Irrespective of what business we choose to do, it is a given that if you have a small- or medium-sized business, content is the most powerful tool you can have for advertising and marketing. Over the last 15 years, I have seen startups fade into oblivion despite having amazing products because they did not invest in digital marketing.
For the uninitiated, what do we mean when we say digital marketing? And how much of it involves content. In a short reply, I’d say most of the digital marketing depends on content. You cannot market without using words. Marketing is storytelling; even a series of pictures require words to form the story behind the advertisement. Digital Marketing would involve marketing your product or services over the internet, via various mediums.
If you have been a start-up founder or a business owner, you are aware of how many layers of work go in before one reaches the stage where the business is open and declared to all. Though you will market your goods or services only after this, marketing would have begun right from the inception of the business idea.
Branding is crucial. Your brand name and products need to come up in all related searches. They need to be all over the internet for your target market.
And in doing so, content marketing plays a very crucial role. Right from promoting the brand on social media, to the content on the website, and to the blog of your business, good and creative content is very important.
Benefits Of Exceptional Content For Your Business
Let us not fool ourselves into believing otherwise, it is content that drives the market. In an age and era where internet marketing is here to stay and will keep only getting bigger, it is suicidal to stay away from it. Even if a chunk of your clientele comes from your offline network, your brand and its awareness must remain on top of the Internet.
While I am addressing small- and medium-sized businesses in this post, one can very well note that some of the largest brands and business have taken to online marketing as fish to water. With the big names launching products online and promoting them extensively over the Internet, newer and smaller brands are also following suit.
If you are still not convinced that your business needs a considerable content budget, let me list the reasons why you should.
Imagine announcing one day that you are in the market selling xyz and waiting for buyers rushing to buy. Why would they? Even you wouldn’t for some other product, would you? Forget established brands for a second, and let us talk about your business – the new one, or not yet that big.
Your target group needs to know about you, the product and relate to both. The most innovative and effective way for this is content marketing. Content marketing is nothing but storytelling – an entire elaborate plan of creating a storyline and presenting it to your target group and then selling the product.
Many a time, business owners are aware of content marketing, but not updated about how important it is to get it done the right way, and by the right people. An investment in good content creation is a long term investment where every small thing will come together to build your brands and its credibility in the long run.
Content marketing can be broadly divided into two parts – content creation and content curation. While about 35% is dependent on content creation which is extremely crucial to be correct and done the right way, content curation is what takes that creation to your target group and keeps your brand relevant.
First Three Steps To Be Followed To Brand Your Business Effectively
- Define your brand’s mission. This needs to be given enough time and not done hurriedly. A defining step of most of that will follow this step, your brand’s mission must tell a story.
- Of course, determining your target group is the next step. Be specific. Survey the market effectively and be very sure of the result.
- What is your USP? How are you different from your competitors? Why would a loyalist of the competitive brand come to you?
Armed with these results, you’ll step into the next stop of branding which is creating a logo. While this job is also outsourced to an expert, remember that they are experienced at creating graphics. The brand, however, is yours and it is required that you are aware of how important it is to do this after a lot of research.
Small- and medium-sized businesses do well with blogs. A blog, in this case, is a personal marketing tool to promote their brand, products and market knowledge. SEO is a highly effective tool and a blog of your business is an excellent idea provided you content is coming from someone who knows the ropes, and also the language!
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