Content Marketing: Why You Must Diversify

Does your small business have a content marketing strategy?

Does that content marketing strategy include multiple mediums?

Content marketing is changing everything. Until just a few year ago, this marketing strategy may have seemed like something you dabbled in when you had a few minutes in between running your business. Today, content marketing is a formidable force that can’t be overlooked. Content helps you attract and qualify potential leads, share your brand story, and piggyback on trending news stories to provide timely, relevant PR for your company.

In my own businesses, I recognize the benefits of a variety of content marketing. Not only do I provide content in print – such as newsletters, postcards, sales letters, and other direct mail pieces – but I also provide online content such as blog posts, infographics, video, white papers, and podcasts.

Put Your Eggs In More Than One Basket

In your retirement account, you’ve probably heard about the need to diversify the investments in your portfolio – because if you invest all of your money in one stock or sector, you risk having the entire strategy blow up in your face when something goes wrong. You wouldn’t want to sink 100 percent of your funds in the energy sector right before gas prices plummeted and that industry imploded.

Similarly, you don’t want all of your content marketing in one marketing channel, like a blog or a series of YouTube videos. If the trends change or people stop consuming content in that way, your entire marketing strategy is dead in the water. So keep your content marketing efforts diversified to protect yourself.

Target Content To Your Prospects’ Learning Styles

Everyone has an ideal learning style. Some are more visual (like me), others are more auditory, and still others tend to learn best by doing. If all you do is produce a podcast, for example, then you’re leaving out the people who want to see or do something – and the same applies to people who are reading your blog posts but wish they had an audio or interactive component to enjoy. People who may otherwise ignore your brand may become engaged if they find the type of content that appeals to them.

In addition to learning styles, you shouldn’t expect most of your audience to consume all of the content you produce across every channel – some people prefer to listen to a podcast on their way to work, and others like watching a bite-sized video on a specialized topic. Producing a variety of content in different formats is your best bet for connecting with all of your ideal prospects and customers.

Reuse and Recycle

This all sounds great, but how can you possibly keep up with the demand for all of this content? Well, there’s good news: You can repurpose content you wrote in a blog for your podcast, or take content from a short video and expand it into an article for your newsletter. Chop up these ideas into small nuggets and share them on your social media. Expand on one solid idea and make a white paper or e-book from it. If you hone in on specific points and subtopics and flesh those out, each of your content marketing pieces can complement the others without feeling like a complete rehash or copy.

And after you’ve gotten a new content format up and running, don’t forget to test it! More than just having content, your goals should be measured in terms of engagement, conversions, visitor loyalty, and so on. See which types of content are getting the best results and emphasize those. It’s pointless to put all of your energy into a podcast no one listens to while your videos are getting high engagement and social shares!

And remember, what gets a 20-something’s attention isn’t going to be the same thing that attracts a baby boomer’s eye. Don’t spend hours tricking out your company’s Instagram page if your demographic is more likely to connect with you over LinkedIn, for example.

With all that in mind, what can you do to improve your own content marketing efforts? Take some time to really think about who your audience is, and analyze which of your marketing endeavors get results. Focus on what’s working and don’t be afraid to get creative. Most all, have fun – it will shine through in your content marketing results!

About Stacey Riska

Stacey Riska, aka “Small Business Stacey” is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about saving small business and rebuilding Main Street. She helps small and local business owners become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz by teaching them marketing strategies that get MORE: MORE leads, MORE customers/clients, MORE sales, and MORE money. Stacey is the founder of Small Biz Marketing Specialist, THE go-to place for marketing tips, techniques and strategies that get results. Stacey is also the creator of the Daily Deals for Massive Profits Training Program, an online video training program that teaches small and local business owners how to use daily deal sites like Groupon to skyrocket their business growth and get massive profits. In this program she teaches from experience, as it was the key strategy that transformed her coffee and smoothie business from being $500K in debt to a 7-figure profitable business. When not saving the small business world, she enjoys sipping red wine, eating chocolate (who doesn’t!) and spending time with her amazing husband.