This isn’t one of those blog posts that intend to convince you that content strategy is the solution to all your problems. Especially if you’re the owner of a recent startup. We understand your need to get out there, get noticed and make some big bucks. We’re all in it for the money, eventually.
This is, however, going to be one of those short lists you can come back to every time your startup site or blog doesn’t seem to be going anywhere exceptional.
So why use content strategy for startups? Yeah, why?
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We’ll start by giving you an example. You’re a buyer, just like the rest of Earth’s population. You regularly purchase groceries, clothes, you pay for expenses but when you want to invest in something, you usually like to take some time and think about it, before risking to throw your money at people that don’t know how to use it. So you’re more on the safe side. All people are like that.
What’s that thing you need before purchasing something expensive or before making an investment? It’s called trust.
3 main issues of every startup
So, building and maintaining a content strategy helps with 3 main issues all startups encounter, at some point or the other. You want to let people know who you are and what your business is about, you want them to like you and, in time, you’re hoping you’ll gain their trust.
Prepare yourself to be disappointed. Nobody’s going to buy your products if they don’t know anything about you. No one will waste a penny on a recently launched business that doesn’t know how to handle clients yet.
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This is where a content marketing strategy comes in handy. Having a website and a blog with a reliable publishing calendar lets people find out some critical information about you. Brainstorming about engaging topics and using them for new posts will, in time, bring people to like you. They’ll start following you on social networks and subscribe to your newsletters. That is, if you’re in touch with social networks.
How to go about content creation, then?
The KISSmetrics blog has an insightful article about the entire process. According to the aforementioned post and to our experience, there are 4 stages related to content creation, at least in the case of startups.
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A topic list. You’re not certain that the blogging experience can work well in your case. Start with a simple list of subjects you’d like to address and try to get as many ideas as possible. Gather them from ex-coworkers, current co-workers and even customers. In short, we’ll tell you actual brainstorming doesn’t hurt, once in a while, because publishing attractive posts will make you gather an audience. Keep in mind to address the right public, though.
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Knowing what type of content is appropriate and when you’re supposed to publish it. We now live in an era ruled by social networks such as Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube or SlideShare. All these have something in common. Figured it out? They’re based on other types of content than the written one. So, create infographics, publish photos from work or even put together educational videos from time to time. This special type of content is eye-catching and always gets the attention of site visitors. Way more than a regular post, a post that contains a couple of bullets and some bolded lines. For nowadays, there are too many things to grasp and too little time.
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Guest blogging. Now this is a marketing method that is beneficial both for the imaginary startup and for the blogger. There are two ways of doing guest blogging.
- Either you go on the hunt for a relatively well-known blogger that’s in your industry and willing to write a blog post for your site, or you decide to guest blog for someone else’s site.
- If you’re ambitious and have a firm grasp on grammar, punctuation and all the other English requirements a writer for the internet absolutely needs, do guest blogging for other sites. Why?, you may ask. The answer is simple: there’ll always be a hyperlink on your name or on your site’s name, somewhere on the page you’ve written on. Evidently, the bigger the site you’ll write for, the better.
- So write an email to someone in the site’s team. But what if your message goes unnoticed? You’ll just have to take that chance, in the beginning. It doesn’t hurt to be ambitious, it is just really useful to be realistic. Don’t waste time on hugely popular sites that are extremely well-known. Try to aim blogs that are in the need of guest posts.
- Seize e-mails. Having a blog where you post regularly helps with acquiring a number of loyal visitors. You do have to realize, though, that people’s memory aren’t as strong as you may think it to be. Here’s where you provide them with the opportunity to subscribe to the blog, using their e-mail addresses. Therefore, you’ll slowly but surely create a database of people that are genuinely interested in reading your posts.
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Startups also have a tough time handling messaging, brand awareness and marketing. Creating a blog for a startup and publishing consistent content help with establishing communication channels with an audience, developing and regulating a business’ marketing practices, while underlining the significance and substance of the main activity.
So there you have it. Just a couple of pointers to make you better understand how content strategy can assist your startup in achieving online popularity.
Content power!
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