Content Marketing boils down to providing helpful and informative content, over sales-like and pushy messages. Customers can then make an educated decision and come to you on their own terms. In doing so, they are much more likely to convert, between 7-10 times more likely!
There is no doubt about it, Content Marketing works. It can be tricky to dedicate the time and have the patience to see it through.
What this guide explores
- What content marketing is.
- Why it’s important.
- What works, and what really doesn’t.
- The 6 rules for Content Marketing.
- The main content types.
- How to identify content topics.
How much does content marketing cost?
There are two ways to plan your content marketing activity. The first is by understanding your current performance, your goals and your audience needs and listing activities that will help you meet these goals. The second, by starting from your available budget and prioritising the activities you can achieve within this.
Obviously, we would advocate the first option. However for small businesses, in the current climate especially, we understand the need for tight budget management.
Really the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Ask yourself the following:
Goals
Are you trying to increase brand awareness and subsequently organic traffic to your website? Are you more focused on generating leads for your business or are you keen to do both?
Budget
As a benchmark, businesses spend on average between 2.5% – 5% of total revenue on marketing, with a quarter of that on content marketing, what budget does this give you per month?
Budget restraints may mean you can’t do everything from the off, so you may need to prioritise your activities.
