The Simple Guide to Content Marketing for SMEs
Content marketing is all the rage now, with many businesses adopting this new type of marketing as a fresh way to reach out to potential customers. Fire up your Web browser today, and you will see plenty of examples of content marketing everywhere: blogs, social media posts, and online live streams are just some of them.
If you own a small or medium-sized business, you should definitely consider adding content marketing initiatives to your overall marketing strategy. When done right, content marketing can go very far in helping companies promote their products and services and bring more awareness to their brand.
Read on to find out how getting the right creative freelancers can help you create content that sells.
Before you start
If you have yet to build a content marketing strategy, read this quick but comprehensive guide on hiring creative freelancers that can help you craft one. A good strategy will include well-defined components such as target audience groups, the platforms you want to post your content on, as well as your marketing messages.
Once you have your strategy ready, keep reading.
“How can I create content that goes viral?”
Before we go into the finer points of content creation, let’s address this question first, as it is one that is very often asked. How can one create content that goes viral?
The short answer to this question is, “You can’t.”
While some types of content (such as those that are sensational, involve cats, or are just hilariously funny) have a higher chance of going viral on the Internet, there is no guarantee that any piece of content specifically created for virality will be able to meet that objective.
It’s also important to remember that “going viral” just means that a piece of content is suddenly being viewed and shared by a tremendous number of people online. Viral content can bring fame and good results for its creators, but it can also backfire and end badly.
Thus, instead of focusing on trying to get a piece of content to go viral online, we would advise that SMEs (and indeed, all businesses) should focus more on creating content that their target audiences will enjoy consuming.
Coming up with creative ideas for content can be challenging, and it may be best to leave this portion of the work to the professionals. Freelancers who specialise in content creation or content ideation are the best people to take on this task.
To get the most out of your freelancer’s professional expertise, make sure that you share with them crucial information such as your business objectives, business model, and product information. This will help the freelancer understand your business and products/services better so as to create the most relevant content.
How to create content that people will love
It may all sound very complex, but content really works on a very simple formula. In order for your content to be well-received by your target audience, it must either:
Be entertaining; or
Offer useful information
Let’s explore these points in a little more detail. Content such as celebrity news or funny videos are entertaining in nature. They create an enjoyable experience for readers. On the other hand, important news such as social distancing measures taken due to the pandemic, offer useful information that readers need to know. Even if these pieces of content are not entertaining, people will still invest their time to read them.
So when creating content to marketing your products or services, you will need to make sure that it fulfils one of the above two criteria. It needs to be either entertaining or informative.
For example, are you going to create a funny video that features your brand logo at the end? Or are you going to come up with an informative infographic on how your product can help improve people’s lives?
The quality of your content is thus very important: if your blog or social media posts are boring, or are written in such a way that it is difficult to understand, it could get a negative reaction from your audience.
Should you need help in making sure that your content is always well-written, consider hiring a freelance writer. You can choose to hire writers who specialise in blogs or website content, or work with those who write for social media.
Visuals and rich media are the way to go
Today’s audience is a very visual one. People enjoy scrolling through images, watching videos, and swiping through rich media such as Instagram Stories way more than any other type of media. So if you have a plain blog or social media post with just black text on a white background, with no accompanying images, chances are that it will not be very well-received.
To capture the attention of your audience as they scroll through their social media feeds and Web article suggestions, make sure that your posts always feature great-looking images or graphics, and try to use videos and rich media where appropriate.
If you need help creating graphics, editing photos, or crafting rich media, you can get a freelance designer to help you.
Leverage on events and trends
Where appropriate, you can always create content that ties in with upcoming events or trends in order to attract the attention of your potential customers.
One common method adopted by many retail stores is to create a “Christmas gift guide” article that is published just before their year-end festive sale. These articles will usually highlight some of the items on sale and serve as a way to tempt customers to start shopping, even if they did not have the previous intention to buy anything.
However, you need to be careful in choosing the right event or trend, and ensure that the content is in good taste. Celebrating National Pizza Day (which takes place on 9 February every year) by offering discounts on pizza is a good idea. But coming up with a promotion that ties in with a sad occasion will probably end badly.
If you need someone to guide you, freelance digital marketers will be able to offer advice.
Reaping the benefits of content marketing
Content marketing is an exciting space that can help businesses showcase their products, let customers learn more about their brand, and build brand awareness.
Unlike traditional ads, content such as blog posts and videos can stay online for an extended period of time. This means that the content can continue drawing more customers for business without additional spend on ad dollars.
To achieve this, businesses will need to build a solid content calendar and publish great content regularly. If you need help creating content posts or building a content calendar, consider hiring freelance professionals to advise and assist you.
Should you like to find out more about how you can use content marketing to take your business to the next level, email us at contact@creativesatwork.asia to chat with us!
Recommended Readings
