Content Strategy for Small Businesses
What exactly is a content strategy? Some people think of a strategy as a set of goals and activities that support them. Where is the business trying to go, and which tactics will support each goal?
However, thinking in that way skips over strategic direction. Here’s an example of what what strategic planning should look like:
What does Content Strategy really mean?
In the above example, you can see that the strategy involves determining which channels and resources will be the most effective in achieving the business goal.
Building a strategy involves reviewing data and the market direction to draw conclusions. From there, a strategist will determine risk, allocate budget, and choose which resources to leverage.
But what if you aren’t a large corporation with clear business goals and plenty of data at your fingertips?
How my content strategy evolved over time
As a “small business” (if you can even call it that, I’m simply a blog) my strategy looks a little different.
A small business owner might follow a more basic plan like me. Here’s how my content strategy has changed over the past year or so. Instead of data, I use common sense and strive to provide the best product possible.
Strategy 1: Achieve quality through volume.
A library of marketing resources is only as useful as the quality and breadth of its content. So how do you create a library of resources from scratch? I began by choosing general topics that I knew a lot about and began rapidly producing. Since I already had knowledge of these beginner topics, I didn’t have to do any research.
I also quickly produced downloadable resources by using Google Slides. I tried to keep these eBooks looking clean and professional while not investing time into design/brand image.
A page from one of my eBooks with simplistic design.
To support this strategy, my early resources included:
Strategy 2: Organize content to support personas.
Now that I had created a useful blog with a volume of posts and eBooks, it was time to start catering to personas. Who are the people I am able to help?
Content marketers like myself - I’ve successfully navigated a career as a content marketer, and I can help others do the same. As I research and improve, I want to share these methods with others as well.
Small business owners - With years of agency experience, I’ve helped many small businesses grow. I also consider this blog a small business, so I’m able to share the techniques I use with other small business owners. I want to make marketing less complicated for non-marketers.
I support these personas by choosing blog topics that cater to the pain points of each. I also tag every blog post by “Content Marketer” and “Small Business Owner”, so I’m able to organize by personas as needed. You’ll also see personas in my hashtags - like #contentmarketing and #smallbusinessmarketing.
Content marketer content examples:
Small business owner content examples:
And some blogs - like Why Isn’t My Organic Traffic Converting? - target both.
Strategy 3: Drive awareness and traffic to Content Land.
Now I have a large quantity of persona-focused content and am confident that I am delivering a quality experience. I also have a system to continue generating this content, so I am continuing to support Strategy 2 while moving on to the next.
Here’s how I’m working to grow organic traffic and drive awareness in the Strategy 3 phase:
Internal linking to provide context to Google and spread link authority
Guest blogging and including links back to my blog
Posting to Medium
Creating Pinterest graphics for each post
Being less anonymous and telling friends about the blog
Doubling down on my top blog posts with links and social promotion
What does the future hold?
Once I have more traffic and data to work with, I can turn to conversion optimization. I also want to work towards establishing a newsletter. And all of this while continuing to produce new content.
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