Content marketing is an ever-growing method. Each day, more and more businesses make use of content marketing as a part of their marketing plan.
So much so that 97% of the companies studied used it in 2021 as a significant element of their strategy. This method of marketing clearly produces results, yet we cannot overstate the importance of content marketing for startups.
But why? Why should content marketing be an indispensable method for startups, specifically? Let's see.
It helps you build brand awareness
As new businesses need to establish their presence in the industry, startup companies should double down on building their brand. That's because brand awareness creates a sense of trust in customers' minds, which helps businesses to generate more revenue.
Startup companies need to establish this trust as they are relatively new, as opposed to companies with a long history in their industries.
Content marketing is a highly effective way of building this sense of brand awareness. Because it is content that makes your business speak. For your business, content creates a distinct identity. A company's personality contributes to creating a brand in the minds of consumers.
A consistent tone in your content, combined with your efforts in the design of your company, can help you establish an image of your brand deep in your audience's minds.
So, quality and consistent content that reflects your company's personality can help you establish your brand awareness.
Content marketing makes you understand your customers
Most startups' value propositions are based on effectively solving a problem for their customers. That is why startup companies, above all, have to understand who their customers are and what problems they go through in their lives.
It is impossible to help people and provide actual value to them without knowing about them, after all. So, startups must emphasize understanding their customers if they want to succeed.
One of the advantages of content marketing over other methods is that it is a form of inbound marketing which generates 54% more leads than traditional methods. As such, you can easily interact with your desired audience and understand who they are.
Because potential customers interact with what you create, you can better grasp their expectations. After internalizing what your target audience needs, you can act on it to provide relevant content and better service for them, which leads to increased profits.
In addition to analyzing your customers' wants and needs by inspecting their own feedback, you can also make use of digital tools to analyze your demographic. People viewing digital content can be categorized into different age and gender groups. You can leverage this data to create more efficient marketing campaigns.
Long story short, startups must help people. To help people, they must know people. Content marketing is a powerful way to know more about them.
A proven, cost-effective way to reach your target audience
If you're an entrepreneur, you probably know how hard it is to manage a business with limited funds. It’s tough.
That is why startup companies, which are usually down and out at the start, have to leverage what they have as much as possible. As the resources are tight, they need a higher ROI and a lower cost-per-lead than others to survive.
Content marketing is a perfect tool when it comes to reaching the target audience and generating new leads while minimizing expenditure.
As you provide value for your audience, instead of solely demanding from them, it is easier to reach your desired demographic with content marketing. They are searching for what you create, after all. Your content is a lead magnet.
We can see how cost-effective content marketing is in light of the statistics, too. While it costs 62% less than traditional marketing, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads per dollar as its traditional counterpart.
Hence, providing value to your target audience proves to be a cost-effective way of reaching them and turning them into leads.
Establishing yourself as a field expert
Content marketing does more than just build your brand. It also establishes your brand as an expert in its own industry. That is why 57% of the companies studied use it to improve their reputation.
If you're good at something, you must let it be known to the whole world to generate revenue. People should recognize you as an "expert" in your own industry. So as to establish this image, you must prove yourself. And what's a better way to demonstrate your proficiency than posting relevant content?
That is where content marketing comes in. It allows you to demonstrate your skills, proficiency, and know-how on a specific topic. When people see the quality content you create about your field, they understand that you're an expert in that particular area, which creates your image.
Take a coffee shop as an example.
If you see this coffee shop post helpful content about how to make espresso-based drinks, you would be more inclined to think of it as an expert in that area. This image of expertise helps companies to stand out among their competitors.
The same holds true for any other business.
In order to make sales, businesses need to be trustworthy no matter what their industry is. You can use content marketing to demonstrate your know-how and establish trust among your target audience as a startup.
Quality content turns leads into sales
Yes, content marketing is useful for startups to find new leads. Generating leads is not enough to make sales, though. You have to nurture your leads to generate more revenue. Nurtured leads spend 47% more than non-nurtured leads, after all.
Fortunately, you can use quality content to nurture the leads that you generate. That's possible by creating a sales funnel with evergreen content and redirecting your leads down into it.
Imagine you're a watch seller. Take the query "What should I look for in a good watch?" for example. The person searching for this is a lead for you. They land on your website. But they might not be ready to make a purchase yet.
Now, you know that this lead might be a good shot to make a sale. But first, you have to nurture them, and guide them down your sales funnel. You can do it with interlinked content. Have another article on your website. This time, it is about how expensive a good watch should be. After landing on the first article, the lead starts reading about the prices by clicking on the next one.
Step by step, the lead gets closer to being a sale. When they are deep enough into the funnel to buy, the magic of your copy and CTA comes in. You should convince the lead to make the purchase at that point. You must keep them on the hook and finally close the sale by using engaging and high-converting content.
In a nutshell
Content marketing is an invaluable tool for startup companies as it provides a great opportunity to establish trust, build a brand, effectively generate new leads that turn into sales, and understand their target audience. All those benefits support one another, which increases the overall efficiency of startups' marketing campaigns.