A content strategy refers to the development, creation, and implementation of various types of content for your business. This can be written, visual, or other types of media. 

Small businesses can fall for the mistake of thinking that content strategies are only for more prominent companies. This is not the case, with plenty of advantages and benefits that your small business can utilise to improve various aspects of operations. 

Content strategies can also be seen as tools for creative businesses, but this isn’t true. There are always industry developments and other topics to cover that bring value to your customers.

Implementing a content strategy 

There are steps you need to consider before launching a content strategy. Typically, you want to know the answers to these questions: 

• Topics: What value are you offering your customers through your content? There’s plenty of material you can cover, regardless of your industry – guides, tips, advice, insights, developments, and opinions.
• Location: Where are you publishing your content? Make sure to cross-post from your website to social media platforms to maximise exposure and generate new business. 
• Consistency: How often do you publish content? The key to good SEO is consistent content that increases your chances of being noticed. There are plenty of content calendars online that can help you in this process. 
• Brand: What voice do you want to put across? You should have a solid understanding of your brand voice and values.
• Aim: What do you want your content to achieve? Do you want to attract customers, build a community, or raise brand awareness?
• Focus: Who are you targeting with your content? Perhaps you’re launching a new product or service, or maybe you want to attract a new demographic of customers.

Remember, once you launch your content strategy you need to consider your content’s performance. Check what’s converting sales, what content attracts the most traffic, and what’s engaging your audience the most. Knowing what’s working and what’s not is essential to tailoring your content strategy to the desired outcomes.

What are the benefits of a content strategy? 

As previously mentioned, content strategies aren’t just for big businesses and creative firms. It’s a fantastic tool that can provide various benefits to you and your small business. Here are some of the key advantages: 

Build trust and demonstrate industry knowledge

Your small business must show that it’s current and on top of the latest industry developments. Demonstrating this knowledge is one of the critical elements to building trust and creating a returning consumer base. Customers want to use companies they trust, and if you’re a small business looking to scale, you must provide them with that reassurance.

Offering your opinion also starts building your small business as an authority in your industry. This is another element that helps build trust among your consumer base and converts more sales.

Attract new business and generate leads

In addition to solving problems, content generates traffic for your small business. This is a great way to attract new customers and generate leads through sign-ups. However, one mistake businesses make is to only think about ranking and not the subject of the content. If you’re not providing value, your retention rates will drop massively. By offering solutions to real consumer problems, you’re attracting new business that will be more likely to use your services and engage with your call to action.

This also builds on the previous step of gaining trust. As consumers acknowledge that you’ve provided a solution to their problem, they’re more likely to trust your services after being educated on an issue. Think of how often you’ve been put off a service or product because the site content was bare or full of mistakes. If customers are going to click on your content, make sure that it’s valuable and useful.

Benefit from long-term results

One of the great benefits of content strategies is that you can reap the rewards long-term. Whether you publish blogs or release a series of videos, these will be online for the foreseeable future, generating leads and engaging audiences on your behalf. So, five, ten years down the line, your content will still be attracting customers to your services. Therefore, the value you can gain from content far outweighs the initial costs.

Improves marketing efforts

Engaging with customers on social media can be difficult. With a content strategy, you’re automatically promoting cross-platform traffic by sharing consistent content across different socials. This ensures that you’re active on all platforms and makes staying engaged with your audience easier.

Build a loyal customer base

Consumers who visit your website through your content and become customers are likely to come back to you in the future. This also means they’re more likely to recommend your services to their family and friends when they need your solutions. Even if your content is seen by consumers that don’t need your services at that moment in time, they will be more likely to recommend you to someone that does. 

Improve visibility and brand awareness

The more content you publish, the more chances you have of ranking on search engines. Large quantities aren’t the only answer, but it puts you in the best position to rank well and be found organically. To do this, you’ll need to understand how to optimise content for search engines by using the right keywords, titles, and backlinks. 

In addition, consistent content builds brand awareness, as it can be shared among your community, as well as your social media platforms. This also improves your brand image and creates a positive view of your services and products.

About Hoof 

Once you start attracting more customers through your content strategy, you need an excellent payment system to manage the influx of new consumers. Hoof’s payment solution gives you all the tools you need to handle payments effectively and efficiently. It also offers an outstanding invoice and quotes software that eases the process of creating and storing invoices, which makes filing taxes for your small business easier.