7 Reasons Content Marketing Is The Lifeboat Of Startups

Today we are living in a generation where talent and ideas are being
valued more than anything else (fortunately!). There was a time when businesses were only for the people who either have a legacy or a bag full of money.

But It is 2019 and all the myths around business establishments have
been busted. As a result,  the number of entrepreneurs is constantly rising. You won’t believe but in the US alone, 27 million people are estimated to leave their traditional workforce in favor of full time self employment by 2020.

While a few have a clearly defined strategy in mind, the others are
still struggling to identify the best marketing channels to make people aware of their business. The initial growing period of any new business is full of challenges but if it knows the right strategies, it can definitely see the
success in the long run. Marketing or we can say Branding if done right in the beginning can do half of the work.

The first few years are full of experiments. We plan different strategies, move our focus towards it and hope for the desired success. While there are multiple verticals for marketing a startup, content remains the top of all.

Yes, content marketing can be the lifeboat for your startups.

Startups are always walking on the thread, with low-budgets and high
risks, it sometimes gets extremely overwhelming. However, they can’t afford to let this hinder their growth. The growth rates of the startups must be either increasing or at least constant to attract investors and startups rely on content marketing to do so.

According to a survey by Wpcurve, 89% of the startups surveyed, use content marketing!

That being said, here are a few reasons why the majority is already
investing in the future and present of content marketing:

Source: Google.com

Content Marketing Influences Every Other Online
Strategy

Yes, you heard that right!

The content that you post, has got a substantial amount of influence on
your other online strategies, and if you are posting good, innovative, and
quality content, this influence will only drive positive results.

Here’s a quick summary of how it affects other online marketing
channels:

• If you want people signing your email list, a content piece with appropriate call-to-action will serve your purpose.
• Quality content crafted around relevant keywords can boost your SEO. With 95% of people looking only at the first page of search results, it is definitely worth optimizing.
• Content marketing has got its veins spread to branches like social media marketing, and influencer marketing. Because, what’s an influencer without exclusive product descriptions, or social media without attractive captions?
• Blogs can offer you enhanced visibility and improvised engagement since according to OKDork’s data, they are the most shared content online. Most of the businesses today leverage guest posting as a medium to let other bloggers become your voice.

Source: Moz.com

Your takeaway?

As a startup, you definitely look for diverse mediums to make people aware of your business. However, excellent content marketing techniques can give you an edge on all your online strategies, combined.

Content Marketing develops brand voice

Every startup, irrespective of the scale of operation has a voice of their own.

Still, we tend to listen to the ones who have made it big. For instance,
pick up a chocolate, what is the first name that strikes your mind? Ofcourse, Cadbury!

The voice you establish through your content marketing decides your rank
amidst the clutter. Content marketing is not just limited to showing the world that you are a desirable business, but also a means to build authority and gain reputation.

Startups are very restrictive on budgets with a lineup of expenses like
pre-sales research, product development, post-sales support and so much more. With the remaining balance, there are very limited options available that will help them develop a brand voice that is heard.

Since content marketing is inexpensive, it tops the list.

Blue Apron, an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit service that operates in the US grew 500% in 2015 attributing the entire success to its
content marketing strategies. They wanted to develop an authority in the food industry before pitching the audience for their products.

Thus, they created educational, fun cooking content backed up with recipes that led to a strong foundation of trust. Today, their audience consider Blue Apron their go-to source for anything kitchen related.

Good Content Never Gets Old

Good content pieces crafted with intricate research and personal
experience practically never gets old. This kind of content is termed as
evergreen content. It will attract the audience even years later, which means, the relevancy of the chosen topic does not expire for a considerably longer period of time.

However, this doesn’t imply that you should not produce trending
articles. A good balance of both will help you reach a larger audience and
establish yourself as an industry expert.

Google anything related to content marketing and you are most likely to
find Hubspot on the first page (if not in the first result). Their content marketing has a tremendous balance of both trending and evergreen pieces, the reason why over 75% of their generated leads are directed from their content.

Here’s a snapshot from my search results when I searched ‘content marketing tips’.

Source: Google.com

Takeaway

Startups were there too in the pre-internet era. But gone are the days when people were forced to hookup with Big Players for every major investment of their lives. Nowadays, people have options and this is evident from the way voices of startups being heard from many platforms. Hackernoon is one, Ted and Yourstory being other examples of glorious platforms that doesn't discriminate among voices based on the size of one's pocket.