6 Steps to Creating a Content Strategy for Small Businesses
Content marketing is an integral part of marketing strategies for small businesses. It helps entrepreneurs develop marketing communication for their target audience. But, developing content isn’t the most straightforward feat. It is why most businesses often reach out to a small business marketing agency.
These agencies have professionals who give the best advice on content creation. More often than not, business owners would rather get marketing agencies to handle content creation. Whether you decide to do it or not is your preference.
If you’ve been stuck on how to create a content strategy for small businesses, this article is for you. So come with us, and let us show you easy ways to create a content strategy.
What is a Content Strategy?
One cannot mention content strategy without talking about content marketing. It is the way you’d use content to sell your products and services in an appealing manner. It entails distributing the content you have developed for the brand.
You cannot randomly post things in the name of content marketing. You’d need a strategy for coming up with ideas and their execution. If you find content creation difficult or ineffective, then it’s time to employ the services of a business marketing agency.
One of the importance of a small business marketing agency is that they help you hack content marketing strategies through high-quality content. They give you constant ideas that allow you to outsmart your competitors.
Steps To Note When Coming Up With a Content Strategy
Understandably, you may want a small business marketing agency to handle your content strategy. After all, it is what they do and why they exist. But, some business owners and entrepreneurs would prefer to do it themselves. If you fall under this category, here’s what to do:
- Set a Goal
What goal do you wish to achieve with your communication? How do you want your audience to feel when they encounter your messaging? What do you want them to do after encountering your communication material?
These are essential questions to answer before creating a content strategy. Getting the answers to these questions helps you know what to create.
You may want your audience to feel like they belong to a community. Thus, you would need to create relatable content. For example, suppose you want them to laugh on some days. Then, you would need to infuse humorous content into the strategy document.
- Know Your Audience
It is always essential to determine your audience when running a business. Knowing your target audience helps you decide the best content that resonates with them.
For example, you have Gen Zs as your primary target audience. To carry them along, you need to infuse relatable and trendy slang in your content strategy. Else, they wouldn’t find your content interesting. And it may make them ditch your brand.
But you cannot use such slang with other demographics. For example, let’s say you’re focusing on older men from 60 years. Of course, these people wouldn’t relate to the slang and trends. Instead, they would prefer easy, simple, and direct messaging.
- Check What Your Competitor is Doing
Are you part of those running a business without checking what your competitor is doing? If yes, you’re wrong! You need to always be up to date with the things your competitor does. It ensures that they do not outsmart you or take over your customers.
For example, it could be that your competitors are leveraging Google ads, and you’ve never paid attention to Google ads. But now you see that it’s working for your competitor, it would only be right to do the same thing.
You should know what your competitor is doing. Also, you should add to it and make it better. That sets you apart from competitors and keeps you on top of the game.
- Have a Content Calendar
A content calendar is a scheduling tool that helps with executing your prepared content. So, you’ve finished strategizing, and you’ve also developed content for your small business. The next thing should be creating a content calendar. It helps you know how to put out various content for your audience.
How do you plan to execute your content strategy? What will be your channels of execution? On what days do you plan to post? These are helpful questions that also guide the creation of a content strategy. You need to develop a content calendar that aligns with your audience, and it should have the best timings.
For example, you decide to post at 9 pm daily. It is because you’re sure people are back from work at that time. Thus, it is best when they’re scrolling through social media platforms.
- Create Relatable Content
The best way to connect with your audience is by having relatable content. It is what keeps them hooked on your page. It also lets them share the post with others and increases your reach.
While coming up with relatable content, you must also ensure they are SEO optimized. It allows for such content to rank high on search engines. The goal is for your content to be on the first page of search engines like Google and Bing.
- Have Measurement Metrics
It is one thing to try and come up with a content strategy. It is another thing to ensure that it works and gives you the best results. Thus, it would be best if you had measurement metrics.
Your measurement metrics could be the number of followers increase or the reach you’ve acquired. You can also check it by calculating your Ad Return on Investment (ROI).
It would be best if you decided on the measurement metrics that work best for your brand. It would be wrong to copy other businesses on this one.
Types of Content Strategy
With this fundamental understanding of content strategy, you are now ready to look into the most effective types of content that your company will use.
Reviews and testimonials
Giving your customers a voice is also an excellent way to generate posts for your business. As a result, testimonials and reviews are a low-cost way to boost the quantity of web content.
It only takes consultation with your clients to have this type of content ready. There is no need to pay for writing or a designer to create a visually stunning collection of ideas, as with an infographic.
Infographics
Many complex ideas that your company might want to convey to its buyers are far too difficult to explain in a blog post. Sometimes you need visuals to go along with it in order to present your solutions properly. This is where infographics come in.
Infographics are visual representations of ideas. They usually optimize key points, and numbers over long-form content like you’d find in blog posts. An infographic is a good way to convey a difficult concept to a customer without using as many words.
Videos
Videos are a hugely entertaining content medium that can be shared on both social media platforms and websites. Research shows that 92% of videos watched on mobile phones are shared with others.
However, videos necessitate a greater amount of commitment than written content. But because visual content continues to provide a high ROI, it’s a medium worth investigating.
Blog Posts
Blog posts have evolved into an essential component of the internet. Blog posts are published on a website and should be updated on a regular basis in order to lure visitors.
Posts ought to provide useful content to your audience, enticing them to share posts on social media and other websites. The ideal length for blog posts is 1,000 to 2,000 words. However, you should test to see if your readers prefer shorter or longer reads.
Podcasts
Podcasting is quickly becoming a dominant choice of content marketing and establishing a brand. One of its most significant advantages is that it enables you to provide lengthy, high-value information without much cost or effort. It enables you to directly share your expert knowledge and narratives with your audience. Also, it aids in the development of relationships with prospective consumers by interacting with them on a more individual basis.
Another significant advantage of podcasts is their portability. They are convenient to listen to on the way to work or during a workout routine when reading is impossible.
Conclusion
Developing content is essential for every small business. It enables you to sell what you do to your target audience. So, it would be best if you had a content strategy.
We’ve talked about how to create a content strategy in this article. Follow the steps we’ve discussed, and you’d have a proper authentic content strategy document. Also, you can contact a small business marketing agency to help draft one.
FAQs
What are the four pillars of content?
You’d need content pillars when developing content strategy and content calendar. They form the basis for the content you’d put out.
The four content pillars are promotional, conversational, educative, and entertainment.
What are the three components of content strategy?
You should have one of these three elements when developing content: brand focus, user experience, or content distribution.
What are the elements of a content strategy?
Some core elements of a content strategy are brand guidelines, an internal communications plan, brand objectives, market research, and target audience persona.
