Why Content Marketing For Startups Is Totally Worth It

The hype is real; it’s everywhere and for good reasons – content marketing is the new king of online advertising. All hail the king!

But when many companies started, content marketing wasn’t even a word or a concept. Many years later, these firms have grown tremendously by using content marketing as a platform to generate leads and nurture customer relationships. 

Small businesses now compete for attention with large global companies who spend millions on traditional advertising campaigns. 

In this post, we’ll discuss why content marketing is worth all the hype, what it takes to do it right and some examples of startups that have excelled with it.

Related: The 2022 Guide to Real Estate Content Marketing

Why is content marketing worth all the hype?

First of all, it is an affordable form of advertising. It is cost-effective due to its different forms of approach that allow access to low-cost marketing options such as social media, blogs, etc. 

It also helps with SEO ranking. Content marketing helps businesses spread their sought-after organic keywords through their websites in an engaging and valuable way. It can also increase the number of backlinks. 

It also helps establish domain authority. With consistent content marketing, your metrics will rank high and search engines will always bring your site up as one of the best sites for each search term. 

Another advantage of content marketing for startups is that it helps with brand awareness. As explained above, content marketing for startups means more representation for your brand, whether it be technology, health and fitness, food, etc. Quality content creation lets you show your audience who you are and what your brand represents. 

Despite these numerous benefits, it’s not an easy feat to get great results if you don’t have a good strategy. All the more reason to learn from the accomplishments of startups that continuously draw high-quality targeted traffic and conversions through exceptional content marketing.

How to kickoff content marketing as a startup

1. Identify your target audience 

Before you can create the right content, you need to know who you’re writing for. This can be as simple as asking yourself, “Who would find my blog post useful?” or “What problems do I solve for my readers?”

2. Create a target persona

Once you have figured out who your target audience are, it’s time to find out what you know about them. What are their goals? What makes them tick? Start by asking yourself these questions. You can also use tools like Google Analytics and HubSpot’s Marketing Tools to get a better idea of who your customers are and where they’re spending their time online. Once you have this information, it will be easier for you to determine what type of content is most likely going to appeal to them. 

3. Create a content marketing plan/strategy

Figure out how you can get them on board with your brand and products/services. This can be done through content creation or through email marketing campaigns. 

Content creation is the more common option for startups because it allows them to publish their own material without having any budget constraints or restrictions. However, this also means that they need to be really creative in order for their audience to find them online and read what they have written about anyway! If you want more information on how this works, check out our post on “7 Deadly Sins to Avoid When Creating a Content Strategy.”

4. Determine your content type and pillars

Identify what type of content you need to write for your audience and what pillars are most important for them to read and interact with. You can use BuzzSumo or SimilarWeb as tools to discover which topics are trending at any given time, but also think about what topics interest people based on their interests, needs, and goals.

Recall that content is more than just blog writing, there are other options like email newsletters, videos, print content, visual content, ebooks, etc. Choose what appeals the most to your target audience. 

Related: How to improve your podcast advertising effectiveness

5. Research possible topics

Now you already know what kind of content is effective for your industry. Start by doing some research on the topic of your choice, as well as the blogs and websites ranking high in search engines for that topic. 

Inbound marketing experts will tell you that you should be targeting highly-trafficked sites with your content, but this can be tough to do if you don’t know where to start. You could outsource your content marketing needs to professionals.

Related: Why you should outsource content marketing (and how)  

6. Determine what channels you want to upload your content

At this point, I’m guessing you already have your content. However, you are only successful when it reaches a lot of people. 

It’s important to understand the different places where people are likely to look for information about your business. One of the best ways to do this is by researching which social media platforms, podcasts, and blogs people use in your industry and then seeing what types of posts get the most engagement from them.

What kinds of content can startups create ?

• Blog Articles: Articles are great for so many reasons. It establishes your company as a thought leader and also helps start conversations. Your blog posts can cover a variety of topics, such as company updates, culture, and industry-related issues. An example of a startup that has nailed it with this is Mint. 

• Case Studies and Testimonials: Case studies are an effective way to convert leads. Once you show them examples and give them real numbers, it serves as evidence that your product or service works. 

• Email Campaigns: After you’ve grown an audience base, it’s important to continually foster a relationship with them. The best way to do this is through occasional newsletters. You can use this medium to share news, give them updates, tips, resources, and so on. 

• Social Media Posts: You cannot talk about content marketing without including social media posts. It’s the perfect platform to interact with customers directly and share content as well. 

• Podcasts: Podcasts are another way you can create content for your audience. This tactic allows you to speak on topics that interest them while also subtly selling whatever you’re offering. You can also feature guests that are within the same industry. 

• Videos: You have to admit that this is one of the most engaging and captivating kinds of content. It can work for so many different things, like explainers, walkthroughs, feature updates, and so on. Do you know that after Google, YouTube is the second most popular search engine? You definitely don’t want to sleep on creating videos. 

• Infographics: If you’re looking for ways to make your content easier and simpler to understand, infographics are a good way to go. It is also a great way to boost SEO rankings and brand awareness. 

Startups That Have Hacked Content Marketing For Their Own Good 

1. Hubspot

If there’s a brand that keeps coming up when successful content marketing is being talked about, then it’s Hubspot. With great content on their blog, free tutorials, and more, they are the startup that every other startup aspires to be like.

Back in 2016, Hubspot was a new business in the market, but with quality and innovative content, they grew. They have been able to generate 75% of their leads from content marketing. They achieved this by offering free resources like  case studies, e-books, white papers and hosting webinars. For people to get this free content, they had to fill a form and leave their information, becoming a lead in the process. In addition to this, Hubspot adds a clear Call-To-Action at the end of every blog post. 

2. Buffer

Buffer is a software application that helps to manage social media accounts by scheduling posts, analyzing results, and engaging with online audiences. Actually, they started out as a Twitter scheduling app before putting their services up on LinkedIn and Facebook.

When they first started building, they reached out to blogs and pitched to media outlets, hoping they would get featured and gain a large audience. Then the founder, Leo Widrich started guest blogging and grew to 100,000 users in just 10 months. 

Buffer’s content marketing strategies have played a lot of positive roles in its growth. Right now, it offers three applications for users: Buffer Publish, Buffer Analyze, and Buffer Reply.

Yes, you guessed right, Buffer’s major content marketing strategy is guest blogging.

3. KISSMetrics

KiISSMetrics is a marketing analytics platform that can help with understanding, analyzing, and improving the metrics that drive your online business. 

This startup is one of the most popular marketing platforms, and even though it started on a bad patch, it’s now very successful. 

For KISSMetrics, they mainly use curated content and hashtags from Twitter to reach a large audience. 

Soon after, they progressed to blogging, which accounts for over 70% of their leads and 82% of their website traffic. KISSMetrics currently has 100,000 monthly visitors. 

Mint Finance App 

Mint initially collaborated with a leading personal finance website and got 20,000 email signups in nine months.

Now, they have the Mintlife blog, where they consistently publish financial tips, videos, and news. They rank highly in search engines and even rank number one for the keyword “personal finance.” 

Content Marketing for startups above the curve

The lesson here is that when done right, content marketing can help you provide your audience with great quality and interesting information, improve brand awareness, and it can ultimately bring you more sales. That’s why it’s worth the investment—and why you should look for ways to implement it in your own business.

Not sure of how to get started? We got you covered. 

We can help you develop a successful and scalable content marketing strategy to grow your brand. Book a demo with us today!

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We have worked with over 24 startups to drive conversions through increased community presence and relevant blog posts that we help distribute. To understand our process, book a 15 - 30 minutes meeting with us.