Content Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Content marketing is one strategic way small businesses can attract a clearly defined audience without spending too much on advertising costs. Creating periodic and unique content for your marketing is easy, but requires creativity. 

Oftentimes businesses will start strong but then struggle to continue to produce content regularly. Or, in some instances, the content marketing efforts your small business is trying are not producing effective results. In this overview, we’ll provide you with some simple content marketing ideas to use for small businesses.

Creating a Content Marketing Strategy

Before you can explore ideas for content marketing for your small business, putting a plan in place is a great place to start. Start by identifying the organization's main goal or mission, and working off of that. A good content marketing strategy takes into consideration the targeted audience.

In addition, you will want to create a schedule to follow. Following the creation of content, you can follow this schedule you created to make sure your content is regularly spaced out and your pages and accounts stay active and up to date. A content calendar also helps you keep organized so you do not produce the same type of content over and over again. Changing up the type of content you’re showcasing will ensure that people stay engaged long-term.

One important thing to remember is that your strategy is only as good as its success. It is important to put into place a plan to track your progress and results. There are various platforms to do this, such as Databox or Google Analytics. These tools will help you identify what is working and what can be improved.

Video Content

Creating video content is absolutely essential in this day in age. Video content is an effective way for small business owners to highlight their business without spending a fortune. There are a variety of different ways video content can be used, on many different platforms. Some examples of video content you can use include:

• Instructional Videos- Many people are visual learners. If you have a concept or product that is better demonstrated via video, creating instructional video content can be a great way to get your audience engaged with your brand or product.

• Instagram Reels or Stories- Using social media to your advantage is a smart idea when it comes to content marketing ideas for small businesses. These tools are at your disposal and free! This content is available for a certain period of time and then will disappear.

• Live Streaming- You can Livestream through social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This is a great way to attract people that are already leisurely scrolling through the internet and make it more personal by being interactive in real-time.

Write Blog Posts 

Writing blog posts with unique and engaging content is very important for small businesses. Not only will unique content help you rank higher in search results on Google, but it will also show your potential customers that you’re a trusted and knowledgeable company. The more unique content you can provide on your business’s website, the more value you will prove to your customers. 

Content posted within blog posts should be informative but still engaging and interesting. You want the blog posts to be something website viewers will actually want to read. One suggestion is to create weekly posts on some theme or schedule, which will keep your audience engaged and encourage website traffic.

To create content-filled blog posts that are engaging, one suggestion is to search around to see what questions people are asking. Providing direct answers to highly searched topics can help you attract more leads. Another tool available is a website called Answer the Public, which is a tool to help you discover what people are asking about.

Offer Insider Access

To help build trust with your customers, provide some exclusive content that is specific to your business. For example, you can make a video with a behind-the-scenes tour showing the inner workings of your business. People love to see unique content that is interesting and captivating. Another idea is to create content that highlights the founder or CEO, to help people learn more about the roots and leadership of the company.

Host Webinars and Workshops

Providing education can help you reach your targeted audience. Consider offering free webinar sessions or workshops to help people get to know your organization. Utilize this opportunity not to make a direct sale, but to build up a network and client base. This may seem like an indirect method, however, it can help build long-term relationships which in turn, will amount to overall success.

Whether you’re hosting a webinar or writing a new blog post, the important thing to remember when creating content is staying informative and engaging. We hope some of these tips help small business owners create new content marketing ideas!