Content marketing remains a key marketing channel for small businesses in 2023.
67% of the marketers surveyed in a recent study by CMI, say content marketing generates demand/leads for them. 72% of the respondents report that content marketing helps to educate their audience, and 63% say that it helps build loyalty with existing customers.
With traditional marketing methods now less effective and affordable, content marketing has become a crucial growth lever.
In this article, we’ll walk you through what content marketing is and the benefits of producing high-quality content for your small business.
What is Content Marketing?
Why is Content Marketing Important for Your Small Business?
9 Unique Benefits of Content Marketing for Small Businesses
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing involves creating and distributing useful, relevant, and engaging content in various formats (text, video, and audio) to various platforms and channels to attract and delight your target audience.
Why is Content Marketing Important for Your Small Business?
Content creation is the present and future of marketing.
It’s a worthy investment for small business owners looking for ways to establish trust and credibility, build stronger customer relationships, increase brand awareness, generate leads, and drive conversions and sales.
To weigh in further on this topic, we polled some content marketing professionals on the benefits of content marketing for small businesses. Here’s what they had to say:
9 Unique Benefits of Content Marketing for Small Businesses
- Establish Trust and Credibility
- Build Brand Authority
- Attract Your Ideal Customers
- It is Cost Effective
- Long-term Sustainability and Compounding Effect
- Boost Audience Engagement and Retention
- Increase Your Website’s Organic Traffic
- Increase Conversion Rates
- Increase Sales for Your Small Business
1. Establish Trust and Credibility
“Content marketing helps you establish trust by illustrating to your target customer that you can help them with their problem,” says James de Roche of Lead Comet. “People work with people. With all tech, tools, and AI, finding the human side of a business gets harder and harder.
Content marketing does that by showing empathy, trust, and care. When you create truly helpful content to make your ICPs’ lives easier (focusing on JTBD frameworks), they recognize, remember, and appreciate it. The more you help them, the more trust you build.
This helps you stand out as a human face in a cold, rather crowded market”.
Slade Copy House’s Haley Slade agrees: “Consistently creating valuable content establishes your business as a trusted source of information within your industry. By sharing your knowledge, insights, and solutions, you position yourself as an expert, building credibility and trust among your target audience. This reputation can lead to increased brand recognition, customer loyalty, and referrals.”
2. Build Brand Authority
Hans van Gent of User Growth says “The most significant benefit of content marketing for small businesses is that it allows you to establish thought leadership and build your brand authority.”
“If you consistently create and share valuable and relevant content, you start to position your business as the expert in your industry or niche, which in turn helps to build trust and credibility with your target audience”.
“The big thing is, especially for small businesses, that most of them don’t have the time to do this. So they have a plain and boring website, with just the basic information. If you’re one of those businesses that do take the time for this, it will also help you increase your visibility and rankings in search. Especially when the competition is less (think local non-English languages), you can dominate the search engines and become THE go-to place in your niche or industry”.
3. Attract Your Ideal Customers
Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less according to this report.
Creating and sharing valuable and relevant content makes it relatively easy to attract your ideal clients.
You stay on top of their mind when they hear from you consistently via a blog post newsletter or on social media. Nurturing them through the sales cycle becomes easy as well with the right messaging.
“Even when shopping locally, the majority of customers visit a business website before visiting the business. By having a well-designed and informative website, small businesses can win more customers,” says The Writing Detective’s Lindsey Chastain
However, to reap the lead generation benefit of content marketing, you must be strategic. Ensure that you do proper keyword research, create content that addresses the search intents of your ideal clients, and distribute your content where they are.
4. It is Cost Effective
Miller Thomson LLP’s Moshiur Rahman says that “content marketing provides an affordable strategy for small businesses to compete effectively in their respective marketplaces. Through improved online visibility and SEO rankings, they can attract higher-quality leads and convert better”.
5. Long-term Sustainability and Compounding Effect
“One often overlooked or underappreciated benefit of content marketing for small businesses is its long-term sustainability and compounding effect,” says Haley Slade of Slade Copy House.
“Unlike traditional advertising methods with limited lifespans, content marketing creates lasting value for your business”.
“One key advantage is the evergreen value of well-crafted content. Informative articles, blog posts, and videos can remain relevant and valuable to your target audience over an extended period. Even after being published, this content continues to attract organic traffic, generate leads, and build brand awareness,” says Slade.
6. Boost Audience Engagement and Retention
“Content creation is one of the most effective methods to engage your audience and address their queries,” says BBSA’s Anna Stella.
“High-quality content attracts people’s attention. It captures their interest and enhances interactions with a brand, especially when they get value from it. Creating high-quality content, therefore, increases the likelihood of retaining their attention and turning them into paying customers,” Stella says.
Ashley de Tello of Tello Publishing agrees: “The main advantage content marketing has over any other marketing method is that it allows you to create a relationship with your ideal customer. Based on a recent report by Demandmetric, as a result of content marketing, 70% of people feel closer to the company providing the content, 78% perceive a relationship between themselves and the company, and 82% of consumers feel more positive about the company in question. This elevated relationship attracts better customers who are ready to take action and will be happier with the results you provide”.
7. Increase Your Website’s Organic Traffic
Content marketing also plays a crucial role in improving your website’s search engine rankings. By consistently creating high-quality content optimized for relevant keywords, you increase your chances of appearing in search results. This ongoing organic visibility drives consistent traffic to your website without relying solely on paid advertising.
Haley Slade, CEO & Founder, Slade Copy House
8. Increase Conversion Rates
“Content marketing provides multiple touchpoints throughout the buyer’s journey. By offering informative and helpful content, you engage potential customers at different stages, nurturing them and guiding them toward making a purchasing decision. Over time, this can result in higher conversion rates,” says Slade Copy House’s Haley Slade.
9. Increase Sales for Your Small Business
As highlighted above, content helps build trust and credibility, and trust drives sales.
Consumers are likely to purchase from a brand they believe understands their pain points and genuinely cares not because they just want to sell.
You can show you care by creating content that communicates what your brand does and stands for in a meaningful and impactful way.
By creating useful content for your target audience, you keep the conversation going with your customers, which ultimately will drive sales for your business.
Wrap Up
The landscape is fast changing with new technologies and channels springing up everywhere but one thing stays true–content marketing holds a ton of opportunities for small businesses through its ability to engage, educate, and inspire.
Strike while the iron is hot. If you’ve been snoozing on content creation for your small business, you’re missing out.
Start by creating a solid content marketing strategy today.