6 Ways You Can Revitalize Your Startup’s Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is a low-cost, high-ROI marketing strategy. And, when done well, it can help any business make a name for itself, which is why it’s the preferred way of attracting new customers for startups.
But the thing about content marketing is that not everyone knows how to make it work. According to Ahrefs, as much as 90.63% of all published content gets zero traffic from Google. And, out of the remaining 9.37%, the majority gets 0-10 monthly visits.
Considering these numbers, entrepreneurs want to look for proven-to-work content strategies to ensure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.
So, whether you’re just starting the planning process for your startup’s content strategy or have had lackluster results so far, the following six are the best ways to revitalize your attempts and enjoy the best possible results.
Invest in Video
Over the past couple of years, video has made its way to the top of most entrepreneurs’ content marketing strategies, and with good reason.
Not only did video use grow 263% amongst brands between 2016 and 2020, but consumers are becoming increasingly invested in the format as well. According to Statista, 27.2% of online viewers consumed more than 10 hours of video per week in 2020, and digital video penetration reached a record 81.1% in the US, showing just how useful an asset video really is.
So how exactly can you use video to grow your startup? Well, there are a couple of excellent solutions.
One of the more basic ways video serves startups is that it enables them to present their products/services in a positive light. Explainers and product walkthroughs like the ones used by Slack have proven time and again to be effective at grabbing consumer attention and introducing new ways of thinking to wide audiences.
But a more advanced way of making video a part of your startup’s content marketing strategy is to utilize it as an alternative to the traditional blog post.
Seeing that YouTube is considered the second most popular search engine worldwide, it’s an excellent distribution channel and so a proper YouTube marketing strategy can effectively get your branded content to reach a bigger audience and boost your site’s organic traffic.
Companies like Scott’s Cheap Flights have found ways to get more out of their existing content, simply by creating video versions, uploading them to YouTube, and presenting them as the alternative to reading an instructional blog post.
For example, the video below based on their how to use Google flights post boasts more than 436k views on YouTube and helps this startup secure position number 2 on Google for the search term “how to use google flights.”
This is a particularly beneficial tactic for brands that want to boost the accessibility of their posts, seeing as video is easier to consume than text.
Plus, choosing this route for revitalizing your startup’s content marketing strategy helps you infuse your posts with additional value. After all, video does a killer job at engaging viewers and helps them understand and retain the info provided by your brand.
Experiment With Podcasts
Do you feel video isn’t the best format for your brand’s content strategy? Well, you can still get impressive results by doing things slightly different than everyone else in your niche.
Podcasts have been on the rise for the past couple of years, and they’ll only get bigger. Statista, for example, predicts that the number of monthly podcast listeners in the US will reach 164 million by 2024, making this format an absolute winner for revitalizing an otherwise run-of-the-mill content strategy.
But, in addition to their growing reach, podcasts bring a few more benefits for startup marketing teams prepared to do the work.
- Podcasting is a long-term marketing strategy that continues to benefit a business even months/years after an episode has been published.
- People listen to podcast episodes mainly at home and during their commute. This essentially means that brands that deliver this type of content have a unique opportunity to reach audiences in spaces they wouldn’t manage to penetrate otherwise.
- A successful podcast isn’t necessarily just a tactic for customer acquisition. It can also serve the purpose of customer retention by consistently delivering value to paying clients.
An excellent example of a startup whose content marketing strategy relies on podcasting comes from Adbadger.
This company effectively combines its weekly 20-minute podcast with slightly more traditional content forms (like blogs, social media posts, and gated resources). Thanks to this approach, the podcast brings value to existing customers looking for ways to get more out of their software purchases.
But what makes this format such a success is that it also represents a space where Adbadger can recommend its solutions to listeners in the awareness stage of the sales funnel, who understand their pain points but still aren’t knowledgeable about the concrete solutions.
Target a Highly-Specific Niche With Long-Form Content
Bite-sized instant gratification may be the modus operandi in 2021 (thanks to ephemeral content on TikTok and Instagram). But it’s not the only type of content worth investing in for long-term success.
For startups looking to revitalize their marketing efforts with show-stopping content, long-form might just be the way to go.
Research shows that long-form articles provide a high ROI in several ways. For one, blog posts between 1,000 and 2,000 words get 56.1% more social shares and 77.2% more backlinks. Secondly, long-form content can:
- Boost SEO
- Build brand authority
- Be easier to repurpose for a variety of distribution channels, thanks to its sheer volume
But one rarely considered advantage of opting for long-form content for startup brands is that it’s an excellent way to cover niche topics.
Thanks to their physical allowance, these types of posts allow marketers with industry-specific insights to provide valuable information on complicated subjects, effectively managing to address consumer questions no one else is talking about.
Moreover, with timely content auditing and strategy, posts longer than 1.5k words allow ample space to provide specific details, actionable advice, and explanations. That’s certainly not something that the average 800-word article manages to do.
Some of the best examples of long-form content used to cover niche subjects come from the fitness world. Typically, though, this is an industry where most resources only scratch the surface but never cover the whole picture.
Understanding this, Transparent Labs decided to go in a different direction. The brand hired a team of certified sports nutritionists and nutrition coaches to write articles about diet plans and workout guides for specific body types.
Going into detail about macronutrient intake, supplements, and specific muscle-building exercises, this fitness startup’s mesomorph diet and workout guide is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants a science-based fitness plan guaranteed to yield results.
Launch a Focused Outreach Campaign
For a more proactive method of getting 110% out of your startup’s content, it’s also not a bad idea to launch a focused outreach campaign. Especially if you already have a good amount of high-quality content published.
One way to go about outreach marketing is to select your most valuable piece of content and identify potential clients who match your ideal customer persona. Then, you can put together a cold outreach email. Introduce your brand. Describe how you think the brand/person will benefit from reading the content you include in the email. And, suggest ways in which your company might be able to help them.
Or, if cold emails are not your thing (which is understandable, seeing that this strategy might take months before it yields palpable results), you can take the slightly easier route and employ social listening.
People regularly use social media to ask for product recommendations and advice. This gives you the perfect opportunity to share your startup’s content with potential clients or advocates who are genuinely interested in learning more about topics your startup specializes in.
Twitter, Quora, and Reddit are possibly the best places to implement this strategy. And, if you hit the nail on the head with the info you provide, you have the chance of getting your content exposed to a much wider audience than anticipated, seeing that you’re likely to get a retweet or share.
Interview Thought Leaders
Have you launched just recently and still have a ways to go before you’ve successfully positioned your brand as the authority in your niche? Even if that’s the case, you should still try to think about ways to supercharge your content marketing strategy.
One possible solution, in this case, is to interview thought leaders from your industry. That is, to piggyback off of their authority.
Superhuman did this recently by bringing in bestselling author Tiago Forte to talk about the role of email in achieving productivity. Understanding that its client base consists of entrepreneurs looking to work smarter, not harder, Superhuman managed to find the perfect solution to attracting a relevant audience.
Especially seeing how the content is guaranteed to resonate and holds the chance of converting potential clients who are still on the fence about spending $30 per month on an email client.
Alternatively, you can also work to find guest spots that will allow you to share your insights and expertise with an already established and engaged following. Consider writing guest posts on publication platforms whose readers match your target audience.
Moreover, see if you can make a guest appearance on a podcast or popular YouTube channel, as these are excellent places to share your experience and introduce your startup brand to people who are likely to find it interesting.
Update Your Outdated Evergreen Content
Lastly, as you look for ways to revitalize your startup’s content marketing strategy, don’t forget that new does not necessarily mean better.
Yes, there are some rules you should follow regarding content distribution, namely that you should stick to a consistent publishing schedule. But the truth is, not every single one of your posts has to be brand new. Your audience is just as likely to appreciate updates to already published articles, especially if they are evergreen and generate a consistent amount of interest.
So, for example, if you know that one of your most popular blog articles is an in-depth guide to business metrics, like this one by Clickup, it’s only natural that you should update it once per year (or quarter) with new data. The same goes for evergreen posts that look over statistical data, top 10 lists for solutions in your industry, etc.
Furthermore, regular content updates allow you to review the links in your posts (internal and external) as well as the visuals you’ve included. Who knows, perhaps you can make an article more engaging by adding visuals. Or, you might be able to help a podcast episode boost your site’s organic traffic by providing a transcript or expanding the list of recommended resources.
Final Thoughts
The great thing about content marketing is that it’s accessible to anyone.
Even if your startup only has access to a limited budget, you can still produce valuable pieces that can nurture casual readers/viewers/listeners into loyal customers. But for you to achieve that, you have to be prepared to do some experimenting. Both with the format and the contents of your startup’s content.
That’s why you shouldn’t hesitate to try out the strategies we’ve talked about here. Sure, some may require a heftier initial investment than others. But at the end of the day, spending more time and money on a piece that’s 100% unique in your industry is sure to secure better results than covering the same old topics everyone’s already milked to death.
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