Inbound content marketing for start-ups
How can start-ups generate product awareness and revenue? Most people will tell you to go viral, generate social media buzz, and run some facebook ads. That’s a solid strategy if you have a team of creatives and ad experts.
But not everyone has the cash, design resources, and expertise to run these types of campaigns. For many start-ups, an organic strategy combined with compelling lead gen resources is a better fit.
Drive start-up growth through inbound marketing
Here’s what it looks like to drive growth with well-researched content, SEO, and lead gen resources.
1. Conduct outside-of-the-box keyword research
As a startup, there’s a good chance you’ll have to be creative with your keywords. The Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) for broader terms tend to be saturated with large brand names with high domain authority.
That doesn’t mean you can’t rank for competitive terms, but it’s better to chip away at your “low hanging fruit” keywords as a starting point. Here’s the process:
Consider product value
Effective keyword targeting starts with a feature and benefit analysis. What problems does your product solve for people? What value does your product offer? What are some specific use cases?
For example, a website agency might consider these client benefits:
Feel proud of your new website’s design
Easily create marketing pages
Don’t worry about code and development
Create a foundation for inbound marketing efforts
Consider persona challenges and interests
You can also go beyond product-focused terms and consider your persona’s lifestyle. What types of things do they do for fun? What are their job responsibilities? What challenges do they face in daily life?
Continuing the website agency example, here’s some persona information about the CMOs they target:
Balance family life with work
Looking for ways to make their work from home environment more comfortable and productive
Struggle with hiring and retaining marketing talent
Looking for reporting and analytics tools
Plug ideas into a keyword tool
Now, think of 1-2 terms associated with each idea. It might take some time to come up with these terms since you are reverse engineering. Think hard about a client’s thought process when finding you.
You can use a keyword tool like Google Keyword Planner, Ubsersuggest, or Clearscope.io to find search volume. Be sure you also plug these terms into Google to ensure the results are relevant.
Here is an example of low-competition keywords related to the brainstorms above:
Do you see how these terms go beyond competitive “web design agency” keywords? You can find much easier, niche keywords that are also valuable.
2. Build a library of free information based on your keywords
Use these keywords and pain points as inspiration for web pages full of free information.
“Free” means you will not gate these resources by asking for information.
The goal of these pages is to:
Drive awareness of your product in relevant markets (through SEO)
Build trustworthiness by giving away some free value
Showcase credibility with your library of free resources
For example, based on the pain points and keywords above, this website agency could try creating some of these free pieces:
If your content is well-organized, full of factual information and examples, and provides a unique viewpoint; you are likely to rank.
For a deeper dive on writing for SEO, read How to write content that ranks.
3. Develop your lead gen assets
Now that your free content in place, it’s time to write some gated content. That means you’ll exchange information (like name, phone number, and email address) for some sort of asset.
Popular lead gen assets include demos, webinars, whitepapers, and newsletters. To come up with ideas for lead gen assets, simply go back through your pain points and brainstorm. There’s no need to consider keywords at this stage.
Continuing the website agency example - here is a guide that would be highly relevant for CMOs preparing for a web design. Though it’s not tied to keywords, it addresses multiple pain points.
E-book:
Outsourcing a new website from pitch to execution
How to present the case for redesign budget
How to evaluate website agencies
Internal preparation:
Dedicate an internal team
Conduct a content inventory
Document product and industry information for your agency
What to expect in the redesign process
If you go with a whitepaper or ebook, you don’t have to invest in design. A simple document saved as a PDF will suffice.
4. Optimize your free information for conversions
If written well, your “free information” articles and resources should start bringing in organic traffic. Now, you need to find a way to drive people from your free information to your lead gen. Here are a few methods:
Use pop-ups overlaying your free resource
Include linked text throughout your free resource
Include a button or callout on your free resources
This stage of the game is called Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Your goal is to increase the conversion rate of your traffic into leads. If you can maintain a decent conversion rate as traffic grows, consider your inbound strategy powerful and scalable.
5. Nurture and convert your leads to sales
After you collect leads, your followup transitions to a sales responsibility. However, a marketer might choose to facilitate sales by setting up email nurtures. An email nurture could inlcude sending newsletters, discounts, and new product offerings.
Regardless of nurtures, you need to have a sales specialist reach out at this stage.
Who should employ an organic content marketing strategy?
To summarize, this inbound content marketing strategy for startups includes:
Conducting outside-of-the-box keyword research
Building a library of free information based on your keywords
Developing your lead gen assets
Optimizing your free information for lead gen
Nurturing and converting your leads to sales
Would this process make sense for a cookie or shoe company? It depends.
If customers do a fair amount of research before purchasing your products, an inbound strategy like this makes sense. That’s because people are more likely to search for background information to make an informed decision, increasing the odds of them landing your free content.
Therefore, this strategy could be effective for B2B marketing, expensive products, or medical and health products.
Why is this strategy beneficial for start-ups?
This content marketing strategy is perfect for start-ups fitting the above criteria.
Start-ups need a single growth-focused plan that small teams can execute. With the right focus, a single marketer with writing capabilities can execute this plan quickly.
Furthermore, this strategy can easily scale as your busines grows. You can always add writers or SEO specialists to produce more content.
And best of all, when you don’t have ad budget to cycle through every quarter, content written for SEO will last forever.
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