Welcome to our multiple part series on inbound marketing for small business. In this series we will go over the different parts of inbound marketing and how it fits into your current marketing strategy. In this final week, we will go over the creating content, types of content, and matching your marketing mix to your target audience.
Creating Content
Content creation is the core of inbound marketing. It gives search engines the information necessary to tell what your website it about. Content creation also gives you things to share and reasons to reach out to your audience. But what is content? Content is any type of information that you put together to be transmitted to your audience. There are many different types, subjects, and dissemination methods that should be targeted to your audience. A few weeks ago we went over defining your target audience. Now we can use that information to make content that serves a purpose.
Types of Content
When creating content, there are two important things to think about: the message and the method. Message refers to what it is that you want to tell your audience. Method is the way to get it to them. Choosing the right message and method are the key to an effective piece of content.
Messages can be anything from product reviews or tutorials, to ads or special offers. The right message depends mostly on your audience and where they are in the buying process. For example, a tutorial may be a great piece of content for someone who knows their problem, but don’t what the solution is. A special offer is probably only effective to someone who has already chosen a solution to their problem, but are trying to decide which product to purchase.
Method, however, can be anything from blogs, to white papers, to videos. The right method depends mostly on the type of audience and what your message is. If you are trying to get a tutorial to a millennial, a YouTube video may the best way to go. If you are trying to get an ad to a retiree, though, you may want to put it in a printed publication or mailer.
Choosing Your Marketing Mix
Knowing who your target audience is and the best method to reach them is the key to being an effective marketer. To have an effective marketing mix, you need to create content for each type of audiences you have and for each stage in the buying process. If you have a hard time with this, it may be best to write down each audience type and each stage of the buying process in a list and cycle through it. Because your company may have many products, your list may be very long. However, if you only have a single product, your list may only be a few items long. For this reason, larger companies may need to put out content more often than smaller companies to be equally effective.
Conclusion
As always, I hope this has been helpful and informative in some way. If you or your small business have any questions about anything in this series, please feel free to reach out. We also offer inbound marketing services for small businesses if you need assistance.
