The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as, “the technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined target audience in order to drive profitable customer action”.

Creating & sharing content about your business can be an effective tool to inform, engage and even acquire customers. Formulating a content marketing strategy may seem like an intimidating task but here are a few simple tips to help you articulate valuable information about your business and start conversations with your customers:

1. Create a company blog
A blog is a great way to build your brand and share relevant content about your company in an interesting, informal & conversational manner. In addition, it is easy-to-use and extremely cost effective. A vibrant blog is a fantastic means of reaching out to your potential customers and encouraging discussions. One must keep in mind that this is definitely not a forum for hard-selling! The key is to keep the tone of the blog informal, friendly & yet informative.

2. Create an online presence
The scope & reach of online channels has grown exponentially in a short span of time and this trend is here to stay. It is therefore important to build your brand on online platforms. A great way to start could be by building and updating your company profile on GlobalLinker, where you can network with a community of SME owners and potential customers. Engage in discussions on Biz Forum and contribute Articles of relevance to your industry. Use this forum for soft-selling rather than hard-selling. So instead of inundating the platform with information about your product, it would be prudent to participate in discussions and introduce your product through conversations and engaging articles.

3. Customise your content
Your content must address the needs of your core customers. Your ideal clients will have certain common attributes, behaviour or problems. Customise your content to your personas. This is the first step to building a loyal audience.

4. Reinvent (Recycle!) your content
You may look into your existing content pool and try to repackage the content to make it more relevant and interesting. For instance, you could update your Corporate Profile or re-work your Vision or Mission statement. It is also a good idea to look at all your print materials such as brochures, white papers, catalogues, books etc to extract relevant information. The key is to be resourceful. For instance, interacting directly with a few of your customers can provide material to build a FAQ section for your company website!

The rationale behind Content Marketing is that informative, relevant and quality content can lead to favourable consumer action and build brand loyalty. Therefore, these simple and cost effective tips can go a long way in building an effective Content Marketing Strategy for your business.