Why Content Marketing is a Boon for Startups

Creating a customer base that buys your product or service is a basic struggle for every startup. And this is where Content Marketing steps in as a powerful weapon in your arsenal.
For those who don’t know much about content marketing, let’s start with a little definition
According to Content Marketing Institute

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Content creation takes time and efforts. And it’s important to ensure that your efforts are going in the right direction. So create a clear strategy about what kind of audience you want to target and the type of content that’ll be best to attract them.
Content Marketing can certainly reap fruitful results. Here are some startups who made it big with content marketing.
But keep in mind, this is only possible if you produce valuable content for your audience. Poor quality content will never give you good results.

Content Marketing Creates an Audience and Leads to Higher Conversion RatesThe main goal of content marketing is to provide valuable information to your readers. By providing valuable information to your target audience you are gaining their attention. You can use this opportunity to create awareness about your brand and pitch your product to them. But it should be done in balance and cleverly. Let them know how your product will help them achieve their goals. It is the best way to increase your conversion rates.
According to Demand Metric, Content marketing generates 3 times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, but costs 62% less.
Demand Metric also noted that 78% of the consumers perceive a relationship between themselves and a company using custom content.
The essence of content marketing is gaining the trust and loyalty of your audience and this trust is the reason why they buy from you. Content Marketing is an excellent way to build long-term relationship with your customers.

Content Marketing Increases Your Organic TrafficWith more useful content on your site, your chances of ranking higher on search engines will increase. Consistently producing content will lead to a steady increase in organic search traffic and higher rankings in search results.
Content creation is the single most effective SEO technique. (source )
With a good SEO strategy in place, you can optimize your content for specific keywords so that you can rank higher for them. This will help new people discover your brand and in turn, you will be rewarded with new fans and customers.

Higher Brand Reputation and Social Media FollowingHigh quality content spreads fast over the internet. You can get backlinks from leading sites in your industry. Higher number of inbound links from external sources will not just increase your overall traffic but they will also help you improve your brand’s reputation in the market. People visiting your site from these links will trust you as a credible source of information.
Interesting content is more likely to get shared on social media platforms too. Regularly publishing engaging content on your social media channels will increase your followers. And sometimes, it only takes one viral social media post to take your brand following from thousands to millions.
A (study) noted that, Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.
So your social media following is certainly a crucial asset for your business growth.

Lower Marketing Cost Than Outbound MarketingMost startups, unless they have received large fundings always try to save their cash where they can.
Content Marketing is a cost-effective method of marketing from a long-term perspective. It doesn’t give instant results from the start. It is a long term strategy. If you create custom content, it will be there for a lifetime to attract customers. Once a piece of content is written, it can direct traffic to your site for years. Plus, it is a lot more engaging than advertisements, so the conversion rate is also higher.
Outbound Marketing, on the other hand is a lot more expensive. Paid advertisements and commercials are some examples of outbound marketing. Advertisements are often ignored and people always try to get away without paying attention. Advertisements are like shouting at random people to promote your product where many of them don’t even want to listen to you. So the conversion rate is low.
According to a study, 54% more leads are generated by inbound tactics than traditional paid marketing. (source)

Conclusion

Content Marketing can be a vital marketing asset for startups , if done right. The key to growth is building a strong content marketing strategy. What kind of audience is best suited for your business, how to create content to attract them and gain their trust and how your content will guide your customers to buy your products are some important questions you should address beforehand. Many startups have achieved success through content marketing and you can too!