Sandra GiffinMost cash strapped Startups have a non-existent marketing budget. But marketing is one area where sweat equity and creativity can get results.
That’s why you need to learn about content marketing.
What is Content Marketing?
Content Marketing is sharing relevant, valuable, and engaging content that you have created or curated so you can attract interest in your company and acquire customers.
Why is Content Marketing Important?
According to a 2015 Report by Ad Age and The Content Council called The Future of Content,
Today’s Consumer expects that Businesses will provide Content that is Engaging, that makes them Laugh or Think.
And they expect to find that content on whatever digital space they frequent such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or Google+ to name a few.
What Qualifies as Content Marketing?
- Posts on Social Media Networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram
- Blog Posts
- YouTube Videos
- SlideShare Presentations
- Online Newspapers like Paper.li
- Targeted Microsites
- Guest Posts
Guidelines for Content Marketing
- Never make it all about you and your brand
- Follow the 80/20 Rule – 80% of the content you share should be about topics of interest to your target audience and only 20% should be about you and your company
- Use a combination of content you create and content you curate
- Be consistent in posting content – you need to maintain a presence to market effectively
- Choose channels that appeal to you and your audience
Not Sure where to Start?
Here are a few examples of excellent Content Marketing by Startups that you can use for inspiration:
- Curata provides a content curation and marketing platform. They have developed a microsite of curated content for the latest news, trends and case studies about content marketing for curated content. They run ads for their products on the site.
- Buffer is a tool for scheduling posts on social media. They have created a popular blog that covers topics about social media, marketing, psychology, creativity and life hacks. Their blog posts get widely shared. They also do many guest posts on other blogs.
- The Content Marketing Manifesto by Rand Fishkin from Moz. A must read for startups.
- Kissmetrics provides web analytics. Their blog covers topics on marketing and analytics from top leaders in the industry.
- Behance is an online platform to showcase creative work. They have developed a popular microsite called 99U with content from artists and entrepreneurs on topics such as productivity, creativity, leadership and risk taking. Their articles are shared widely.
- Visual.ly is a creative services firm that matches creative talent with clients who need visual content. Their blog covers topics such as tools for creating visual content, video marketing, content marketing and storytelling. Their posts are frequently shared.
How do you use Content Marketing for your Startup? Leave me a comment.
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