Content marketing is a tactic any small business owner can use to promote their business.

Why invest time with content marketing?

Three reasons:

• Web searches: local, social, and mobile searches are increasingly used to find goods and services
• Content that delivers value is a great opportunity to demonstrate competency and showcase how you differ from competitors
• Custom content builds your brand

Example: Real Estate Agent

A real estate agent’s job is more than selling a house—they have to sell the entire package surrounding the house, too: neighborhood, schools, job prospects, investment possibilities, etc. There are fair housing rules to ensure licensed Realtors do not discriminate or comment negatively on, say, a particular neighborhood or street. Within this context a Realtor must sell the buyer on the positive aspects of any particular house or street.

A Realtor could create the following custom content for marketing purposes (assuming s/he stayed within the boundaries of their license):

• Monthly email newsletter highlighting positive trends, area news, or niche-specific expertise (e.g. historic home restoration and sales)
• Video clips that educate prospects on “things to look for when evaluating a home”
• Audio series that discusses area history
• Postcard series that offers bite-sized landscaping, remodeling, or other tips
• QR codes: one Realtor I work with creates QR codes which direct to custom webpages for each of his luxury homes. These codes are distributed on all his web and print content.

Notice that these suggestions are all different media: written, visual, aural, and hard-copy print.

Preferred Content Attributes

Excellent content marketing shares these specific qualities, regardless of output medium:

• Delivers value to your audience—educational aspects are particularly desirable
• Showcases your expertise in a broader, real world context
• Demonstrates how your expertise is relevant to your prospects…but without being “all about me”.

Here’s my quick, recommended content philosophy. If you’re a small business owner sign up for email tips about using content marketing to your advantage.