Marketing a business isn’t easy. Trying to stand out online in a sea of competitors, influencers and content creators can be a challenge – it can feel like you’re just getting to grips with one trend when a new one starts. Attracting, growing, and retaining an audience takes work, consistency, and strategy.
Most of us have heard of content marketing, but what is it, and how do we do it well as entrepreneurs? Here we’ll look at ways that you can master it and maximize your reach.
Why is content marketing important to entrepreneurs?
Selling your product or service no longer depends (solely) on the quality or innovation you offer. In many cases, selling now requires you to build a relationship with your audience by having a brand they can connect to.
Luckily, this is an area where even tiny start-ups can compete with established enterprises. Content marketing involves sharing useful content or insights that educate, entertain, or provide value in some way. Customers like authenticity – 88% say it’s important, and 50% say it’s very important – so sharing your voice as an entrepreneur can catch their attention. Just make sure you’re genuine, informative, and useful.
But if all that feels like a lot of work, you can always hire someone else to do it for you. The good news is, there’s no shortage of talented content marketers out there. That’s not surprising at all, given the many reasons digital marketing is a great career.
How to create effective content to maximize your reach
Creating content isn’t simply a case of writing blogs and posting to social media. It requires planning, along with keeping these key principles in mind:
- Focus on quality over quantity
- Understand your target audience
- Stay consistent, but be adaptable
- Focus on building connections
With these in mind, here are some tips on creating effective content marketing, whether you do it yourself or ask a content marketer to help you.
1. Know your audience
Understanding your audience is essential as it helps you develop a style and tone for your content that they can relate to. By understanding their pain points and interests, you can create content that resonates, too. Use industry reports, your past records, and data analysis to create buyer personas. This will help you understand what your audience is looking for – and where best to post. For instance, let’s say you’re an eco-friendly makeup and skincare brand. You probably won’t find an audience on LinkedIn – instead, you’ll want to carefully curate your Instagram and TikTok feeds.
You can go further than this too – by understanding the ins and outs of your audience, you can use audience segmentation to really hone in on what they want. For instance, you might simultaneously run two content campaigns aimed at different age groups. On your blog, you might run a series of deep-dives into caring for aging skin, with tips, tricks, and tutorials. Meanwhile, over on Instagram, you might be showing off looks for the latest Gen Alpha trends.
To really succeed at this, focus on data activation. What is data activation? It’s the process of using data to inform and execute business activities to improve outcomes. After all, data is no good simply sitting in storage. It needs to be transformed, analyzed, and used.
2. Set clear goals and objectives
How will you measure success if you don’t know the aim of content marketing? Do you want to grow your audience? Increase views or web traffic? Maybe you’re looking to drive newsletter sign-ups or sales? Setting clear goals and objectives will help you measure where the content marketing has performed well – and where it hasn’t.
It’s also key for managing a limited budget. Having a detailed overview of your profitability and spending can help make sure you’re spending money where it’ll have the highest impact. Profitability analysis with OneStream can help simplify the process of determining where you’re overspending and which products generate the most profit. This vital information will help you develop better future campaigns, all while staying under budget.
3. Develop a content management schedule
An editorial calendar can help you manage and schedule content in advance. This allows you to keep track of content and ensure consistency across all platforms. You can even use a content management tool to help you keep track of content creation by assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and collaborating with team members.
The best content management software can even provide you with up-to-date analytics, helping with the above two points. Just make sure you don’t build a plan you can’t change. It’s all well and good planning six months ahead, but keeping up-to-date with digital marketing means being aware of the latest trends – and being prepared to jump straight on them.
4. Plan your content
Planning your content doesn’t just help with scheduling. It also helps you work out what topics to cover. You can use key calendar dates to help inspire your content – think Black Friday, Christmas, or even general seasons. Imagine you’re marketing an AI sales tool. Think about what topics the businesses you’re targeting might care about. It doesn’t just need to be directly product related – for instance, you could write a series of posts about best practices for following up on leads. You also might consider running targeted campaigns in advance of major events – so, rather than waiting for January, start a little early and talk about succeeding at the New Year sales.
Earlier, we mentioned authenticity as something many consumers find important. Don’t shy away from showing ‘behind-the-scenes’. As a new entrepreneur, you might not have the budget or resources of an established brand, but you do have a voice. Let your audience get to know you and your expertise!
Just remember: you need to choose the right type of content for your audience. That means considering the type of content (photos, videos, blogs, email newsletters, etc) as well as the topics covered.
5. Use company-wide data and feedback
Lots of things can inspire great content. Look at all your customer touchpoints to get a feel for what customers are saying and what resonates with them. For example, conversation intelligence software can flag up keywords, topics, or sentiments that come up on calls.
You might notice particular questions come up quite frequently, and this can be a great starting point for blog content. By answering these questions in advance to your audience, you show them that you understand them (and you reduce how many incoming calls you might get).
Final thoughts
Creating great content can help you maximize your reach if it’s done well. As an entrepreneur, it’s your job to drive the business through innovation and commitment, and content marketing is a great way to amplify your voice.
Of course, you need to truly understand your audience to be able to create long-lasting connections. Gather data, learn about who buys your products, and create content that works for them.
