Must-have content marketing basics for start-ups

Start-ups have to be incredibly judicious about how they spend their limited, valuable resources. Many things (fancy office space) are tossed aside in favor of the truly essential (market research and product development). 

Smart founders know that content marketing falls under the “essential” category. Because, with the pandemic more than doubling already-high content consumption rates, the fact is that we’re all on a steady diet of content–you, me, and your target audience alike.

The research is convincing: content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing but costs 62% less.

So, let’s address the question that we both know you’re asking yourself: what is the bare minimum I can get away with in terms of content marketing? 

Look, I don’t judge. I know that time and money are short, and you need to get the most bang possible out of your buck. That’s why I’m here to tell you what the bare minimum essentials are for a content marketing strategy that will get your brand on the map, start building your audience, and help you get climbing up the search rankings.

1. Know your goals

A strategy is not a strategy if you don’t have goals. If you’re going to be creating content, it’s absolutely essential that you begin by defining what you want to achieve with this investment. The easiest way to do that? 

Look at your business objectives. Ask yourself, “How can content marketing help us achieve these targets?” 

To give you a push in the right direction, here are the types of goals that most content marketing plans include:

• Increasing brand awareness: Goals related to brand awareness may include increasing website traffic, social media followers, and mentions in online conversations.

• Generating leads: It’s common to set goals to increase the number of leads captured through content downloads, email sign-ups, or other forms of engagement.

• Building customer loyalty and retention: Goals related to customer loyalty and retention may include increasing customer satisfaction scores, reducing churn rates, and fostering brand advocacy.

• Establishing thought leadership: Goals may include increasing the number of media mentions, speaking opportunities, and invitations to contribute guest articles or interviews.

• Educating and informing the audience: Goals may include increasing engagement with educational content, improving customer understanding of complex topics, and addressing common pain points or FAQs.

• Improving search engine visibility: Goals may include increasing organic search traffic, improving keyword rankings, and earning backlinks from authoritative websites.

• Driving website engagement and conversions: Goals may include reducing bounce rates, increasing time spent on site, and improving conversion rates for key actions such as form submissions or product purchases.

Of course, remember to throw some specific numbers and deadlines in there to make your goals SMART. You know the drill. 

2. Know your target audience 

A book about healthy habits for an audience of pubescent teens will be very different in content and style than a book about the same topic for an audience of retirees. That’s the principle behind why it’s so critical to know your target audience before you start creating content.

Your company has probably already done plenty of market research to figure out who your target customer is. Now it’s just a matter of understanding their content consumption habits. Ask yourself:

• What are the demographics of our target audience?

• What are their interests and hobbies?

• Where do they spend their time online?

• What type of content do they prefer consuming?

• What are their pain points and challenges?

• What questions are they asking?

• What tone and style resonates with them?

• How do they prefer to consume content?

• What motivates them to engage with content?

• What are their content consumption habits and patterns?

3. Use a content calendar 

Source: https://backlinko.com/hub/content/calendar

When it comes to content, consistency is key. And so is organization. Thankfully, the same tool can help with both. It’s called a content calendar, and it can be as simply (and free) or feature-rich (and expensive) as you want it to be. Use post-it notes, a Google sheet, a tool like Hootsuite: whatever works for you. The important thing is that you track your content in some kind of visual calendar that helps you keep up with your intended posting schedule and make sure things don’t fall between the cracks. 

You should adjust your content calendar as you see fit for your organization, but we recommend using it to track at least the following:

• Title

• Author

• Posting date

• Format

• Channel

Remember, the above is the very bare minimum of what your business needs to get going with a basic content marketing strategy. But it’s a great starting point to help you get off the ground, build your brand online, and stay relevant.

Want help building a bespoke content strategy fit for your business’s needs and budget? Reach out to Word Wave today for a free consultation.