How To Use Content Marketing To Grow Your Small Businesses During a Recession

Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns. Without the massive cash reserves many larger companies have, they can struggle to maintain operations when revenue streams dry up. Unfortunately, less income often translates to lower spending on marketing efforts, which only compounds the problem. Instead of cutting back, learn more about how marketing can help support and grow your business during a recession.  

Effective Content Marketing Strategies

Content marketing is not synonymous with advertising. Instead, it is a way to build your brand and audience through primarily organic campaigns. This help keep costs lower than with other methods. Additionally, you’ll notice that the effects of your efforts grow exponentially as your audience grows. That is part of the beauty of an effective content strategy. 

When you get started in content marketing, it is important to understand that there are different types of content. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. You should try one you are most comfortable with at first, but don’t be afraid to venture into newer areas as you start to see results. 

Link Building

One of the best content strategies to grow your audience is link building. However, you want to stay on the right side of online rules for this. Utilizing white hat link building is an excellent approach. It uses accepted practices to link similar content (think of it as the “good guy” of backlink articles) across different sites.

Over time, these network connections help improve your search rankings and increase traffic to your site. Just be aware that it can take several months to notice positive changes. 

Expanding Social Networks

Social networks are free to join, so this is a great way to stretch your budget. However, opening accounts and letting them sit can be more harmful than helpful. For example, potential customers might notice that you haven’t posted anything to your Facebook page in over a year and assume you have closed. That is why sticking to a limited number of platforms is important. Choose one or two that you can manage successfully, and then stick to a regular posting schedule. 

Email Campaigns

Email has been around for decades, so if you aren’t making the most of it, you are clearly missing out. Use one of the many email marketing programs to create campaigns that are relevant to your customers. Many are low-cost, and there are even a few free options to help your marketing dollars go further.

Tips for Building a Strong Marketing Plan

The adage about not putting your eggs in one basket should definitely apply to your marketing plan. In other words, don’t rely only on content marketing. You will still want to put resources into other types of brand-building and advertising strategies. 

Additionally, your marketing plan should include more than one approach within the content industry. For example, start a blog to position yourself as an authority in your field. Then, hire an agency to create effective backlink articles and generate traffic toward your site. At the same time, you can add some social marketing posts based on your on-site content. 

How Small Businesses Can Get Started With Content Marketing

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you start exploring options for content marketing. However, developing a simple plan that details what to do and when (and then sticking to it) will help you stay on track. 

A good starting point is picking two types of content you think will serve your business the best. Then, focus your energy on these for several months. Remember that it will take time to see results from your efforts, so you may just start noticing a positive effect as you begin to expand your effort to new platforms. 

Content marketing is an excellent tool for small businesses looking to grow their brands during slower economic times. When executed correctly, your plan should continue to gain momentum over time, making it an excellent long-term investment. As you develop a content marketing strategy, be sure to include all of the avenues you plan to cover.