This post is one in a series of tips designed to help small business owners better-navigate the challenges of today’s startup environment and is sponsored by Canon MAXIFY – the printer lineup crafted to help small business owners increase productivity so that they can focus on everything else that matters. For more information about the Canon MAXIFY printer lineup visit www.usa.canon.com/MAXIFY. One of the biggest problems for most small business owners is the huge task of sourcing content on a continuing basis to drive their marketing strategy. Search engines want new content to keep a website’s page ranking high. Companies realize they need new it to build relationships with prospects and customers. They want to be seen as an expert in their field. The biggest question is what content to produce and how to get it done with limited resources on a weekly basis.
The highest stumbling block for many small businesses is that the content must be original and be posted consistently. These two criteria are the backbone of any successful marketing strategy. It drives the company’s brand and builds relationships through email campaigns and social media. It increases the likelihood of the business’ website showing up in search results, and inspires prospects to start a conversation with the company.
Here is how to generate consistent original content for any website:
1. Start with simple ideas.
Finding inspiration for original content doesn’t have to be a mind numbing or time-consuming process. Here is where to start:
Ask website and social media followers what they would like to read about. Look at Google Trends and see what is popular.
Interview an industry thought leader or customer.
Report on an industry trade show or trend.
Ask for guest posts from readers.
Write a case study. Pick a company or product and discuss what they are doing right or wrong. Explain to the readers what they can learn from them.
Curate popular content. Gather articles on the Internet related to a particular theme or topic. Alternately, write a list of ten favorite books or people to follow on social media.
Share a personal story that makes an authentic connection with prospects and customers.
Share successes (or failures) and lessons that were learned.
2. How to get content written consistently
Most small business owners don’t have the resources inside their company to generate new content weekly. A solution to this is to assign a small group within the company to be responsible for one post per month. Alternately, the content or at the very least the base research for the content can be outsourced to freelance resources available at oDesk or ELance at a very low cost. When reviewing what is submitted, it is important to proof read it before posting. The best way is to print out the document (on a Canon MAXIFY printer) and read it out loud. This is the easiest method to spot spelling and grammar errors that can make the company look unprofessional if not corrected.
2. Recycle ideas into different mediums
Take content already generated and repurpose it into:
Tip Sheets
Video or audio segments
Infographics
Webinars
For example, an idea for a blog article can be condensed or expanded into an article to submit to relevant trade magazines or can be turned into a podcast, video or an infographic.
3. Post content in a series
In order to resist the temptation to constantly write about different topics, think about the content in terms of a series. Keep up the consistency by creating multiple posts with the same theme. Bundling content in this way also lends itself to some great promotional opportunities and encourages repeat readers.
4. Tie content to marketing strategy
Remember to always integrate content into marketing activities in order to increase visibility, drive traffic to the website, capture sales leads and improve search engine rankings.
Post to the website. Consider adding a required registration form to view the content, so leads will be added to the company’s CRM system.
Promote content via direct email campaigns linked to the CRM system.
Send original content to industry thought leaders, analysts and bloggers so they can further spread these ideas.
Promote the content via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Youtube (if a video)
Add a link to the content under all employee’s email signatures.
By utilizing simple ideas, different mediums, and the concept of series, every small business will be able to generate great original content for their marketing strategy year-round on a consistent and low cost basis.
Canon will be spotlighting several small business owners on its social media channels throughout the next several months, so be sure to leave a comment and share your thoughts on this post using the hashtag #MAXIFY in order to qualify. If you are a U.S.-based small business owner (1-9 employees) and have faced a unique business challenge in your first year on the job, let us know! We’d love to hear what line of work your small business falls within and what you feel is the most important takeaway from this post. We’ll also be rewarding select small business owners with a prize pack including the Canon MAXIFY MB5320 printer as well as other essentials to help you run your business more efficiently. So don’t forget to leave a link to your website or social media pages that way we can see how well you’re marketing your business and get in touch!
Thanks for the help, Barry. I like the “ten favorites” idea. I think I could do that. I’ve let so much time elapse between blog posts that it feels like I should blog, “I’m still here!! This domain NOT for sale!”
Its a good idea!!
Good tips! Just to reiterate on some things, when it comes to driving traffic from content, consistency is key. There is no point in spending time generating blog posts if you have no consistency to it as you will never be able to retain any sort of readership. Keep people coming back for more.
With that said, I’ve found that an editorial calendar is very helpful to make sure you’re on the right path. Once a month, plan out your blog posts for the next 1-2 months so you have your own personal deadlines and to-do list which you can be accountable for.
Doing blog posts on your own is tough, if you have some money you can allocate to it, as mentioned in the article. eLance and oDesk is a great source to find writers, but it will take a decent amount of time and effort to weed through and find yourself a great writer(s) that you can use time and time again. I’ve also had some luck on Scripted.com which is dedicated towards freelance writers.
Great points Dave thanks