According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 10% of startups fail within the first year. This startup failure rate increases over time, with the most significant percentage of businesses that fail to be younger than 10 years.
Although the failure rate for small businesses is high, there are only a handful of key reasons why they fail. One of those is bad marketing.
Yet, with a strong startup content marketing strategy, you can overcome the hurdles startups face and achieve extraordinary growth.
So, let’s dive into what you need to know about successful content marketing for startups.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a marketing approach that focuses on high-quality content to attract and retain a robust and actionable customer base. Your business can consider several effective types of content marketing, such as blogs, email marketing, lead generation, and social media.
And when it comes to content creation, there is a long list of effective content you can create. Examples include:
- Animations
- Articles
- Blog content
- Case studies
- Checklists
- Email newsletters
- Guides
- How-tos
- Infographics
- Landing pages
- Memes
- Opinion pieces
- Original research
- Photos
- Podcasts
- Reels
- Reports
- Templates
- Testimonials
- Video content (short or long)
- Webinars
- White papers
Why Is Content Marketing for Startups Important?
Content marketing for startups is imperative because, without it, your business won’t be able to generate the leads and sales it needs. Studies show that startups with a written content marketing strategy are typically more successful than those without.
Below are more amazing benefits of startup content marketing.
The ROI Is Great
Compared with traditional and other forms of digital marketing, content marketing can cost up to two-thirds less while generating as many as three times the leads!
It’s one of the most affordable and cost-effective types of marketing available.
Increase Brand Awareness
Frequently publishing content on your website helps improve your search engine optimization (SEO). Then, potential customers can find your great content through search results, and your brand awareness will grow naturally over time.
Bring in Traffic & Sales
Customers want to engage with companies that know what they’re doing. So when you post pieces of content that provide solutions to the problems your customers face and relevant information about your industry, you’ll experience an increase in organic traffic and sales.
Establish Your Brand as an Authority
As you continue adding informative content pieces to your website, customers will view your brand as a trustworthy place to do business. The more authority you establish, the more likely customers will buy from you.
Grow Your Startup
Content marketing is the primary driver of company growth for most startups. But it can also influence your other online marketing strategies.
For example, from helping with onboarding SaaS signups to connecting with influencers in your industry, content can help your business expand in various ways.
Getting Buy-In for Content Marketing
Content marketing probably won’t turn your startup into an overnight sensation. It takes time to see results because it focuses on driving organic traffic.
Therefore, content marketing only works if your team believes in it. If anyone on your team doubts the power of content marketing, you’ll need to get some buy-in from them.
Provide skeptical members with statistics proving that content marketing works and examples of competitors who used content marketing to succeed. Also, show them your plan with details about how you will track metrics to improve results.
The future of content marketing is bright, so there are plenty of ways to convince everyone to get on board.
Marketing on a Startup Budget
Although content marketing is budget-friendly, it still costs money. This is especially true if you want high-quality content.
To know where to allocate your marketing money, consider these questions:
- What resources can you contribute to content marketing efforts without affecting your core business?
- How much time can you commit?
- Do you have the skills required for content marketing, or do you need to hire professional help?
You’ll also need to track the key performance indicators (KPIs) using a tool like Google Analytics and do content promotion and outreach.
Whatever content marketing tools and skills your team already has, use them to their full potential.
If you don’t have the necessary skills or time for a particular aspect of your plan, hire outside help.
Basic Steps to Create a Content Marketing Strategy
Now that you’re ready to create a content marketing strategy let’s go over the basics of how to get started. Follow the steps below.
Establish Quantifiable Goals
To build a successful content marketing plan, you must define your end goals. Without goals, your content won’t have a purpose, and you won’t have any metrics to know if your strategy is working.
Define Your Target Audience
By defining your personas next, you’ll know who you’re marketing to and why they should buy from your business.
With this information, you can speak directly to their needs and desires. Here are some things to include when crafting your target audience:
- Buying patterns
- Demographics
- Goals (personal and professional)
- Interests
- Pain points
Research Your Competitors
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with your content marketing. Instead, check out your competitors and see what worked for them (as well as what didn’t work).
This will save you time and money. But, more importantly, it will show you how your startup compares to those who have been in the market longer.
Complete Topic and Keyword Research
Compile a list of topics relevant to your industry. Start broad and then get more specific.
Then, conduct keyword research to identify the best search terms to use.
Create New Content
Use the list above to create new content. Most customers prefer visual content such as video, so ensure this is part of your strategy. If you’re writing articles and blog posts, include backlinks or try guest blogging for better results.
Review Existing Content
By reviewing existing content, you’ll find topics you’ve already covered and identify any potential quality issues.
Also, consider turning existing content into new social media posts, reels, stories, and more for additional reach.
Choose Channels to Promote Your Content
Now you need to decide where you’ll post social media content. You don’t need to be present on every platform. Choose the ones that are most prominent in your industry.
Wherever you post, always drive customers back to your website with useful links and a strong CTA.
In addition to social media, outreach campaigns can be very effective when marketing content.
Implement Your Campaigns
Finally, it’s time to promote your content! To maximize your time, create a content calendar. Also, setting up automation can help you scale this process.
Make Your Content Count
As the saying goes “content is king.” And it seems everyone is doing some form of content marketing. But in a crowded field of competitors, how can you ensure that the content you produce effectively sets your startup business apart and engages your audience?
With so much content available to compete against, adding video to your content can ensure your message is seen and remembered. Some of the key benefits of adding video to your content include:
- Consumers love watching videos. They’re accessible, entertaining, and often educational.
- Videos can increase conversion rates. A recent Hubspot study suggests that adding videos to your product or service page can increase purchases by 144%.
- Video content can build a relationship with your target audience by driving engagement and communication.
- Search engines love video content! Video content can drive organic traffic to your website and ensure that visitors spend more time there, improving your search engine rankings.
Bring Your Content Ideas to Life
Developing a solid startup content marketing plan is one of the best ways to ensure the success of your new business, and adding video to your content is a great strategy.
If you’d like to discuss how video content could enhance your marketing efforts, contact the strategists at Slice.
