3 Awesome Content Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business

As a small business owner myself, I know how tough this year has been. My safari business Brave Africa was only six months old when coronavirus hit and travel stopped completely—along with all of our income. 

There have been times when I’ve wanted to throw my hands up and say, “Whelp, that’s it.” But success is about adapting to meet challenges, and like all of you, we had to rise to them. One of the most powerful tools we’ve used? Content marketing. 

Maybe you haven’t tried your hand at digital content or maybe your strategy had to change fast when the pandemic hit. No matter where you are, improving your content marketing can help you level up. 

Let’s take a look at why content marketing is important, 3 fresh content marketing ideas for small businesses with the help of hundreds of Alignable members, and an example of how it can help you succeed.

The Benefits of Content Marketing for Your Business

Before we jump into ideas, you might be wondering how to grow your business using content marketing.

In short, it can increase brand awareness, enhance customer loyalty, and drive sales.

When most people hear content marketing, they think blog. But a content marketing strategy includes social media, video, SEO, email marketing, and more. It’s all about creating great content and getting it out there. And it works. For example:

• In 2019, online search traffic generated 65% of total ecommerce sessions. 
• And 78% of companies who use social media to sell are outperforming their peers who don’t.

Dig into the "why" behind small business content marketing: 4 Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Content Marketing Strategy

So, how do you get started? Matt Carusone from GeoReach recommends asking yourself a few key questions.

• Have you done any type of online marketing? If so, where?
• What is your marketing budget?
• Do you have a website, social media accounts, and how are those optimizing your presence on the search engines?

I asked myself these questions back in March, and the results speak for themselves. Even with travel shut down, we increased our website visitors from 156 in March to 700 in April and 541 in May.

That’s just part of the story. Later, I’ll share more about the success of my small business’s content marketing strategy. And we’re not alone. One company doubled its revenue in just a year using one of the below tips.

Curious? Keep reading!

3 Content Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business to Try Today

You’ve probably heard that you should start a blog, create high quality content, and post on a regular basis. While that is good advice, we wanted to dig deeper. Thankfully, we have thousands of expert marketers on Alignable, so we asked them for their content marketing tips.

To take it one step further, we even chatted one-on-one with a few expert members for their insights on digital success. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Think beyond the blog: Try different platforms

You can use multiple platforms to elevate your content marketing. Start with Facebook, recommends Emerson De Oliveira from Negotium Concepts, LLC. 

Facebook is a platform that everyone is familiar with. Target your customers here first by providing content that relates to and reflects your products and services, including a call-to-action. Build out from there.

The key, Emerson says, is to engage on the platforms your target audience spends time. It might not be Facebook for you, maybe it’s Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, or Medium. Wherever your audience is, create relevant content for those platforms.

Related: How to Generate Customers on Social Networks the Right Way

Then, “start sharing 2-3 posts, maybe 4, a week.” That’s all you need to be effective. By keeping it small, you can focus on the data and analytics, which is how you know what’s working and what’s not.

If Facebook works for your audience, you can take it a step further by advertising your products, services, or even content using Facebook Pixel.

“Facebook Pixel allows you to collect data—tracking click-through rates, cost per conversion, and more. In conjunction with Google Analytics, Pixel will help you understand what you’re paying for,” he says.

And if you’re looking for out-of-the-box ideas for content marketing, Emerson recommends using Alignable.

There are very few platforms like Alignable that provide a forum for small business owners to interact with each other—asking and answering questions. Utilize it. Market yourself and your reputation locally and beyond.

You can post questions, reply to other small business owners to share your expertise, and even link to your own content in the forum.

Emerson De Oliveira is the founder and president of Negotium Concepts, LLC, a business development, digital marketing firm located in Indiana. Emerson leverages programmatic and digital marketing solutions to help motivated entrepreneurs discover, launch, and scale businesses digitally.

2. Tap into the Power of Video Marketing

Aside from social media, consider creating video content, says Sarah Redfield from gachruda pr + m, LLC.

Videos are a fantastic way to reach more potential customers, and branded (or how-to) videos are especially valuable for your homepage, Sarah explains. “Websites with a video on their homepage are 53x more likely to get a higher rank in Google search.” 

Okay, so how do you get started on video creation? Isn’t it expensive and difficult? It doesn’t have to be, says Sarah. 

Video content is actually very affordable to create, once you know how.

“The myth is that video content or a brand video costs thousands to produce,” Sarah says. “It can, if that's your choice, but it doesn't have to. Video content is actually very affordable to create, once you know how.”

Sarah likes to break “professional” videos down into two components.

• Visual Creatives—the video footage and static images.
• Storyboard—the video’s message and call-to-action, which makes your video compelling to your viewers.

When it comes to visual creatives, they must be high resolution and completed by a professional, which can cost you money. However, it’s a great investment because you can repurpose the visuals in hundreds of ways. 

The good news is that there are a wide range of amazing options for sourcing video content that range from expensive (gettyimages) to mid-range (deposit photos, twenty20, and istock) to free (Unsplash and Artgrid).

As for the storyboard, “I've found over the years that a client usually has the best skills to execute this because when she or he tells the story or creates the pitch—they own it,” says Sarah. “It's authentic as opposed to if I write it. I might clean it up, but the story is always stronger when it comes from the source.”

And if you feel like you still need professional help? In about four weeks, Sarah will be offering a workshop on creating your own video content—sign up here.

As a passionate and results-oriented member of the retail and creative arts community, Sarah brings proven strategies to all aspects of digital marketing including video content and video content creation. Sarah blends outside-the-box with best practices that result in surpassing her client's expectations and goals.

3. Engage Your Audience In Creative Ways 

You want your customers to engage with your pieces of content, and that might take some experimenting. One option? Try creating an experience that mirrors in-person interactions. Like virtual tours.

“Virtual tours are great introductions to a property,” explains Linda Goodwin-Nichols from Goodwin Realty & Associates. It’s very convenient for many buyers and offers a personal connection that’s missing from other content marketing tactics.

But this tip isn’t just for real estate agents; it works for other industries too. 

• Own a restaurant? Host a virtual tour of your kitchen. 
• Provide software as a service? Give an insider look at development or customer service. 
• Work as a consultant? Shoot a  tour of your office or the steps you take to work with customers. 

Your options are only limited by your imagination. 

Just remember that “the attention span is shorter online,” says Stuart Carter from Octavemode, who uses the concept of virtual tours for teaching. “Online, you must suit the client’s needs at the moment. [Also] consider the quality of transmission, which changes day to day, and choose activities that work.”

For example, one day it might make sense to host a live virtual tour on Facebook with viewers asking questions on the fly. Another time it might make sense to gather questions in advance and use them to plan your tour.

Wondering if this will work for you? It’s been wildly successful for Charlene Hakkers from Aloette Cosmetics, who uses Zoom to do virtual shows and virtual consults for her personal shopping experience. 

Year-over-year, Charlene was able to double her business for April—despite the pandemic. “Our franchise went from $200,000 in sales in April 2019 to over $400,000 in April 2020. Who would have thought that in a time of recession that we would sell over $400,000 of beauty products!”

Does Content Marketing Work? A Case Study

So, now you’re wondering, “Does all this work?” Well, it did for my company.

Unlike our competitors with more resources, we haven’t been able to host live virtual safaris or spend on ads. Instead, we’ve had to think outside the box.

Here’s what we tried:

• Online puzzles: We transformed images into online puzzles for our social media followers.
• Coloring book pages: We created downloadable coloring book pictures (based on safari photos).
• Short virtual tours: While we couldn’t offer live virtual safaris, we did have enough video to offer short snippets to show viewers what it’s like to go on safari. 
  • One of these videos went viral with 6,300 views (we normally get less than 100) and increasing our YouTube subscribers.
• SEO: 
  • We joined a few travel writer groups and were featured on CNN Travel, driving almost 500 new visitors to our website. 
  • We used Google Search Console to discover low-hanging keywords to improve our overall search position.

Make Content Marketing Work For You

Content marketing is a tool that you can use to reach potential customers and retain the ones you have. But it’s not one-size-fits-all, so try different platforms, content types, and ways to engage with your unique customers. 

If you have a question, remember you’re not alone—you can reach out to thousands of members on Alignable. I’ve found the community so helpful because I don’t have to think outside the box on my own. Instead, I can find advice from other small business owners and come up with some truly creative solutions. And you can too.

What content marketing ideas have you tried? Where are you sharing your content? Tell us what’s working well, what flopped, or what you’re trying next. 

For more ways to market your business online, check out the below reads:

• What are the best ways to take your business online? A robust discussion for dozens of recommendations from members like you 
• 6 Insider Strategies to Evolve Your Marketing in a Digital World
• How to Quickly Ramp Up Online Sales for Your Small Business
• How to Actually Generate Customers on Professional Social Networks the Right Way