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As a small business owner, your content is one of your most important assets. This allows you to speak directly to your audience or reach new customers and market your goods and services. Today there are many ways for small businesses to create and distribute content. You might share insights on your business social media platforms, start a blog, or launch an email newsletter.
The content you create and how you share it is part of your content marketing strategy. Content marketing isn't explicitly sales-oriented, but offers original ideas that provide value and show your expertise. A content marketing strategy is more than just a schedule of when to post something. Through text, videos, and photos, you can convey your values and brand and what makes your business special.
Here's how to develop and execute a content strategy tailored to your unique business and goals, and then adjust it as needed over time.
What is a content marketing strategy?
A content marketing strategy is a blueprint for the content you create for your business and how to distribute it. This strategy should align with and complement the goals of your overall business strategy.
Content marketing strategy for a small business requires you to consider multiple factors, including:
Your goals: Content plans will differ depending on your goals. A hair stylist who wants more customers might want to create photo-heavy social media posts that show their client work, while a marketer who wants more speaking engagements might create content that demonstrates their expertise.
Your audience: This identifies who you’re trying to reach with your content. It should align with your brand’s ideal audience or customer. Audiences can vary from channel to channel.
Kinds of content you're creating: In your strategy, go into detail about specific content types. Common ones include photo essays, behind-the-scenes videos, or blogs about your process. No matter what you choose, make sure this is high-quality content.
Distribution channels: There are many ways to distribute content, including via email, social media, and your website. A content strategy addresses which channels you plan to use and what kind of content you'll share on them.
Schedule of content: A content calendar is a vital part of your content strategy. This is a detailed outline of when and where you plan on sharing your content.
How to measure success: Once you settle on what kind of content to create, you can determine which metrics to track. Growing businesses might track milestones like number of customers or sales increases. Content creators might measure video views or engagement.
Entrepreneurs frequently develop a content strategy for a specific channel—for example, an email newsletter or a specific social media platform—as well as a broader content strategy for their business.
Types of content in content marketing
There's no one right way to do content marketing. You can focus on one type of content or produce a mix of content and space it out over time. For example, you might post on social media daily but share a video only once a month.
Content falls into a few main categories, including:
Written content: Articles based on interviews with subject matter experts, case studies about successful customers, blogs detailing insights into work you've produced or targeting SEO keywords, newsletters about topics related to your business
Video: Behind-the-scenes or process clips, an explainer video demonstrating your expertise in a certain area, a montage of business-related photos set to music
Photographs/graphics: Infographics, a photo essay of an event, photo storytelling alongside an article
Social media content: A photo with a long caption, a photo carousel with text overlaid from a story, demo or recap videos, user-generated content
Podcasts: Interviews, Q&As, shorter conversations that can be repurposed for video
You can often cross-post content across multiple marketing channels. For example, you might distribute a podcast as a video as well as audio, or post snippets of your interview on social media. Repurposing content is another smart strategy. A case study or article can be excerpted on graphics and shared as a photo carousel or turned into a video script. Tools like Unfold make it easy to create social media content.
Do you need a content marketing strategy?
Even if you start with one type of content or marketing channel, content marketing offers an invaluable opportunity to direct the narrative around your business and raise awareness of your brand. A content marketing strategy offers multiple benefits to growing businesses.
It helps you stay organized. As a busy business owner, it can be easy to lose track of the content you have or want to share. And planning content on the fly is difficult. A content marketing strategy offers a detailed framework to maintain consistency.
You can build your brand. Original content is an excellent way to communicate your values and mission. Both of these things are part of your brand and inform how people view your business.
Identify new audiences or business opportunities. It's not uncommon for businesses to discover new potential revenue streams when making content marketing plans. For example, you might uncover a need your audience has or discover a new audience altogether.
You can establish yourself as a thought leader. Creating thoughtful content lets you share your expertise. Being known as a thought leader can open up other ways to promote or grow your business, such as guest posts, podcast appearances, courses, or live events.
9 steps to create a content marketing strategy
Developing a content marketing strategy can feel like a big undertaking. But you’re probably already sharing some content. A strategy is just a way to attach goals and systems to the process. Breaking it down into individual steps can make defining and reaching your goals more manageable.
Set your goals. These should be specific to the content you're planning to produce, and reflect both short-term and long-term goals. Focus on what feels achievable and in line with your business goals. You can add or subtract once you start posting content.
Identify your audience. Determining who you’re communicating with will guide your content. For example, your audience might respond better to short text posts or videos rather than lengthy blogs. The part of your audience you’re speaking to also matters. For potential customers, you might want to create content that speaks more about your business offerings or unique expertise.
Determine your areas of focus. Your content should be in a niche that speaks most directly to your areas of expertise. If you're an editor, you might offer writing tips, while a wedding photographer might discuss how best to capture various moments of the day. Becoming known as an expert in a specific area can help your business grow.
Choose content types and topics. Focus on doing one or two kinds of content well. You can always scale up if you have the capacity to take on more. The topics should align with your niches and goals. Content that feels random or like it strays from your core brand can confuse audiences.
Set metrics to track. The content and goals you focus on will dictate the metrics you track. If you're focusing on audience engagement, time spent watching a video clip is a key indicator. Success for a blog might mean pageviews or shares.
Decide distribution methods. Determine the channel that makes sense for your business. If you're a writer, a text-based newsletter might make sense, while graphic designers will likely want a visual-heavy platform.
Create a content calendar. Releasing content on a steady basis is crucial. This keeps your business top of mind for potential customers and opens opportunities to attract new ones. A calendar will help you stay on track with content production and sharing.
Start creating content. Now it's time to share your knowledge and expertise with your audience. Consider creating a month or two of content in advance, so you're not scrambling to fill slots at the last minute. This is a common practice with content that takes longer to produce, such as podcasts or videos.
Measure success. Once you've started sharing content and gathering reactions, you can adjust your strategy accordingly. Set aside weekly and monthly time to review your goals and metrics. How are you tracking over time? Do any of your goals or metrics need to be adjusted or changed? Perhaps you realize that the pace of content creation isn't realistic, or your audience isn't watching videos.
How to engage with your content’s audience
Communication is a two-way street, and people will relate to your brand and business if they feel as though they’re part of a community. Consider creating content that gives you space to connect with your audience personally, or setting aside time to respond to comments.
Hold a live Q&A. Many social media channels make it easy to go live on video and take follower questions. Be sure to advertise this session in advance so people know when to arrive or send questions in advance.
Comment on your social media posts. This is one of the easiest ways to engage with your audience. Your comments don't have to be extensive. For example, if someone shares your post or left a comment, simply respond by saying "Thank you!" along with an emoji.
Share posts by other people. Another easy way to engage with your audience is to share the content they produce on your own channels. Adding your own comment or insight along with a share deepens your expertise and can also help build community.
Offer exclusive content. Rewarding your loyal followers with exclusives. This could be a subscriber-only chat or newsletter. If you sell goods or services, sharing an occasional discount or coupon is also a nice gesture.
Tips for content engagement
Engaging with your audience is about building a positive association with you and your brand. Find ways to make the experience feel fun and natural—your enjoyment will come through in your tone.
Focus on one or two channels. Content engagement is more time-consuming than you might think. Focus your time on the channels most relevant to your business and community.
Be authentic. Although your content might be on behalf of a business, be personable and genuine. Content marketing is meant to be a soft sales tool by design, so try and stay away from jargon.
Keep your tone neutral-to-positive. Not every comment on your content is going to be positive. This can sting, but try not to take it personally. If you decide to respond, avoid being accusatory or defensive. Acknowledge what the commenter said and engage with them thoughtfully.
Remember, content strategy and growth is a marathon, not a sprint. You'll risk stress or burnout if you try to create or share too much content at once. Do what you can with the time you have.