Content is still King, and Marketing is still Queen
A Hit or a Miss?
For the most part, in the digital age, we’re surrounded by fantastic advertising that draws out the consumer in us.
But every now and then, there’s an example of marketing that fails spectacularly and leaves us with “What were they thinking?”
Remember Burger King’s “Women belong in the kitchen” campaign? Yeah, that happened!
Realizing that only ~20% of chefs are women, Burger King UK decided to promote a cooking scholarship for female employees. The choice of words for the Tweets, however, ironically on International Women’s Day, resulted in outrage.
Dove made a similar blunder. Ouch! After 15 successful years of its #RealBeauty marketing, it decided to launch body wash bottles that “matched” women’s body shapes. Women got seven “shapes” to choose from, which caused them to feel more stereotyped, self-conscious, and insecure about their bodies – the exact opposite of what was intended.
Some businesses seem to get Content right.
Other businesses seem to get Marketing right.
To ensure you succeed, you need both stellar content with sharp markering!
Then you have a royal partnership.
Good content forms the basis for strong marketing by giving you underlying messaging that resonates with your target audience.
And good marketing ensures your content reaches consumers in the right place, at the right time. With both together, you have a real impact, whether as a solopreneur or a multinational corporation.
Why Creating Great Content Matters for Entrepreneurs (More than it does for Big Business)
Many entrepreneurs tend to believe that content marketing should be left to the Big Boys. False.
If anything, creating and marketing great content can give entrepreneurs a serious edge.
Why? Because you’re in the trenches with your customers. You probably know your customers by name, and you listen to their feedback.
Big businesses? Their customers are often just data points and communities are geo-targeting opportunities.
Creating good content requires you to know who your customers are, what they love, how they live, what they need, what they fear, what they dream about… Without that, you have content that will be lost in the noise. Your proximity is exactly what gives you an advantage: you know your customers better than anyone else.
Take creator-entrepreneur Emily Weiss. She started with a beauty blog, ‘Into the Gloss’ in 2010. The blog was committed to quality content and attracted a highly engaged target audience. Emily called the content the ‘heart and soul of her brand’; she expanded to Instagram and began collecting data on what her 15,000+ fans really wanted. Her audience helped her design the line of cosmetics she launched in 2014. That’s the power of great content.
Check this one too: How the Heck Can Social Media Marketing Benefit My Business?
Why Great Content Matters for Your Audience
Simple: Your audience doesn’t know anything about you and your business.
When they meet you they don’t know if they can trust you.
When they visit your website, social media account, blog, or YouTube channel, they want to know who you are and if you have the expertise in the subject area to solve their problems. This is where your content plays its role.
Share your insights, approaches, and knowledge freely. When your audience sees that you are giving away all of it that easily they think, “Wow! This guy is providing that much valuable stuff for free. Imagine how much more they know!” This builds trust and positions you as an authority in your field.
Don’t fear that competitors will read your blog and copy your business. In fact, there’s a lot more implicit knowledge that you possess from your unique experiences and insights. Knowing and doing are different things. All this depth and the unique way you solve problems can’t be easily replicated.
The Many Types of Content to Choose From
Blogging (used by 32% of marketers) and social media (used by 56%) continue to be among the most effective ways of talking about your business, but there are other formats as well. Video is increasingly popular; 78% of businesses are planning to create more video content in 2024.
Your content gives you the opportunity to educate, inspire, entertain, and inform your audience. Depending on your goal, try to choose the right channel – each one has its pros and cons.
- Blogs help build presence and credibility. They provide useful information to old and new consumers but require serious time and research to create.
- Social Media Posts offer direct connection and organic virality but require an understanding of tricky and ever-changing algorithms.
- Video Content hooks younger audiences and improves SEO and engagement, but is harder to create.
- eBooks help build authority and get serious consumer leads, as do Newsletters and guides, but they require real experience to write.
- Infographics provide a visually attractive alternative but require design skills.
- Podcasts educate others on specific topics, helping reach, teach, and retain a captive audience, as do e-courses and webinars, but are often made by experts with studio-level equipment.
- Influencers leverage dedicated audiences built on trust and are perhaps the most effective way to promote content and recommendations, but are also the most expensive.
Advice for Entrepreneurs and SMBs:
There are no right or wrong types of content for you to choose from.
Give different types of content a try.
Weigh the pros and cons. Measure how each type engages your audience and converts them into clients. Estimate your return on investment (ROI) by tracking costs and time spent versus the revenue generated. Remember, content marketing is a long game requiring passion and dedication.
Content Remains King (But Don’t Let It Just There)
When you create great content, and combine it with good marketing, here’s what you get.
- Presence. You can’t grow a business if no one knows your brand exists, what its purpose is, or what its values are.
- Traffic. You need to draw in a prospective audience by aligning with their needs, interests, and pain points.
- Engagement. Whether you’re answering questions or creating hyper-shareable content, organic growth helps with your brand’s mission.
- Customer Insight. Why not analyze feedback and learn from your best asset – your customer?
- Distinctiveness. Discovering what sets you apart and basing genuinely useful content on that will build you a cult.
- Reputation. If you want your customers to keep coming to you, they need to trust you.
- Loyalty. Consistent and aligned marketing opens up two-way interaction, giving you an edge over other brands.
- Cost-Effectiveness. Content marketing gives you more leads for a lower investment than traditional marketing.
- Competitiveness. Regular content marketing that optimizes SEO and makes you more visible will put you on top of search rankings.
- Sales. More leads will ultimately give you what every business needs: more sales.
7 Questions To Get You Started With Content Marketing Today
Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve plateaued out with your brand expansion, here’s what to think about for marketing that will hit the mark.
- How will you focus on providing value? Think about what your ideal client craves to know. When pressed for time, you can repurpose your old-but-gold posts. (Think of how everyone still reads HubSpot blog posts.)
- What makes you unique? Flaunt your very own distinctive style and perspective—your clients dig you for it, not for being a carbon copy of someone else. (Think Old Spice’s hilarious ads or Apple’s sleek charm.)
- How will you connect your content with your mission? Channel your big WHY—people will believe you if you believe in yourself. (We’re all buying into how Patagonia is saving the planet.)
- How will you make sure your content helps you grow? Set up frameworks to measure the reach of your content, how it transforms your audience into engaged clients, and its impact on your revenue. Regularly analyze this data to refine your strategy. (More and more Shopify blog readers are becoming e-commerce entrepreneurs.)
- How will you pick the right channel? Discover where your audience hangs out. Is it on TikTok? Are they video junkies? Do they like to read? Choose the appropriate platform, even if it’s not your favorite. (GoPro shares inspiring user videos on YouTube.)
- How will you push yourself to get your content out there? Many first-time entrepreneurs fear visibility and judgment. Shake it off and keep hitting “post”. (Netflix doesn’t hesitate to flood our feeds with more than we can possibly consume.)
- How much time and money are you ready to allocate? Your activities should bring you profits, short-term or long-term. Read more about Budgeting for Small Business Marketing.
Takeaways
Content marketing is growing, both in demand from audiences and supply from brands.
50% of all buyers read blogs before making a purchase, and 89% want to see more videos. Correspondingly, 43% of small business owners are investing more in their website, 41% in email, and 47% in influencer partnerships.
On top of this, AI is stirring things up: 47% of marketers are already using AI for strategy, 58% for content research, and 77% for personalization.
No matter where you are or what business you’re building, the time to level up in your content marketing is now.
