Business Trends: Content Marketing for Small Business Success

Submitted by Erica Lemp, Editor, eBizToday@BizLaunch

As technology advances and attention spans get shorter, how do we market ourselves, our products, or our services to a consumer who has streamlined their information intake?  Today’s customer can fast forward through commercials and can successfully ignore print or electronic advertising, so how do we get our message out there?  Enter content marketing.   According to the content marketing institute, content marketing is “the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling.  It is non-interruption marketing.  Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent.  The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.”

In short, content marketing is client cultivation. It’s “friendraising” through education and relationships.   The audience has changed, and as such, it’s necessary for us to change our methods for reaching them. It’s blogging.  Its social media posts.  It is NOT traditional advertising.  National marketing executive, Heidi Cohen, has come out with her annual marketing checklist for small business success.  Number 8 on that list?  Define your 2015 content marketing strategy to support your sales process.  Find out more about how to plan a successful content marketing strategy by visiting the Content Marketing Institute online at http://contentmarketinginstitute.com  or read Heidi Cohen’s “Ultimate 2015 Marketing Checklist To Guarantee Success.”