When you run a business, time is precious. You’re often pulled from one task to another, filling gaps and solving problems. Your focus is probably on keeping the business functioning and profitable, so the last thing you want to be thinking about is content right?
Wrong.
Good content, when implemented strategically, can actually do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. It doesn’t matter what your business is, or whether it’s big, small, local or global. The digital age has brought about a new way of doing things in the business world. Content is now king and content marketing has now replaced more traditional sales and marketing models.
So, what exactly is content marketing?
It’s a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience, with the primary objective of driving profitable customer action.
To put it more simply, the content-first approach is about publishing useful information, that provides value to your target market, and helps ease their pain points. Clarity is really the essence of content strategy. It’s not just about churning out relevant content, it’s about making sure that there’s a clear connection between what you do and the people who want it.
Here are my top five ways to engage your audience.
- Blogging: Regularly publishing high-quality blog posts on topics relevant to your target audience can help to establish your business as a thought leader in your industry, and can also help to drive traffic to your website.
- Social media: Creating and sharing engaging content on social media platforms can help to increase your brand’s visibility and attract new customers.
- Email marketing: Sending out regular newsletters or email campaigns that include valuable content can help to keep your existing customers engaged and can also help to attract new ones.
- Video marketing: Creating and sharing videos that provide helpful information, tips, or entertainment can be a great way to engage with your target audience and build a relationship with them. If you’re tech savvy, perhaps look at starting a YouTube channel to host and organise your video content in one place.
- Infographics: Creating infographics that make complex information easy to understand can be a great way to attract and engage customers.
If you’ve read all of that and you’re now thinking ‘I don’t have time for any of that!’ then just start with one of them and work your way through the list. Try doing one each month, and once it becomes easier, try two per month and so on.
If even that sounds like too much, refer back to my piece on How you can avoid small-business burnout and perhaps content-marketing strategy may be one of those tasks you outsource.
The ebbs and flows of consumer behaviour are erratic. Without a compass to steer us in the right direction (ie a proper marketing strategy), our boat (business) is left to the mercy of an unpredictable tide of current fads and trends. Hoping you catch a decent wave back to shore isn’t enough. It’s time to take control of the ship and navigate it forwards with clear and precise direction.
