Ten reasons why startups need to invest in content marketing

Disclaimer: This post has been contributed by RP Singh, founder of KontentCart (KontentCafe has been rebranded as KontentCart) as a promotion for the workshop that is to be conducted on August 28, 2015.

Whilst starting up, you may be a little confused about what to do after getting your basic digital assets, like the website, mobile app and online social media channels, in place. You will be struggling to take a decision between local and expanded marketing, search engine optimisation or pay-per-click advertising, and local offline advertising. One important element which lot of startups are now exploring is content. As Content Marketing Institute defines, “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action”. You will be surprised to know that content marketing is not only affordable but also a very effective form of marketing at the initial stage, when you may not have resources, unlike large established players.

Here are 10 ways in which content marketing can help:

1. Create brand awareness: It is very important for a startup to raise awareness about its brand. This is exactly what your content does each time you publish it: it reaches out to your potential customers.
2. Engage with your customers: What can be a better way to know your customers and their requirements than engaging with them directly? Content marketing gives you the platform to reach out to your customers and engage with them.
3. Build credibility for your brand: Good, informative content helps establish your brand as an expert in its area. It is this expertise that helps build customer trust, making your brand the preferred choice for customers.
4. Differentiate your products and services from those of competitors: Informative and valuable content on your website not only helps in establishing you as an expert in your category, but also differentiates you from your competition and gives you an edge.
5. Customer retention: Regularly updated content gives your customers a reason to visit your website again. This helps in retaining your customers as you have move value to give them. Frequently updated valuable content also attracts new visitors and engages them on a regular basis. These visitors are likely to become your customers.
6. Cost-effective marketing: Content marketing helps you with inbound marketing which, according to a survey by Hubspot, is 60 per cent less expensive than paid approaches.
7. Rank higher in searches: Regularly updated, fresh content is the key to SEO. Sharing this content on social media platforms and adding relevant keywords will help you rank higher is searches.
8. Fuel your social media: Sharing your regularly updated website content on social media pages will add fuel to your business. What’s better, this shared content will drive traffic back to your website.
9. Gain Expertise: Creating valuable content on a regular basis will not only help your startup establish itself as an expert in its field, but will also keep you updated with the latest trends in your industry.
10. Convince and Convert: Content marketing helps expedite a person’s journey from learning to taking the buying decision. This reduces your sales cycle and helps in fast conversion of leads.

Are you interested in learning more? Here's a workshop by KontentCart in association with YourStory that you shouldn't miss.