Small businesses know the importance of getting the word out about their products and services. Creating and posting content is critical to promoting the business and for improving your website’s search engine ranking. Posting content to various social media channels, email campaigns and even good old print campaigns helps attract customers and drive traffic to your website or physical location.
In a previous post, A Small Business Guide to Content Marketing, we provided a high level summary of content marketing. This month, we’d like to go one step further. Everyone agrees content is important, but the real challenge is how to create it and what should we talk about?
A winning content strategy focuses on value. Think of how a potential customer reacts to content. Content has value when it addresses something of significance or interest to that person. The content could be about the dollars and cents saved by purchasing a product, but it can also offer news, offer expert advice, or demonstrate shared values. Great content attracts and engages customers, and inspires them to visit your site often to read more. Here are some areas that offer wonderful potential for valued content generation.
- Price/value: Announce special incentives that draw first-time customers into your store or onto your website. Seasonal and volume discounts or add-on bonuses are effective.
- Shared interests: Include announcements about events of interest to your target customer. For example, community holiday events, fundraisers, sporting events, or seasonal activities can be shared. These may have no direct connection to your business, but they ARE of interest to your target customers. Being a community-minded business shows you care, and have something in common with your target audience.
- Identify need: Sometimes people don’t realize the benefit of a product or service until they are shown the need for it. Generate content that shows how your product or service can be used, and then finish up by quantifying the time, money or effort they will save by using it!
- Expertise: Service businesses can demonstrate expertise by including content that explains concepts pertaining to the industry, including new technology and other improvements.
- Share testimonials: Share stories from satisfied customers that highlight your business’s qualities, such as great customer service, low price, product reliability, or customer satisfaction.
- Demonstrate sustainability: If you’ve been in business for several years, highlight your success. Share stories about how the community has evolved and how your business contributed. Photos or quotes from long-standing customers go a long way to build credibility.
- Highlight your fresh approach: If yours is a new business, share something about yourself or your staff, demonstrating your expertise in your field, and the fresh energy you bring to your business.
- Demonstrate reachability: Post your phone number and then be available when potential customers call. If you encourage email exchanges or Facebook conversations, be sure you are able to respond quickly. For some businesses, customers value the ability to talk to you and to verify that you are real and can address their concerns.
- Show convenience: online shoppers search for quality products and services that offer ease of ordering, quick shipping, and guarantees of satisfaction.
- Show your products! Photos and videos, especially customer demos, are worth more than a lot of words on the page. Let your customers, products or services do the talking!
It takes time and effort and a little experimenting to find which of these will work best for you. Please remember, too, that a successful content marketing campaign is not a one-time event. It’s important to schedule postings on a regular basis, and to track results. If you do, your business will benefit.
The Price Group, Inc. specializes in working with small to medium sized businesses, building their visibility and helping them grow. We can work with you to build a successful marketing program for your business. Call us at 630.717.8332 or send email to info@thepricegroup.biz to get started.
