TAKE THE WHEEL & DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE WITH GOOD CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

Let’s be honest startup owners: Raise your hand if you’re guilty of putting content marketing on the back burner.

We definitely understand. Running your own business is a juggling act of priorities, and things like social media and blog management have a tendency to fall by the wayside. 

That being said, we’re here today to tell you that you’re missing out on a ton of untapped potential by not implementing a strategic plan for engaging with and providing quality content for your audience.

Content marketing is one of the best ways a startup can increase organic website traffic, and when done effectively, that translates to more leads. 

Let’s tackle the basics of content marketing for small businesses, why it’s important, and how to make it work for you.

What is a Content Marketing Strategy?

When we say content marketing strategy, we’re talking about a strategic plan surrounding the things you post online: It is an all-encompassing term that covers any digitally published content, including blog articles, audio/video posts, graphics, pictures, and anything else you might upload to your website or social media channels.

The main goal of a digital marketing strategy is to reach a specified audience with content that is pertinent and useful to them. In the process, you establish yourself as a valuable resource to potential customers, which may play a role in influencing their purchasing decisions.

The Importance of Content Marketing for Startups

A lot of business development opportunities become available with a successful content marketing strategy.

You can:

• increase brand awareness
• establish your reputation and credibility as a thought leader in your industry
• increase the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website, which leads to better search engine results page (SERP) rankings and more website traffic

Any and all of the above are going to give you a boost when it comes to generating prospective client leads, and with the appropriate strategy in place, you can target the audience that’s most likely to do business with you.

Tips for Getting Started

Our advice is to take a look at the five things small business owners will need to be in order to have success with content marketing.

Be Consistent 

Posting regularly has a big impact on the success of your content marketing plan. Consistent content keeps your audience engaged and allows you to gather reliable performance metrics to learn what types of posts are doing well and which aren’t.

At Haneke Design, we shoot for a minimum of one long-form article and two social posts every week. 

We also suggest scheduling posts in advance with a content calendar, as this will greatly improve your likelihood of maintaining a cadence that your audience can rely on. 

Be Current

Post about things that are trending in your industry, and more importantly, share your own earnest spin on these topics.

Sharing current events shows your audience that you are keeping up with what people are talking about, and providing your own perspective helps you establish yourself as a thought leader in your field. 

What’s more, when you share your take on trending topics, you offer your audience unique insights on how they can embrace industry changes to achieve their business goals.

You can do this by writing blog posts, commenting on articles, and posting to your social accounts about news in your business sector while engaging your audience in the discussion. 

Our niche is technology–all things digital design, development and marketing are in our wheelhouse. Within these topics, our content marketing team conducts research on trends in our industry and crafts content in our brand voice to offer insights to our existing and potential customers.

When your content is helpful, useful, and timely, it keeps your audience coming back for more.

Be Concise

One of the greatest challenges with content creation is keeping your audience’s attention. 

Even when crafting content that is specifically tailored to your consumer market, your readers likely don’t have much time to devote to lengthy articles, and they probably don’t want to hunt for the key takeaways that will be most relevant to them. 

This is true for most readers: As such, the most effective content is going to be skimmable, well organized and clearly worded. 

When writing blog posts and other long form content, try sorting your ideas into lists and bullet points for optimal ease of reading. 

Also, be sure to limit your paragraphs to just a few sentences. This helps maintain an easy flow and quick pace when reading your articles.

Another strategy for pacing your content is using images and infographics, as images tend to engage readers more than text alone.

Be Connected

While staying current and engaged in industry news, take some time to connect with other leaders in your field on social media. 

Networking through social media engagement is not only a great way to learn from other experts, but also increases exposure for your startup business. 

Connect with other leaders who have followings already, share their content, and try tagging them in your own posts: Reshares are a great way to get your name out there. 

Be Clued In

In other words, track your analytics. Yes, it’s time consuming, but it’s the only way to see what’s working.

At Haneke Design, our digital marketing team sets aside time once every month to review our metrics, both internally and with our clients. 

We find this to be the best way to keep a finger on the pulse of our efforts, to identify the things that are yielding the best results, and to prepare for the month ahead by honing in on what has proven successful.

Making Time for Content Marketing

Content management is definitely easier said than done. While we’ve established how important it is for your business, we also recognize that it is a time-consuming effort. 

That’s why businesses like ours exist to handle these efforts for you. Our digital marketing team covers all content marketing services, from social media management to SEO keyword research for your website content.

Effective content marketing really is the best way to drive organic traffic to your business. So, even though it takes some time and effort, we promise: It’s worth it.

Call or email us today to discuss how we can tackle a content marketing roadmap together and drive tangible results to your business development!