Content strategy concept.
Entrepreneurs are some of the world’s most innovative, motivated and influential people. Building a company from the ground up takes a special kind of vision and determination. There’s a lot that can be learned from following their journeys.
Entrepreneurship isn’t without its obvious struggles, though. Raising capital, gaining market share and creating a profitable organization are a full-time job and more. That’s why 90% of startups end up failing, even when led by some amazing people.
Making a go of your startup requires selling your idea successfully to others. You’re fully converted to your brand, but you need consumers to jump on board in order to ensure growth and stability. There’s one particularly effective way to go about this, and that’s by relying on the power of content.
The written word is still so powerful even in the digital age. Once you learn how to harness content built around your brand, consumers will start flocking. This guide will help you get started.
Create a Content Strategy
As you would with any other marketing or branding campaign, you must start out with a strategy. A proper content strategy will give your brand direction. Otherwise, you might find yourself paddling in circles without an idea of where you hope to go. Before launching your content campaign, you’ll need to iron out the following details.
Your Target Audience
Before you can know what to say, you need to know whom you’re talking to. This will dictate how you write your content in order to appeal to certain demographics.
A Content Calendar
How often do you intend to publish content? You can start with weekly content or adjust that frequency up or down. Just make sure you’re publishing on a consistent basis. A regular cadence will keep content fresh and establish trust with your audience.
Topics and Talking Points
What will your content be about, anyway? Will you focus on industry news, or will you provide industry tricks and tips for your customers? Deciding on your “beat” will help give your content a coherent voice.
Content Budget
While managing a blog is inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising, it still requires some funds to push it forward. Make sure you budget for it and track expenses so you can calculate ROI.
Goals for Growth
Your content strategy will be meaningless without a goal to reach. Do you want to hit a certain number of monthly unique website visitors? Increase your conversion rate by X%? Create content with a purpose and make adjustments that bring you closer to the goals you set.
Your content strategy can be even more in depth than this; it never hurts to be thorough. What’s important is sitting down to plan out your efforts so your content works with an end in mind.
Develop Content With Value
While it’s easy enough to just start pumping out the content, your main focus should be on quality rather than quantity. Content is appealing to others when it provides value to them. Otherwise, they’ll scroll right on by without giving your brand a second thought.
One of my connections, Hillel Fuld, is one of the world’s most sought-after startup advisors. He became a master tech blogger, publishing pieces in the world’s top publications. His standing as an industry expert and reliable source helped him build a startup fund without all the capital that’s typically needed in that industry.
How was such a feat possible? Because his content brought in entrepreneurs and companies that believed in his personal branding. They valued what he did with the content and were attracted to him like a magnet.
So how can your brand provide value? If you make athletic shoes, you can draw more customers to your website by providing fitness-related content. Customers will come for the exercise tips and stay for the shoes.
Learn About SEO
Search engine optimization is one of the most valuable aspects of content marketing. By developing and posting high-quality content to your website, you improve its ranking in online search engines. The higher your pages rank, the more organic traffic you’ll get.
Not that the process is simple. Search engine algorithms and SEO strategies are constantly changing, and some marketers have made full-time jobs for themselves just trying to keep up with the movement. However, there are some basic principles that remain the same, such as proper linking habits and using the right keywords to get the right viewers to your content.
Another important factor in SEO is targeting search intent. What are your customers looking for on the internet, and how can you use that knowledge to funnel them toward your brand? If you can plant yourself on top of their most relevant searches, your brand will be top of mind with them when they make purchasing decisions.
Leverage Social Media
Part of the reason blog content works so well is because most consumers are tired of seeing ads. Content is much more appealing than traditional advertising and will generally lead to more user engagement. You can boost the visibility of your blog by leveraging your social media accounts.
Post your blog links on social media with a clever caption and eye-catching image, and you’ll be drawing in even more customers for little to no cost. Social media users are already spending their time scrolling, so take advantage of this behavior to catch them in their element.
As you continue to produce and publish content, your strategy will improve. Start drawing up a plan to use content to boost your brand today, and you’ll see what an impact it has on your startup in just a few short months.
