid you can reference as you continuously develop and evolve your content marketing strategy.
3. Create a Content Calendar
Once you have a strategy in place, you’ll want to create a schedule to follow. A content calendar allows you to plan ahead so your accounts and other outlets stay active and up-to-date. This helps:
Prevent last-minute stress about what to post.
Keep your content fresh by rotating topics, formats, and styles.
Maintain consistency, which builds trust with your audience.
Having a content calendar is such a useful way to prep in advance. It’s easy to get behind, lose momentum, and forget about content altogether. Your content calendar is a tool that, if used correctly, will prevent all of that from happening.
4. Track and Measure Results
The best way to gauge if your efforts are working is to track and measure your results. Before implementing your strategy, put a plan in place to track progress using analytics. For example, track metrics like website traffic, social media engagement, email open rates, and content shares. This will help you identify what’s working and what can be improved.
You can also use analytics to see what types of content types and topics are most effective. If you notice that video content does really well on Instagram, shift your strategy to include more.
4 Content Marketing Ideas to Start With
There’s a seemingly endless pool of content types, topics, and ideas you can choose from. But, when you’re first starting out you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Try out a few different options, measure, edit, and repeat what’s working.
There are a handful of content types that are effective for pretty much every business, regardless of size, industry, or space.
1. Video Content
Creating video content is absolutely essential as a part of your content marketing strategy. It helps small businesses stand out, showcase their personality, and connect with their audience on a deeper level. Video content is an effective way for small business owners to highlight their business and engage their audience. The best part? You don’t need a massive budget to create engaging videos—a smartphone and a little creativity go a long way.
There are a variety of different ways video content can be used on many different platforms. Some examples of video content you can use include:
Instructional videos: Many people are visual learners. If you have a concept or product that is better demonstrated via video, creating instructional videos is a great way to provide value.
Instagram reels and stories: Using free tools on platforms like Instagram can be incredibly effective. Showcase short, creative videos of your products, services, or behind-the-scenes content. These tools are at your disposal and free! Plus, Stories are only available for a certain period of time and then will disappear which gives you a unique opportunity to post more casual content.
Live streaming: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok offer live-streaming features that allow you to interact with your audience in real-time. A small business might use live streams to host a Q&A session, launch a new product, or simply share a “day in the life” of the business.
2. Write Blog Posts
Writing blog posts with unique and engaging content is very important for small businesses. Not only will unique content help you rank higher in search results on Google, but it will also show your potential customers that you’re a trusted and knowledgeable company. The more unique content you can provide on your business’s website, the more value you will provide for your customers.
Content posted within blog posts should be informative but still engaging and interesting. You want the blog posts to be something website viewers will actually want to read. One suggestion is to create weekly posts on some theme or schedule, which will keep your audience engaged and encourage website traffic.
To create content-filled blog posts that are engaging, one suggestion is to search around to see what questions people are asking. Providing direct answers to highly searched topics can help you attract more leads. Another tool available is Answer the Public, which is a website that helps you discover what people are asking about.
3. Offer Inside Access
To help build trust with your customers, provide some exclusive content that is specific to your business. People love to see unique content that is interesting and captivating. Offering inside access can help you build trust, showcase authenticity, and deepen the connection with your audience.
Ideas for inside access content include:
Behind-the-scenes videos: Share the inner workings of your business, like how a product is made or how you prepare for a big event.
Meet the team: Highlight your team members with photos, short videos, or written bios.
Founder stories: Share your journey as a small business owner. Why did you start your business? What challenges did you overcome? People love to connect with the faces and stories behind a brand.
4. Host Webinars and Workshops
Education-based content is another powerful way to engage your audience and provide value. Hosting webinars or workshops can help you position yourself as an expert while attracting new potential customers.
Providing education can help you reach your targeted audience. Consider offering free webinar sessions or workshops to help people get to know your organization. Utilize this opportunity not to make a direct sale, but to build up a network and client base. This may seem like an indirect method, however, it can help build long-term relationships which in turn, will amount to overall success.
When hosting webinars:
Keep them informative, not salesy.
Offer free takeaways like downloadable checklists, guides, or templates.
Promote the event across your website, email list, and social media channels.
Repurpose Your Content for Maximum Impact
Creating content takes effort, so why not get as much as you can out of it? Repurposing content allows you to get the most out of what you create while reaching new audiences across multiple platforms.
For example:
Turn blogs into social media posts: Break a long blog post into smaller, bite-sized snippets for LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. Pull out key tips or quotes and turn them into graphics or captions.
Use video snippets across platforms: If you record a longer video for YouTube, take shorter clips and use them on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or Facebook.
Transform webinars into blogs: If you host a webinar, repurpose the main points into a written blog post. Add highlights, visuals, or downloadable resources.
Convert podcasts into blogs: Turn podcasts or long videos into blog posts.
Repurposing content saves you time, keeps your brand messaging consistent, and helps you reach audiences where they are. It’s a smart way to stretch your content efforts without constantly creating something new.
Stay Consistent and Creative With Your Content Marketing
Whether you’re creating video content, writing blog posts, or offering exclusive behind-the-scenes access, the most important thing to remember is to stay consistent and engaging. Content marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming or expensive—it just requires creativity, planning, and a commitment to providing value.
If you need assistance with your content marketing strategy or would prefer someone else to completely take the reigns, Breezy can help. We can strategize, create content, write blogs, edit videos, and even update your website for you. Learn more about how Breezy can transform your content marketing here.
Ready to Launch a Content Marketing Plan for Your Small Business?
We know that carving out the time, resources, and energy to create ongoing content for your brand or business is a full-time job. That’s why we created Breezy – your instant content marketing team.
You don’t need to hire multiple full-time employees to handle all of the strategy, planning, writing, designing, and publishing of content. You also don’t have time to wrangle tons of different freelancers to get this all completed. You need one expert team that can help get all of the amazing thought-leadership and subject matter expertise out of your head and into formalized, engaging content that keeps you top of mind with your audience.
Its easy to say that I can take care of social media and content creation on my own but if you are anything like me it ends up getting put on the backburner. I highly recommend this team and glad that Breezy is in my life.
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