How Does Your Business Get Started with Content Marketing?

Have you read about content marketing but have no idea where to begin? 

Wondering what blogging and social media can do for your business?

The businesses I work with often answer yes, but then ask the following: Where do I start?

Before we begin, let’s take a quick look at how I approach a new branding project:

This might sounds a wee bit counterintuitive coming from a guy focused on visual branding solutions… buuuut I almost always ask clients about their copy first.

You know: Words of clarity working to articulate what you do and who will benefit from what you offer? Positioning, tagline, naming, it depends. But I always like to direct them back to copy.

Why? Because a visual story is worthless without clarity of message.

And this is where we come back to content marketing. 

Cultivating and watching as a company’s new branding sprouts and flourishes excites me, and this really does start with copy. But working to tell a meaningful story over time excites me even more.

That’s content marketing in a nutshell: Consistently telling a story that makes you, Dear Company, stand out. And marketing in the form of story kinda cranks me up because I see the possibilities for businesses of any size.

You have the ability to do great things (read: build your brand and bring in new business) using the power of content.

In fact, bang-on content marketing might help you dominate your market.

If you’re still shaking your head check out what Robert Rose wrote about content marketing:

“Marketers no longer have to rent access to customer attention. We have the power and responsibility to aggregate our own audiences—and engage consumers across every touchpoint of the brand experience.”

True dat, and if you consistently create and distribute helpful content something magical starts to happen: You amplify or even shift your potential customer’s behavior.

How do you do this? Amplify or shift your potential customer’s behavior through content markeing?

Well, first read this post and come back.

The best line in that post? “Content Marketing is an Equal Opportunity Employer.”

Yeppo. I don’t care if you’re an accountant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or a Sculptor in Lawrence, Kansas, you CAN do some pretty amazing things with content marketing done right.

You do this by just getting started and not worrying about perfection.

My markeing message goes like this: Spot on branding starts with a solid content strategy… and a solid content marketing strategy can start today.

Like Robert wrote, you don’t have to rent access… and you can distribute content as often as you like. Meaning you can turn your website into a magnet for those customers you covet. So think about your online property and how you can make the shift.

How do you turn your website into a magnet for those customers you covet?

Remember that brochure or whitepaper you spent a small fortune developing? Did you get return on your investment? Do you know how many people read it? And was it easy getting it in their hands?

What if you took that printed piece and tweaked it so it could sit on your website and draw customers in? Refocus on the content to lead the reader through a process… something they desperately need help with. Say a 10 steps to a better widget (making sure the “widget” is something your potential customer wants and needs).

Then create an email sign up form. Something well designed that highlights this valuable document. If someone signs up to your email list they get the pdf. Simple, right?

But don’t stop there….

Write 10 posts, one for each step. Detailed posts that expand on each of the 10 steps. Then create a slow drop blog schedule where each post goes out every week.

If you have an existing list, email the posts and the whitepaper.

The most important part? Just getting started. It’s how to set the wheels in motion to grow your business in 2016.

If your website isn’t setup to deliver the above—turn prospects into customers—maybe it’s time for a change.

If you think you don’t have time, think about time spent on your other marketing efforts and if 2016 is the time to retool and refocus.

Interested in learning more about my branding process? Sign up for my email list below.