Trending December 2023 # Content Marketing For Small Businesses: 9 Tips For Success # Suggested January 2024 # Top 14 Popular

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In this article, we’ll discuss 9 tips for small businesses to succeed in their content marketing efforts, so you can start seeing results for your business.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a strategy that involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and engaging content to attract and retain a specific audience. It can take many forms and is designed to build trust and establish businesses as experts in their field. 

This is especially important for small business owners, as it can be a cost-effective way to compete with larger companies and reach potential customers.

Why Is Content Marketing Effective for Small Businesses?

Content marketing is highly effective for small businesses for several reasons:

Builds brand awareness: By consistently creating and sharing valuable content, small businesses can increase their brand awareness and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. A competitive content strategy can lead to more exposure and visibility for their brand.

Builds trust and credibility: By providing helpful and informative content, small businesses can build trust and credibility with their target audience. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and a stronger reputation in the marketplace.

Increases customer engagement: Content marketing can help small businesses engage with their target audience and build relationships with potential customers. By creating content that is relevant and interesting to their target audience, small businesses can encourage engagement and interaction.

9 Small Business Content Marketing Tips

It may seem difficult to know where to start with content marketing for a small business. Here are 9 top content marketing ideas to help you get started.

Know Your Target Audience

To create content that resonates with your audience, understanding their needs and interests is vital. Conducting market research and developing buyer personas are essential steps in tailoring your content. By understanding your target audience, a small business owner can create engaging content, leading to increased brand awareness, loyalty, and sales.

    Build a Consistent Brand Voice

    To have a great content marketing strategy, building a consistent brand voice is crucial. Tips include being genuine and transparent, defining your brand voice and tone, training your team, using a style guide, and monitoring your content to ensure consistency. A consistent brand voice can help establish a strong brand identity, build trust and loyalty with your audience, and ultimately lead to more sales for your business.

      Consistency is Key

      Consistency is key in content marketing to build trust with your audience. Tips include developing a content calendar and setting realistic goals to ensure regular publishing of quality content.

        Optimize for Search Engines

        To launch proper Search Engine Optimization, conduct keyword research and use keywords strategically in high-quality content, focusing on long-tail keywords. Avoid keyword stuffing and prioritize providing value to your audience throughout all SEO optimized content.

          Use Different Formats

          Using different content formats is important for keeping your audience engaged. A blog post, videos, infographics, landing pages, and social media posts are all effective formats to use. Use a mix of formats to appeal to different learning styles and preferences.

            Use Social Media

            Here are some tips for using social media as an essential tool for small business content marketing:

            Share your content on different platforms with eye-catching visuals and captions

            Use relevant hashtags to increase visibility of your content

            Promote user-generated content to build trust and a sense of community

            By being authentic, consistent, and monitoring metrics, you can build a loyal following and increase visibility for your brand.

              Offer Value in Every Piece of Content

                Write Strategically

                Writing strategically is crucial for small business content marketing. To write strategically, one should write for both search engines and human users, use keywords strategically, use formatting tools to improve readability and focus on quality over quantity. By following these tips, businesses can attract new customers, establish their authority, and grow their brand.

                  Measure Your Results

                  Measuring your results is essential in small business content marketing. Use analytics tools like Google Search Console to track the performance of your content, set goals and track progress, monitor engagement on social media, and adjust your strategy accordingly. Continuously improving your content marketing strategy can help you attract more customers, build a stronger brand, and grow your business.

                  Content marketing is vital for the success of small businesses in any industry. Utilize these tips to develop a strategy that works for your business.

                  Expert Content Marketing for Small Businesses

                  In conclusion, Elevato is a top-notch provider of expert content marketing services for small businesses. Our team understands the importance of creating high-quality, valuable content that resonates with the target audience, and we are dedicated to helping small businesses achieve their goals. 

                  From creating engaging content to optimizing it for search engines and tracking its performance, Elevato provides comprehensive content marketing solutions that can help small businesses attract new customers, build a loyal following, and ultimately, grow their businesses. 

                  Elevato is a trusted partner for any small business looking to improve its content marketing strategy and achieve better results. Schedule a free consultation today to talk content!

                  You're reading Content Marketing For Small Businesses: 9 Tips For Success

                  How Small Businesses Can Use Marketing Data For Growth

                  Over the last few years, there has been an unprecedented explosion of data. As a result of this, data analytics has become a growing field and many businesses are choosing to heavily invest in professionals of this industry to take their organizations to the next level.

                  However, despite this growing interest in data, there is still a large disconnect between the sheer volume of data being created and the number of organizations making use of this data.

                  Certain aspects of marketing data can provide valuable information to companies, such as campaign tracking or general web traffic, yet few small businesses make use of this information.

                  Here, we’ll talk about how you can use marketing data to improve your marketing strategies and grow your business.

                  Identify the Right Marketing Data

                  One big reason that marketing data is not used effectively by many small businesses is due to a lack of understanding regarding the importance of that data. Data analytics isn’t a new field, yet many small business owners fail to see how they can access and use their marketing data.

                  Related: Use data to create a content map that converts more customers.

                  Some organizations today focus on older forms of data to pull consumer analytics from, but this data isn’t as representative as more modern data sources. Despite the fact that many businesses make use of the wrong data, the importance of targeting the right data is not commonly known.

                  So, how can you find the right data to target? It’s essential to place an emphasis on the collection of data that deals with consumer traffic, conversion rates, and marketing growth.

                  Image Source

                  And, the type of data that you need to collect may vary by marketing type. For instance, the marketing data you collect from PPC campaigns could vary from your SEO metrics.

                  Related: Find out the 29 marketing metrics you need to know to track every strategy.

                  You can also look at the sources of data you can collect, including first-party data, which can help you boost your chances for marketing success.

                  Focus on Marketing Data that Taps Into the Consumer Mindset

                  Regardless of if you choose to invest in your own data analytics or outsource the job, understanding the consumer mindset is everything. Another reason small businesses overlook key data is that they retain the mindset of a seller. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential consumer and you’ll be able to identify more data points to target.

                  Almost every customer has the option to leave a review after purchase, and reviews can provide valuable marketing data for your small business. But, you can also take it a step further and reach out to consumers for case studies, which can not only give you coveted marketing data to drive growth but can create validation for your business.

                  Data shows that case studies are an extremely important part of the consideration stage in the buyer’s journey that can make or break a purchase decision.

                  Image Source

                  Adding this simple validation to your website can help convince potential customers that you are a reliable organization, while also helping you to build a connection with previous customers and have them potentially make another purchase, which is a big way that marketing data can help propel your business toward growth.

                  Related: Own or run a finance business? Get data-backed finance marketing strategies built around consumer behavior.

                  Determine the Best Way to Collect Marketing Data

                  After determining and outlining the most important types of data for your organization, collecting said data is the next course of action. For small or even mid-sized businesses, this can seem like a tall order. Creating a new division within your organization dedicated to data collection and analytics can be expensive and time-consuming, which is why relying on third-party data analytics teams is typically a smarter move — especially for small businesses.

                  After all, your entire organization doesn’t need to become an expert in data analytics if you choose to partner with experts in the field. Many marketing partners offer prominent features such as digital presence building and outreach marketing services from which they can collect and synthesize important marketing data in the form of reporting dashboards — or they can even tie the information into your CRM.

                  Utilize Data to Create Personalized Campaigns

                  Based on the data collected either by yourself or by your marketing agency, you can then personalize your outreach to customers. By personalizing your campaigns based on marketing data you can optimize each message sent to a customer and increase the odds of getting engagement.

                  Image Source

                  Remember that personalization is one of the most important aspects of modern marketing and helps to build trust. And, personalization is only possible with accurate and complete marketing data.

                  Get Started Analyzing Your Marketing Data

                  As technology continues to develop, the data floating around the internet will inevitably increase. Taking the time to learn how to sift through that data and partnering with effective professionals can help accelerate your business growth faster than ever before.

                  About the Author Guest Author

                  Our guest authors are industry experts, marketers, or business owners who cover a range of topics from sales, marketing, data, and entrepreneurship.

                  Other posts by Guest Author

                  8 Best Instagram Marketing Tips For Businesses In 2023

                  Planning to promote your business on social media? Then Instagram marketing is a great place to start. Why? Because Instagram isn’t just a platform to share visual content–it’s a powerhouse for brands both large and small to connect with a huge audience.

                  Consider these Instagram stats:

                  Instagram has 1.28 billion users as of 2023

                  71% of Instagram users are young adults

                  90% of Instagram accounts follow at least one business profile

                  71% of U.S. businesses have an Instagram profile

                  83% of Instagram users discover a new product via the app

                  Businesses have a 15% post reach rate and 2% Stories reach rate on Instagram

                  Source

                  As you know, statistics don’t lie, so it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Instagram marketing is booming right now. Today, using the right Instagram marketing tips, you can easily increase awareness for your business and increase your revenue.

                  So, let’s not waste any more time! Check out the best Instagram marketing tips for businesses in 2023.

                  8 top Instagram marketing tips for businesses in 2023

                  These are not just random Instagram marketing tips but the ones that are actually working GREAT for businesses right now.

                  1. Create an Instagram business account (if you don’t have one already)

                  Before moving forward with your Instagram marketing strategies, switch to an IG business account if you haven’t already. Instagram has developed many awesome marketing features for businesses, such as:

                  Instagram Insights

                  Shopping feature

                  CTA buttons

                  Ads

                  And so much more!

                  By default, Instagram only allows you to create a personal account, but you can switch to a business account later on. And switching from your personal Instagram account to a business account is pretty simple.

                  Here’s what to do:

                  Go to your profile

                  Tap the hamburger icon at the top right corner

                  Just tap on Business and follow on-screen prompts

                  Your Instagram business account will be ready to use.

                  (PS: Make sure to protect your Instagram account from hackers. We share how to do it right here.)

                  Don’t have an account yet? Here’s how to create a new Instagram account.

                  2. Plan your Instagram marketing approach

                  Once you have created your Instagram business profile, you should start working on your Instagram branding strategies. This is the most crucial point that many businesses miss out on. They simply start posting random things on Instagram, which gives them no results.

                  Therefore, one should think about the following things before marketing on Instagram:

                  Define your audience profiles: Who do you want to target on Instagram?

                  For example, if you are selling baby products online, your target audience is new parents between 25 to 40 years of age. On the contrary, if you sell anti-aging products for women, your audience is women, above 35 years of age.

                  This women-focused investment app posts content its audience would like. 

                  Set goals: Set small and feasible marketing goals. In the beginning, set monthly goals and closely monitor them.

                  3. Remember that engaging content is king on Instagram

                  For Instagram marketing success, you should create content that can engage and encourage your audience to take action.

                  Sounds simple, right? But anyone who’s tried to develop a social media calendar can tell you it’s not that simple! This is because your brand value, goals, target audience, and many other factors contribute to your Instagram content strategy.

                  Based on marketing research, here are few Instagram marketing post ideas that work for almost every brand:

                  Infographics: You can give a new dimension to your content syndication and repurposing strategies with attractive infographics on Instagram. With this content idea, you can present your old content in front of a new audience.

                  Instagram Reels are so powerful that professional sports leagues are seeing substantially more engagement than average after using Reels.

                  Giveaways: Giveaway posts are highly engaging because who wouldn’t like to receive free things? Plus, there are so many different ways to create giveaways posts like post your own picture + tag, repost + tag, tag a friend, like and win, etc.

                  Behind-the-scenes shots: People always like to know what’s behind their favorite brand’s success. So share interviews with your team, product-making processes, and other behind-the-scenes content with your audience.

                  Social proof: Use your Instagram posts to give social proof about your brand’s good points. You can visually present your customer testimonials in both image and video formats to target different audience groups.

                  4. Optimize your Instagram business profile

                  Create a crisp bio

                  Your bio is the first thing a new user views when they visit your profile. It is the place where you greet your potential followers. So you should write a bio in a simple, interactive, and informative way geared toward your audience. (We detailed how to write a business description you can use in your Instagram bio here.)

                  Your Instagram bios can be 150 characters or less, so you need to use your creativity to write a short yet impactful Instagram bio for your business.

                  Here’s a great example by Microsoft:

                  Source

                  Within just ten words, they tried to spike users’ interest to scroll down through their profile.

                  You might also want to add your business location to your Instagram bio so users can get directions right from the app.

                  Use a sharp profile picture

                  Instagram is an aesthetically driven platform. Thus, your profile picture should reflect your brand identity perfectly. Here are some suggestions:

                  Use your company logo as the profile picture.

                  Use the same profile picture across all social media platforms to maintain consistency.

                  Instagram profile picture displays as 110 x 110 pixels so if you have a large image, reduce it to 310 x 310 pixels.

                  Include a (wisely-chosen) link in your bio

                  Instagram lets you display only one link in your bio. It is the perfect place for you to redirect Instagram users to your site or landing pages. So use this option wisely.

                  Add relevant contact details

                  Whether you have a physical business address or not, you should add relevant contact details on your profile so that people can easily contact you. In contact details, add your phone number, email address, business address, etc.

                  Configure an action button

                  Instagram allows you to add three types of call-to-action (CTA) buttons:

                  Source: Instagram

                  These three options have further sub-options that you can select as per your business requirements.

                  For example:

                  Beyond Meat sells mock meat products. So, they have used the View Shop button to redirect users to their shop.

                  Source

                  Add Story Highlights

                  Story Highlights are one of the best Instagram features that let you make your page more attractive and salesy. You can highlight your top Instagram Stories in a creative way to promote your best services. Since an Instagram bio won’t let you talk much about your products or services thus, it is the best place to tell users about your business.

                  Look at these Story Highlights by Salesforce (below). From a vaccine drive campaign to introducing new events, Salesforce uses Highlights to capture users’ attention.

                  Source

                  Here’s a good image ad example by DataStax with a strong and clear CTA:

                  Source: Instagram

                  One benchmark report for 2023 stated that Instagram Story’s reach is between 1.5% to 6.2%. And you can use this reach rate in your favor by creating attractive Story Ads.

                  Bloomberg Businessweek ran a great Story Ad (image below) which included a bright background, well-placed illustrations, and a clear CTA.

                  Source

                  In 2023, Instagram launched a great feature for businesses that lets them tag their products on the image or video they post.

                  Whenever a user taps over a photo, Instagram will take them to the product page on the company’s website. Today, you can run Shoppable posts as Ads too.

                  Source

                  6. Build your brand identity across Instagram

                  Never forget that Instagram is a visual-based platform. So, no matter which Instagram growth hack you follow, if your posts aren’t visually aligned with your brand’s identity, you may be set to doom.

                  You have to establish brand consistency over your posts so users can recognize your posts without even reading the content. Simply adding your company’s logo isn’t enough, people! You’ve got to capture the same look, color scheme, and feel through all of your Instagram posts.

                  Take a look at Lay’s Instagram to see how bright, color-coordinated, and energetic their posts look.

                  Source

                  7. Use tags the right way

                  Instagram offers two types of tags–hashtags and people tags. Both of these tags help it easier for people to find your content on Instagram.

                  Let’s first talk about hashtags. These are basically synonyms of relevant words to your brand or post content. They are simply prefixed with the “#” sign.

                  For example, when we searched for “#healthyfood” on Instagram, we got the results below.

                  Source

                  So, using relevant hashtags make your post easily visible to the right people. Usually, it is recommended to use hashtags according to your post’s content, as Instagram also follows the “search by intent” formula.

                  However, you can target some common hashtags on Instagram like “#love,” “#photooftheday,” “#happy,” “#quoteoftheday,” and holiday hashtags.

                  Note that hashtags are the best way to increase your post’s reach organically, but don’t flood your posts with them. Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags per post, but you should stick to 5-10 most relevant ones.

                  Now, let’s discuss people tags, which means tagging people (Instagram accounts) in your posts. You can also make popular people tag your brand’s account in your post.

                  But how?

                  By partnering with Instagram influencers relevant to your niche.

                  Related: Your Guide to Tagging on Instagram

                  It has helped many new businesses increase their reach and exposure in the last few years.

                  In fact, 17% of companies have dedicated over half of their marketing budgets to influencer marketing.

                  However, you need to:

                  Make sure that the influencer’s and your core values are the same

                  Check the authenticity and content quality of influencers

                  Ensure that they have genuine followers, not fake ones

                  Audible partnered with tech influencer, @thetrendytechie, to promote audiobooks among tech users.

                  Source

                  8. Pre-plan your posts

                  If you don’t know how to create an Instagram post calendar, these tips might help you:

                  Define your post content and visual strategies

                  Create an inspiration library

                  Mark important events coming in the next month

                  Write creative content for images and descriptions

                  Monitor the performance of your posts published in the last month

                  Instagram marketing: Bonus tip for 2023

                  The top eight Instagram marketing tips shared in this post are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other different ways to increase the exposure of your brand on Instagram that you could end up spending all your time testing new strategies and tips before you find the magic formula that works for your business.

                  So our bonus tip here is to try combinations of different features on Instagram and analyze which method works the best for you. And simply keep on repeating it.

                  Here are the top 8 Instagram marketing tips for businesses in 2023:

                  Create an Instagram business account (if you don’t have one already)

                  Plan your Instagram marketing approach

                  Remember that engaging content is king on Instagram

                  Optimize your Instagram business profile

                  Build your brand identity across Instagram

                  Use tags the right way

                  Pre-plan your posts

                  About the author Guest Author

                  Our guest authors are industry experts, marketers, or business owners who cover a range of topics from sales, marketing, data, and entrepreneurship.

                  Other posts by Guest Author

                  WordPress Premium Themes For Small Businesses

                  Choosing the right WordPress theme for your business is especially important.  While content is key, a stunning website can sell you on just about anything.  A good premium theme will have the flexibility and will be easy to customize.  Let us look at four Premium WordPress Themes for small businesses.

                  What is a WordPress Premium Theme?  A premium theme allows you to have a separate blog page in addition to your other content.  This includes a custom home page, portfolio page, a Woo Commerce compatible shop page, and additional templates for even more personalization options.  Studio Mommy has boss-babe-inspired, beautifully designed WordPress Premium Themes.  These premium themes are designed with women in mind and are perfect for creators and female entrepreneurs who run small businesses.

                  The Ellie Jane WordPress Premium Theme

                  Our Ellie Jane Premium WordPress Theme is perfect for the modern trendsetter and elegant professional. Designed with a classy black trim and classic beige accent, offering endless color customizations. This minimal and organized theme focuses on your elite content. Easy-to-read with device compatibility, the Ellie Jane theme is ideal for captivating your audience. It also highlights your unique writing style.

                  Ellie Jane Premium WordPress Theme

                  Her Exclusive WordPress Premium Theme

                  Her Exclusive Premium WordPress Theme celebrates all the beautiful and lovely things in life. This theme is perfect for creative photobloggers, modern women entrepreneurs, and SHE-EOs. With a simple yet classic feel, this feminine pink and graceful nude-hued theme includes a gorgeous photo-focused design. Another feature is its easy-to-navigate options with device compatibility for shoppers, readers, and inspired website scrollers. With a diverse design, the Her Exclusive theme will motivate your audience to slay a productive day or tuck in with a cup of delicious coffee to check out your latest blog post.

                  Her Exclusive Premium WordPress Theme s

                  Carpe Diem WordPress Premium Theme

                  Our Carpe Diem Premium WordPress Theme is a neat, boss-babe-inspired WordPress theme that makes your creativity run wild. With a compact, organized design, you’ll have all the space you need to let your inner artist, businessperson, and niche-creator light shine.

                  The Carpe Diem theme is all about the details.  From a customizable homepage with photo posting abilities, a smooth and seamless blog page, a top bar with links to keep in touch with your work, space for text to introduce YOU and your brand, to easy Gutenberg editor compatibility. Web design and brand building have never been so easy as it is with Carpe Diem. There are also limitless customization and personalization options with this theme that make your products, services, and voice stand out as irreplaceably as they are.

                  Carpe Diem Premium WordPress Theme

                  Beyond Madison Premium WordPress Theme

                  Our Beyond Madison Premium WordPress Theme is created with thoughtful artists, expressive creatives, and inspired website owners and bloggers in mind to showcase their inner free spirit and innovative content. With a header that highlights your brand and best work, you will unlock your fluid creativity and deeply inspire your audience with a touch of style that’s all your own with this theme.  

                  Beyond Madison Premium WordPress Theme

                  WordPress Premium Themes For Small Businesses. With all the customizations and flexibility that Premium WordPress Themes offer, you can have the website of your dreams in just a few easy steps.  Not tech-savvy?  Studio Mommy also has an Installation Service.  I will be there with you every step of the way!  

                  For more WordPress business tips and tons of business resources, join my email list! It’s FREE! And be sure to follow me on Pinterest

                  How Are Content Marketing Leaders Getting Success?

                  Examples of rich, long-form, long-haul, brand-led content that don’t add to the noise

                  Let’s face it, success in marketing generally is difficult. In digital channels we can only see this getting harder and harder. In fact research this week by EMC showed evidence that there’ll be 32 Billion connected devices on the Internet by 2023. How brands get cut-through in the volume of traffic and data on that scale is therefore huge. Of course, with all the potential, it also reveals vast opportunity for those that can get it right.

                  What works in this emerging reality? There’s no “one size fits all answer”, and yet rich, visual and long-form content marketing – complimenting real-time, social media and micro content – uses much higher levels of consideration and quality, it’s already demonstrating where brands can steal a march on their noisier, less considered competitors. We’ve seen long form content work wonders for brands such as Patagonia, more on that in a minute.

                  In a world where consumer attention and time are scarce it’s tempting to think that all content has to be created for the ADD culture. But it’s simply answered by strategy, what’s right for your brand vs your objectives. Your channels and market, and the unmet needs of your consumer base. We’d suggest a mix of micro and long form content is more likely the right obvious.

                  Long form content marketing?

                  There’s no trick to understanding the term - It’s marketing, delivered through content such as writing, audio, or video, and it’s long – meaning longer than a 30 second TV spot, a one-page magazine ad, or a billboard. Longer than a casual 200-300 written blog post. Think 1500+ words, or a 1 min+ video explainer.

                  It’s harder to create, more expensive, and so much more likely done poorly – therein the opportunity. Typically longer text articles with visual content embedded – for the sake of this blog post I include other in-depth content that takes time and effort. We’ve seen ebooks come and (for now) go from many brand agendas, even quality infographics have fallen out of favour amongst the deluge. Richer long form pieces such as video are now staples of a quality marketing agenda, as are next generation apps and interactives. What do all these have in common? They enable the much mooted ‘storytelling’ that marketers love at the minute. There’s a narrative – time for a start, a middle and an end – you can’t do that in micro-content.

                  What makes for successful rich and long form content, is there a formula? Probably, yes:

                  It’s always about the intended audience, your consumer, first and foremost

                  The brand has a purpose and a permission to talk about the subject, it’s credible because it is or because it’s designed a way to be

                  There’s narrative, this is why we see journalists now so popular in effective content marketing teams – they know how to source and structure the story

                  You, the brand, by virtue of the piece add a tangible value amongst the wider of-the-moment and Oreo-esque noise, somehow, otherwise save it ’til you do

                  Quality – it’s not easy or quick – quality this is what matters most in long or short form. It sets apart brands on the content landscape in terms of structure, language, design and engagement

                  Don’t sell

                  A B2B example in our very own industry is Moz’s original beginner guide to SEO is a great example, visited more than a million times, which according to Majestic SEO has garnered over 36,000 inbound links. Success, you might say?

                  “Content marketing is a marathon and not a sprint. The only way that brands will mature is if they stop with the tactical approach and actually take a long-term strategic approach backed by sound marketing objectives. The best indicator of content marketing effectiveness is if you have a strategy at all. It’s that simple.”

                  Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute

                  “Marathon not a sprint” – a cliche?

                  It may sound a cliche – but in an industry accustomed to 1–3 month campaign sprints, it’s easy to understand why quick-burst solutions, lacking in strategy and integration, also appeal to early adopters of content marketing. Brands budget this way, agencies have been designed to serve those quick bursts, the peaks of activity.

                  It’s about designing for the long-haul. To get traction, content campaigns need a fair amount of time, and once that starts to happen, you need the appropriate resources to continue to publish consistently and build momentum. Create a valuable channel for your brand to communicate with your consumer, increasing the likelihood of people returning to that later and of course referring that content to their networks.

                  Three great ideas for long haul content

                  Content hubs. All the rage with digital agencies with a penchant for web development, from our perspective, there’s no question that a centre-piece for a brand platform is critical as a means to drive a conversion. It’s not that there’s a specific rule as to what constitutes a hub. Our current favourite of a brand that’s truly defined itself and promotes content (albeit infrequently on low levels) it Patagonia. Their campaign, The Footprint Chronicles tracks the company’s textile chain and planetary impact – the focus on lessening the impact on the planet holds no bars. It ties beautifully to another recent campaign Worn Wear that seeks to drive an anti-consumerist approach to Black Friday – driving the message of clothing repair of long loved Patagonia items. Practically begging people to not buy more – a first and a great idea that’s on-brand and speaks to a specific audience? You’d have to think so.

                  Rich video content. We’ve long been in love with Chipotle’s approach to video based campaigns, as the brand pursues its quest to destroy fast food and target younger, earth conscious demographics. Check out Back to the Start and the Scarecrow hub, film and accompanying game – is there better long-form, long haul content marketing out there right now – probably not? Then there’s this beautiful piece by Qatar Airways, sponsor of for Barcelona FC. Video, once part of a wider campaign is still likely the most powerful tool to demonstrate brand narrative – it’s not cheap and yet there’s a longevity to it.

                  Time to get your long-form on

                  So what’s there to learn here? Despite our natural, human ADD deficiencies – audiences are still eager to engage with long-form storytelling when it’s worth their while, and even more so when it does something new and exciting – and relevant!

                  What’s more exciting to us, is that these pieces are all far from perfect. There’s so much scope to improve the output. The visuals can be as distracting as they can be inspiring. For brands, interactive long-form content provides the opportunity to be associated with powerful brand values and characteristics: innovation, design, the cool factor, quality, and – most importantly – the potential to connect with hundreds of thousands of consumers.

                  The Content Marketing Hub: A Blueprint For Content Marketing

                  An infographic explaining how inbound marketing works together with content marketing

                  Whether you call it inbound marketing, social media marketing or content marketing, we’re broadly referring to the same thing; at least that’s how we see it.

                  Dave and I believe that inbound marketing starts with considered, quality content, well published and promoted that, in turn, drives the inbound benefit through sharing and search.

                  The ‘free bonus’ is that you’re link-building and gaining social signals for search engine optimisation as well creating great content – something so often over-looked and under-valued.

                  The Content Marketing model infographic

                  This Content Marketing model was developed at First 10 Digital when working with a client who wanted to understand the full process for her team. We hope our infographic will help you plot your success too.

                  Content marketing blueprint

                  People liked it so much we thought it deserved a more polished design with Smart Insights input – so here it is along with a few notes.

                  Have a look, and please let us know what you think.

                  A simple model that still requires hard work to implement

                  While not making light of the reality of hard work involved in considering how to integrate this model with your wider plans, including ongoing social and search marketing, I hope the simplicity of this process still really jumps out. We’ve have much more detail on how to apply it to create a content marketing strategy here:

                  Recommended Guide: Content marketing strategy

                  : Content marketing strategy

                  Our 88 page Ebook features a workbook format with checklists and examples that makes it quick to scan to develop a strategy and apply the practical tips and tools.

                  Excellent branded content

                  You’re not in the game without it, I’m afraid.

                  It’s easy to over-egg the channels, especially social media, yet even social media experts will tell you that without the objects around which to socialise and share there is little chance of interaction or sharing.

                  And, for most of us, the best object is relevant, quality, branded content (by definition that’s not quick or easy!) that’s exceptionally well seeded.

                  Develop a connected hub

                  This may be a fascinating and well considered hub like American Express’ Open Forum or something relatively simple like Eloqua’s much applauded and popular Revenue blog.

                  Don’t over state it – it’s still a blog but it’s a brilliant and relevant one. Design your hub in line with other assets, think about the positioning (how great is Elqoua’s Revenue proposition considering they sell marketing software), and then get your quality content on there.

                  The high end will consider the awesome but extremely pricey Gigya, or cheaper Janrain.

                  Publish and promote

                  This is the crucial step, the bit that really is hard work.

                  How and where to seed with influencers in your market, the portals and the bloggers who have the credibility and reach that you need.

                  And, don’t forget the social networks, communities and forums where your audience is already talking about related stuff.

                  ‘Free’, no, ‘Easy’, no – since when was great marketing ever easy though?

                  Spark interaction

                  All that content needs to drive somewhere, to your content hub most likely, although the idea of ‘fulfilment’ can take place anywhere, really.

                  Suffice to say that in return for making it worth someone’s while to interact with you,you capture new potential customers and, more importantly, their permission to continue an ongoing dialogue that moves them, presumably, towards the sale of a product or service.

                  The focus is on the relationship, which is why email and social media combine so well.

                  Relationship building or interaction takes place wherever your audience is, in social network, on your site, etc.

                  Sell

                  I toyed with omitting this from my blueprint list but, at the end of the day, it’s the commercial reason we create valuable content.

                  If you’re offering a solution your target market finds very valuable, then content marketing is simpler for you.

                  Focus on providing valuable solutions to your target market, don’t pitch and scream about your products off the bat. People are looking for solutions, not your product or service.

                  Offer them what they need and want – the secret to effortless selling.

                  Free SEO prizes

                  The issue of miss-selling of ‘SEO’ by so many of the agencies plying this trade is almost too tempting to ignore here. In my experience these agencies are often guilty of making what’s actually quite a simple process (I did not easy!) seem like a dark art. I’ll avoid the temptation to pursue this now and keep my supporting thoughts to myself until another time!

                  If you succeed in creating great content, you should benefit from two free bonus prizes in relation to your natural search marketing:

                  Free prize #1 – If you (or your SEO agency) follow this content marketing process, I hope its ability to drive link-building is evident. The most important factor in gaining the desired search rank is: develop content worth re-sharing and worth linking to!!

                  Free prize #2 – Your quality content, well marketed on the most relevant sites, ensures that you develop a brand footprint in Google and Bing that’s wider than the one ordinarily enjoyed by your chúng tôi don’t have to directly rank for everything; indeed, this is increasingly hard to do.Imagine an extreme example – the BBC website picks up on your content and publishes it, quantum leaping you up in SERP visibility. Who equates to the BBC in your market?For example, a Gap travel company might strive to have content worthy of Lonely Planet or relevant specialist blogs or forums, such as niche opportunities in volunteer travel or snowboarding.

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