A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting a Content Marketing Strategy for Startups

One of the best ways for startups to make it big is with a carefully crafted content marketing strategy – follow this step by step guide to start now.

Crafting a Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing is an important part of gaining public traction for startups.

Small firms with only a few employees can’t afford to invest four-digit sums into marketing.

Recent surveys show that 62% of businesses in the US operate with five or less employees.

This is a staggering number since it represents the competition you have to deal with in order to get noticed.

To that end, an internal content marketing strategy can fill the void and make ends meet. Let’s take a look at several steps and guidelines which can help your startup grow in popularity and gain the necessary traction.

 

  1. Set up realistic goals

Each startup has a central idea that keeps it from falling apart.

This idea can be anything you and your partners decided to focus on during your business’ development. The content marketing strategy you develop should revolve around meeting that goal (or goals).

For example, if you are working on a new AI algorithm for driverless vehicles, the content you create should push your vision and goals forward. Those goals can then separate into attainable KPIs.

The KPIs you set should be marketing-oriented and in no way rely on the main focus of your work.

A good example of this can be: Attract X of visitors, convert Y visitors into followers. These goals are numeric and can come to fruition in a number of weeks or months following your initial content strategy setup.

 

  1. AdWords for keywords

Digital marketing lives and breathes by SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) represents the epitome of content marketing online. Your content can and should have as much SEO as possible in order to rank well and get noticed by potential clients and followers.

A great way to start your content marketing strategy is to research the relevant keywords for your content. Google AdWords is a popular platform specifically designed to help marketers reach their relevant audiences.

using adwords for keyword research

An AI-based startup (for example) should focus on keywords and phrases which directly allude to that industry. Once you have found a number of keywords which you can use in your content, you can work on your content types and general topics.

 

  1. Develop a content plan

Your content plan is just as important as the initial keyword planning.

It makes a huge difference whether you create blog posts; focus on banner ads or multimedia content. Make sure that the content types you pick match your startup’s style and products.

Once you settle on the content types, you should create topics and messages which will get featured in the content. For example, motivational quotes and social proof work well on social media platforms. Blog posts and discussion articles work great when published on your website or a dedicated industry platform.

Develop a list of content which will you will produce over the next several weeks and start putting it in order of publishing – this is commonly referred to as a content calendar. Your calendar should be so that you have something new to post each day or every two days at least. With a content plan in hand and a general idea of your content marketing strategy, you can safely proceed to the content creation itself.

 

  1. The content creation process

Content creation is laborious work, often best suited for dedicated writers and content creators.

You should not create it lightly as it can lead to bad publicity or no public buzz about your brand at all. With that in mind, we can separate the content creation process into several distinct stages:

  • Outline the content

A content outline can make it easy for you to create content continuously. Make sure to separate your content into distinct subheadings and bullet points before writing further.

You can refer to Trust My Paper for help with outlining your content or finishing the writing process. It is much easier to fill the gaps instead of writing ad hoc without any guidance.

  • Use a template

A content creation template goes beyond simple outlines and text files. Assign each content piece to a writer best suited to create it.

If you lack professional writers, you can check out writing resources and find one that suits your style easily. You can use the same system on an ongoing basis in order to maintain the consistent quality of your content.

  • Spellcheck and format

Quality control is an important part of content creation – you don’t want to get bad rep as a small startup. Spellcheck your content before publishing it and make sure that everything is easy to read.

A number of professional editors are available online. They can quickly check your content for proofreading errors if you don’t have an editor onboard. Make it a habit to do a final sweep for any technical errors that might have crept their way into your content before calling it a day.

 

  1. Technical SEO matters

rivetworks

Besides the content you create, you will have to maintain good SEO optimization of your site-wide UI and data. The more effort you put into technical SEO, the better ranking and subsequent traffic will be through popular search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Some of the most important technical SEO activities include:

Native site design – Smartphones, tablets and laptops are affordable and widely-used. You need to make sure that your site is accessible through all devices, screens and browsers. Use a native design solution on your startup’s website in order to get into the good graces of SEO.

Hosting for multimedia – You need to avoid uploading images, videos and other multimedia onto your website. Use third-party hosting sites and link your content back to the website in order to speed it up. This will make it easy for people with low bandwidth to access your content.

Include alt-data – Alternative data plays a huge role in SEO optimization. Make your content available for people with disabilities or general difficulties with browsing the web. Include textual descriptions of images, transcripts of video files and other remedies for would-be readers. This will do your site a huge favor when SEO is in question, not to mention the positive word of mouth it carries.

 

Ongoing content creation (Conclusion)

Once your content marketing strategy is in place, you can continue creating content as you see fit. Make sure to continuously produce new content for your followers in order to make the most of the SEO and high ranking you have achieved.

You can safely shift between marketing campaigns and content topics once the initial KPIs get fulfilled. However, don’t rest on your laurels and presume that people will stick by you if you don’t provide them with any content. Craft and reinvent a new content marketing strategy every once in a while and your startup will grow organically as a result.