How Content Marketing Can Help Your Startup Grow

Content marketing can be one of the best tools at your disposal if you are looking to grow as a startup. These days, virtually every industry is competitive, and new businesses are constantly looking for ways to get ahead. A right marketing strategy is pretty much a must-have if they want to achieve that goal.

Understanding what content marketing is, what type of content you can utilize, and what are its benefits will be covered in this article. Keep in mind, though, that you also have to know your target audience beforehand. Otherwise, the content you publish could turn out to be irrelevant. 

Moreover, it is also crucial to determine the frequency and which content types should be used in different circumstances. First, let’s see what content marketing actually is, and then we can move on to the next part.

Content marketing definition

One of the first things that pop into our heads when we hear “content marketing” is written text, but there is more to it.

To define the term, we can say that content marketing is a strategic marketing technique used to come up with valuable and relevant content that is utilized to attract a specific targeted demographic. The ultimate goal of content marketing is to drive the desired customer action, such as downloading, subscribing, or purchasing.

Brands do not have to pitch products to potential leads directly. Instead, they can focus on offering solutions to problems and encourage the desired customer action indirectly, so to speak.

It is also common to collaborate on your content with other brands, celebrities, social media influencers, and other personalities. So long as the collaboration is beneficial to both parties, it should not be out of the question in one’s content marketing strategy.

Content marketing types

Like previously mentioned, written text is often associated with content marketing, but more and more brands are favoring different content marketing types. That is not to say that a startup should abandon blog posts, testimonials, customer reviews, or opinion pieces. If anything, this content type is still encouraged, particularly if you want to introduce variety. It is just that it is not recommended to overdo it with written text.

Type of content that is popular besides text includes:

1. Videos

Video is without a doubt one of the best content types as far as overall engagement goes. People find it easier to process visual information than text, and a properly edited video can be quite beneficial.

Uploading videos on social media like Facebook and Instagram is common, but a video marketing strategy should not stop with just SM platforms. YouTube, and Twitch TV, in particular, offer more opportunities to raise brand awareness by advertising a brand.

2. Animations

Simple or complex animations and even GIFs are another type of visual content that brands can utilize. The advantage of this content type is that it is easy to digest due to it being usually short and easy on the eye.

Animation is not necessarily something that we associate with marketing, but startups can create explanation videos about themselves and publish the animations on multiple platforms.

3. Images

Images need to look good or offer value if a startup expects to take advantage of them. Right now, infographics are probably the best example of a great content strategy as far as images go. Though they do require a lot of effort to create.

4. Podcasts

Podcasts are interesting because they are another content type that is not necessarily something we think of when talking about advertising. However, if you listened to a podcast or two, you might have heard a host giving a shoutout to a sponsor or a guest promoting their services.

Content marketing benefits

Now that we covered major content types brands can use in their strategy, let’s see what the most significant benefits of a well-running content marketing strategy for startups are.

1. Affordability

One of the biggest issues startups face, particularly early on, is a lackluster budget. Since there are different types of content you can use, you can choose from those that are relatively cheap. For example, you can find plenty of blogs to publish guest posts on, and finding a freelance writer or giving the task to someone from the inside should not be an issue either.

2. Presence

Startups have to establish their presence if they want to succeed. There are plenty of examples of when startups were on the right track early on but disappeared not too long after.

These things can happen because of a better alternative showing up or people simply forgetting about a startup existing in the first place.

The more content marketing startups do, the higher their visibility, which translates to brand awareness.

3. Authority

Building authority is another benefit of content marketing. Customers are unlikely to engage with a company that seems unreliable. On the other hand, the odds of increasing conversions increase when potential leads recognize the value startups introduce via their content that helps solve problems.

4. Loyalty and Trust

Having helpful videos, articles, studies, infographics, and other content published on a startup website or third-party channels increases loyalty and trust. Similar to how solutions build authority, they also encourage trust.

5. Growth

Roughly 2 in 3 startups report that the right content marketing strategy helps with the growth. Whether this growth is exponential or moderate varies from case to case, but there is no denying that startups are more likely to grow and survive if they have run content marketing campaigns.