Content marketing is becoming more important everyday. Today, consumers go online to search for products or services. To bring attention to your website and your business, you will have to bring some type of value to the table. The right content can get your product or service noticed as a consumer moves through the buying cycle from product discovery to final choice.

Content marketing drives results for small businesses. It boosts brand awareness, builds an identity as a trusted expert, encourages your customer to take action and keeps your website fresh. Below are seven tips to strengthen your content marketing strategy.

Content

  1. Create a Content Marketing Calendar
    In order to have a successful content marketing campaign, you need to get organized. Create an outline of what each month of content looks like. Factor in seasonality, industry events, holidays, etc. and factor them into your calendar. Set aside time each week for creating content ideas, developing strategy, researching and actually writing the content. The most successful campaigns are the ones that are thought out and planned.
  2. Have a Dedicated Content Manager
    Identify who will handle the content marketing. If you don’t, your strategy can easily get lost in the shuffle of your every day responsibilities.
  1. Research
    Take time to research and find out what some of the current newsworthy trends are in your line of work. Use those trends as leads and do your own research to further dive into topics.

    Buzzumo is a great resource to see which topics related to your business are currently getting the most attention, and what content is trending or performing well in a specific niche or audience.

    Content marketing is all about participating in the conversation that your audience is interested in. Focus on answering the questions your audience is searching for by delivering content that is of value to them.

  2. Promote Your Content
    Promote your content using social media, Facebook ads, email marketing, local media websites, content communities and more. Encourage your customers, friends and family to share your content with their network. Make it easy for readers to share your content by adding social media buttons.
  3. Use Multimedia
    In today’s online environment, a strategic use of multimedia has become increasingly important. Multimedia can help capture your audience’s attention and increase their engagement. The strategic use of multimedia can help your company stand out from the competition and increase the efficiency of your content production.
  4. Be Consistent
    Consistency is key. Make sure you are publishing your posts on or around the same day and time each week. Followers will know when to expect your material and you can build momentum.
  5. Use Correct Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation
    It is important to keep everything as clean and error-free as possible to ensure credibility in your content marketing. Experts say that your content has less than one second to convince viewers that it’s professional before they leave. A misspelled word, bad grammar or wrong punctuation can ruin that first impression quickly.

These content marketing tips will help you deliver a better content marketing strategy, develop a stronger online presence and increase your credibility as a player in your market. If content marketing sounds too labor-intensive for your busy schedule, consider a sponsored content program from a local media company.