11 Tips Every Entrepreneur Needs to Start Content Marketing

Content marketing is the biggest digital marketing strategy this year.

Everybody is doing it, and a solid content marketing strategy is proven to get results.

In fact, recent research from the Content Marketing Institute found 62% of B2B marketers are having more success in 2017 than the prior year.

It’s no surprise.

In fact, 97% of respondents to the 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends North America report from CMI consider their content marketing efforts successful.

Sounds great, right?

But all these statistics are meaningless if you don’t have the proper content marketing strategy.

I’m not here to write your strategy for you. Each one is individually unique.

What I’m here for today is to provide tips to incorporate into your current strategy.

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to compete with the big boys using content marketing, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s get started.

1. Perform media outreach

Media outreach is an often-overlooked factor in content marketing success.

Yet 27% of marketers believe earned media is more important than paid and owned media, according to AdWeek.

This fuels my digital marketing strategy, and it should be a major part of yours, too.

I typically get my earned media through guest blogs and appearances on media outlets.

For example, I’m a contributor to Forbes.

I consider this quite an accomplishment, considering Forbes has such a large reach.

According to Forbes Media, it averages 50-million unique monthly visitors with 34-million social followers.

That’s a huge mainstream audience.

I’m also a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post.

It generates 1.1-billion page views across the globe and is an essential publication in any earned-media strategy.

Guest blogging is a great way to generate earned media, but it’s not easy.

I’ll show you a shortcut, but first, here’s another statistic to think about.

Consider a recent case study in which 44 guest blogs were posted to increase website traffic by 20%.

So, what if you can’t get a column in the Huffington Post or Forbes?

It’s harder than it sounds, and not everyone has the time or resources to dedicate to it.

Thankfully, there’s another way.

It’s called Help a Reporter Out, or HARO.

By registering as a source, you’ll receive regular updates of stories for media outlets online or on TV, radio, and satellite stations.

Rather than writing an entire blog post, you can contribute a relevant quote to a professional journalist’s article.

HARO is a resource connecting PR, marketing, and other professionals with media outlets looking for credible sources for stories.

You can leverage this tool to get started with your own earned-media campaign.

It also gains valuable backlinks to your website, which the next tip won’t.

Rest of the 10 Tips are:

2. Take it offline

3. Hire creative professionals

4. Understand your audience and demographics

5. Submit to Medium

6. Host your own events

7. Study your industry

8. Great content drives great ROIs

9. Stay involved in the community

10. Partner with other brands

11. Monetize your content marketing efforts

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