Content Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

Do you ever feel like getting potential customers’ attention is like beating your head against the wall? You aren’t alone. Both large and small companies face this challenge. Research shows that today, 86% of people skip TV advertisements, and 44% ignore direct mail.

It’s not surprising when you consider that in 1984, a person saw an average of 2,000 ads per day and by 2014, they were seeing about 5,000 ads per day, according to Content Marketing Institute.

We aren’t saying that direct mail and TV advertising don’t have a place in your marketing strategy, but we have found that they can be cost-prohibitive for many small to medium-sized companies. Plus, increasingly tight marketing budgets mean that whatever marketing tools are used need to be extremely effective.

What if we told you there is a marketing strategy that will have potential clients seeking you out and help existing customers become loyal repeat customers? Sound too good to be true? It isn’t. That strategy is called content marketing , and it works when done right.

Content Marketing Institutedefines content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” Types of content marketing include blogs, podcasts, magazines, infographics, videos, digital publications, email newsletters, and more.

Research shows that content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates over three times as many leads. Still not convinced? Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than small companies without blogs. How about this? Content marketing brings in conversion rates that are six times higher than other methods.

Here are some statistics about customer behavior that help explain why content marketing can be so effective:

• 60% of people are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it.
• 70% of people would prefer learning about a company through articles rather than an advertisement
• 82% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content
• 78% perceive a relationship between themselves and a company using custom content.
• 90% of consumers find custom content useful.

The increased SEObrought in by content is almost like icing on the cake. Websites with blog content create 434% more search engine indexed pages than business sites that don’t publish content.

If you’re a small to medium-sized business owner, you may be thinking that’s all well and good, but we don’t have the resources or the budget to create content for blogs or magazines or other types of content marketing. You may want to examine that assumption more closely.

You don’t need to dump tens of thousands of dollars into content marketing to achieve your goals, but you do need specific goals, a solid strategy, and engaging content.

Check out these 7 steps that businesses - even those on shoestring budgets - can take to use the power of content marketing to attract and develop customers that are more loyal to your brand:

1. Determine your objectives and create measurable goals such as building brand awareness or increasing website traffic or conversion rates.
2. Create a strategy based on those objectives and goals. Determine who will create the content and if it is best to outsource that task. If internal resources are limited, get a few quotes from freelancers or marketing agencies.
3. Understand your customers and their needs and target their pain points.
4. Create great content.
5. Distribute your content. One of the most significant benefits of content marketing like blogs is that it can improve SEO and increase traffic to your website, but you need to let people know that the content is available by posting it on social media, sending emails, etc.
6. Measure your return on investment. Look at what is working and what isn’t.
7. Rinse and repeat .

Content Marketing Tips:

• Quality content is key. Even if it means posting blogs less frequently, make sure that the content you’re sharing engages, informs, and entertains your readers.
• Repurpose your existing content. For example, we could take this blog post and post each one of our content marketing tips individually on our social media platforms or take some of the content and create a brief video.
• Invite guest bloggers ; it’s free content. Do you have a vendor that you work with regularly? Ask them if they would consider writing a blog for your website about one of their products or services. Creating guidelines for guest bloggers can help ensure you’re getting content that meets your needs.
• Become a guest blogger . If you can get published on a website with a broad audience, it improves your credibility and can drive more traffic back to your site.

The most important thing to remember about content marketing is that it takes 1) a good strategy, 2) consistency, and 3) patience.

PMI offers a turnkey approach that includes a content marketing strategy, content creation, and posting, allowing you to focus your time on running your business, and, it's surprisingly affordable! To learn more give us a call at 484-297-6395 or contact us online.