4 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Important For Small Businesses

By Author: Emma-Jane
Total Articles: 5
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As a …small business…, you might wonder “why do I need to be concerned with content marketing?”

The truth is, no matter the size of your business, content marketing provides more visibility and opportunity for growth. Not to mention, it often reaps a higher return on investment than traditional forms of marketing.

There are many different types of content marketing that your small business can utilise. Whether you want to gain traffic to your website, reach potential customers, or ultimately increase sales. And these include:

Blog posts
News articles
Product pages
Email newsletters
Social media posts
Guest blogs
Video content
Images
Infographics
Reviews
Landing pages

The type of content marketing most suitable for your target audience and industry will depend on your small business. Which is why having an understanding of your target audience and how they search for products and services is vital.

Of course, ...
... you can create an incredible content marketing strategy. But if your focus isn’t on your target market or audience then, it will yield little to no results.

For example, if your target audience is under 35, social media such as Instagram can be a great marketing tool. Whereas, it might not be the right marketing avenue for customers over 55. As these customers are more likely to conduct a Google search.

But some forms of content marketing are beneficial no matter the industry or the target audience. As such, we’ve outlined them below.

4 Reasons Why Content Marketing is Important for Small Businesses

The following 4 reasons illustrate the importance of content marketing for your business, no matter its size. However, for small businesses, content marketing is a key way to compete against those more established, larger companies.

So take note and discover exactly why you need to take content marketing seriously. In fact, our list includes strategies currently in use by small businesses all around the world.

Content Marketing Helps You to Rank Highly for Keywords

One of the most important reasons to use content marketing for your small business is visibility. There’s no point putting in all that work if your potential customers can’t find your company.

You could have the best website on the internet. But without the ability to appear high in search engine results, no one will land on your website.

For example, let’s imagine you have a small bakery business in Cambridge. To rank in Google for the keywords ‘bakery in Cambridge’ would elevate your online presence. So consider creating SEO and keyword rich content to help you to appear higher in search results. Of course, the higher the better.

As well as optimising keywords, your content also needs to be high-quality.

In addition to ranking high in search engine results, appearing in local packs is vital. When you conduct a search for a business in a specific area, the first results that appear are known as local packs. These are the sections at the top of the results page that include a map and a list of nearby businesses.

Effective content marketing ensures you rank as high as possible, both geographically and generally. As a result, your traffic and subsequent sales or leads will grow.

Ideally, you want your business to appear whenever someone searches for your product or service. To rank high in search engine results pages for your specific industry and/or location is worth thousands. Especially in terms of exposure to potential clients or customers. Because few searchers look past the first page in Google.

Great Content Creates Trust and Credibility

When you use content marketing for your small business, it increases your ability to build strong relationships with customers.

Great content can grab their attention. It will enable your business to position itself as a credible source of information. And it can engage and entertain your audience. Great content will stick out to your audience. As a result, your business becomes the first they turn to in future when they require your product or service.

One effective way to build trust and credibility is to create blog posts or articles. You can create articles around any step of the purchasing journey. They can tap into a recommendation or be industry-related. Or they can simply provide useful information. All of these will enable you to grow as a credible source of knowledge.

For example, if you are a small local garden centre, you could write blog articles on how to care for your plants. Alternatively, you could create FAQ posts to answer any plant-related questions your target audience may have. Answering questions in general, is highly effective, as many searchers often utilise voice searches and will ask full questions.

By doing so, you place yourself front and centre as a source of information for your customers. And the more you appear in the search engine results pages, the more likely people will visit your garden centre to make their next purchase. Being an expert can really pay off, but you need content to demonstrate this expertise.

Content Marketing Creates Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is crucial for small businesses. Ultimately, if no one knows the name of your small business, then how do they know you exist?

One way to do this is to be active and present on social media. However, only if your target audience is on social media.

Social media is a great and effective way to gain brand awareness for free. Post images and videos of your products, share blog posts and include links to your website.

Even if you don’t have a large following, social media provides further proof you exist so potential customers know your brand is real and active. As a general rule, the more active you are on social media, the faster your following will grow.

With so many fake companies and scam artists, people sometimes doubt if a company is real or trustworthy without this social proof.

So when a customer conducts a Google search for your brand name and various social media accounts appear they will likely trust your brand more. Even if they don’t use social media themselves. And for small businesses, this is even more important.

Content Builds Community

As well as conducting a search online, what do you do when you search for a local service or product? Chances are (especially when making a big purchase) you turn to your friends or family for recommendations. Or perhaps you scour product reviews or testimonials.

Content marketing has taken the process of recommendations online.

For small businesses, it may be difficult at first to dedicate a small section of your homepage to recommendations. But social proof is essential if you want to grow your business. Create an area on your website to publish past product or service reviews. Alternatively, ask past clients if they wouldn’t mind reviewing you or writing a short testimonial on what working with you was like.

This will allow potential clients or customers to make a decision as to whether they make a purchase with you or use your services.

Additionally, also tackle the time to respond to comments on your blog or on social media. People appreciate being responded to, and you’ll leave greater impressions on them if you do. Over time, this will also encourage a community to form.

Ultimately, people prefer to use a company they can trust and they build a relationship with. By posting reviews online and building community, small businesses can create and nurture this relationship. Which in turn, will help them to grow.

Summary

No matter how small your business is, content marketing should be a vital part of your long-term marketing strategy. Not only for these four reasons, but for many more too. We’ve barely scratched the surface!

Content marketing is ideal for small businesses as it has a high ROI and aids each part of the purchasing cycle.

Although, content marketing takes time and requires resources for it to be effective.

Just creating content for content’s sake isn’t good enough. Your content needs to be high-quality and targeted at your audience.

Which is why many companies reach out to a marketing consultancy to assist them. This is a great alternative for those businesses who don’t have the time or resources to devise a content strategy or write their own content.

Whether you decide to use a marketing consultancy or go it alone - one thing is certain. Content marketing is the best way to grow your business and take it to the next level.