When it comes to customer retention and small business growth, the importance of quality content creation cannot be overstated. According to Oberlo, “96% of marketing decision-makers say content marketing has been effective for their brand.” Content marketing is the most important tool small businesses can use to gain followers and increase engagement. Whether it’s a blog, a video, a podcast, or a social media post, content is everywhere. For this reason, it’s crucial to know which content marketing strategies to avoid and to make your business’s content stand out.
Identify Your Audience
To create quality content on your business’s website, think about the best way you can bring value to your audience. First, identify who your audience is. What problems do your customers have that your product or service solves? What kind of content is related to your products and services that you can offer to potential readers, viewers, or listeners for free? These are good things to consider.
Here are a few suggestions for identifying your audience:
- Use analytics tools on your website or social media to see the age, location, and other demographic info for your followers
- Spend some time identifying who your target audience isn’t – for example if you don’t sell products or services to the UK, there is no reason to gear any of your content towards a UK audience
- Take a look at the content from competitors and analyze it to see if you can identify who they are targeting
Creating Quality Content
After you have identified your audience and the types of content they may be interested in, the next goal should be to create quality content, content that’s:
- Engaging – Keep people reading, listening, or watching.
- Solving a problem or providing essential information.
- Well-researched and authoritative – Link to industry experts.
- Transparent and honest
- Evergreen – Will still be relevant in two years
- Offers a unique perspective that can’t be heard elsewhere
All of your content doesn’t have to hit every point on the list in order to be high quality. However, most content that is valuable will at least accomplish two or three of these.
Creating a Website for Your Business
One of the best ways to create more leads is to capture leads through your company’s website. A website that features regularly updated content like a video series, a blog, or a podcast is a great way to attract and retain customers.
Make sure your company’s website is easy to navigate and well-designed. It must look good on all devices people may use to access it: desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets. It’s also a good idea to have a responsive website so that the design changes depending on what device they’re using to access it. Spend some time looking at your website on different devices to see what the user experience is like and to see if there are any ways to improve it.
Expanding Your Audience
How can you use high-quality content to expand your audience, gain more followers, and convert the followers of your content into paying customers? Here are a few suggestions:
- Write guest blog posts for blogs that are relevant to your industry
- Appear on podcasts and videos that are also relevant to your industry
- Reach out to relevant social media influencers
- Collaborate with influencers in your industry
When you are collaborating with other content creators — whether it’s on social media or a podcast or a video—it’s important to be engaged with people who are interested in your niche.
Community Engagement
Another important aspect of content creation is community-focused content. Community engagement is key to building a strong brand identity and attracting new customers — whether you’re making short TikTok videos or posting interesting photos on Instagram.
It’s important to post content that will encourage conversations. End social posts with questions and encourage your followers to post comments, like your content, and share it with their followers. You might also start a hashtag that’s relevant to your business and ask followers to post pictures or videos of them using your content with the hashtag.
Standing Out
No matter what your niche is, the marketplace is crowded. It can seem difficult to stand out in the midst of everyone shouting into the void. Being creative and pushing the boundaries of what is expected can help you create content that is unique and memorable.
Here are a few strategies for getting more creative with your content:
- Work within restrictions – Dr. Suess famously wrote Green Eggs and Ham after his publisher bet him he couldn’t write a book that was under 50 words. Ironically, creating within limitations can sometimes give you the freedom to create in ways you otherwise wouldn’t.
- Do some brainstorming – Take 10 to 15 minutes to write stream-of-consciousness ideas about the content you might create.
- Don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes – Nothing restricts creativity like the fear of failure. In order to create truly remarkable content, you can’t be afraid to create content that misses the mark occasionally.
Staying on Top of Trends
Another strategy for successful content creation is to stay on top of content trends. Keeping up with trends that are emerging in your industry and anticipating what your audience wants can help you create content that is not only engaging but also timely and relevant. For example, you may want to create content that is more inclusive if you are trying to attract more Gen Z customers.
You might also stay on top of trends by monitoring social media, attending industry conferences, or conducting market research. These are a few ways to establish your brand as a thought leader and attract a loyal following.
Retaining Customers
In addition to attracting new customers, solid content creation is also critical for retaining current customers. By providing value to your audience — solving their problems, giving them essential information, or being the first to break important news — through high-quality content, you can build trust and establish a loyal customer base for your small business.