What kind of content should you invest in if your budget is tight?
Content strategist Jessica Lam Hill Young brought this question up in a post she shared on LinkedIn.
The truth is, not every business is gung-ho (or even ready) for SEO. In the case of early-stage founders, these busy business owners often have bigger fish to fry– from product-market fit to hiring.
(Certainly not writing tons of optimized posts!)
However, that’s not to say early-stage businesses shouldn’t think about content marketing. Not investing in content at all is a mistake.
So what do you need?
You need to create high-impact content to communicate your offer and value, no matter your business stage.
- An evergreen lead magnet.
- A Linkedin ghostwriter.
- Case studies.
- Video.
- Topical authority.
- Personal branding
Here are some highly recommended content ideas* that will move the needle for your brand:
*Note: let’s assume that you already have the following:
- some website copy
- your brand messaging
- a clear offer
1. An evergreen lead magnet.
Your lead magnet can be a highly sought-after industry report, a step-by-step guide, a checklist, or some other high-value, sought-after information in your industry.
Invest in an evergreen lead magnet, create a landing page to capture emails, and run paid ads on it to generate leads.
If this content is relevant, genuinely helpful, and of high quality, it will even build backlinks naturally.
2. A Linkedin ghostwriter.
With your Linkedin ghostwriter, start creating problem-solution content daily, and make sure your profile has a funnel to your lead magnet to capture emails.
3. Case studies
Invest in case studies or account-specific content for targeted outreach.
(“Hey Jim, love your posts on X topic. We wrote a case study on X topic, and I thought you might find this interesting.”)
4. Video
Marcus Sheridan has a great list called the “Selling Seven” in his book. They Ask You Answer – videos on 10 questions you get asked the most, product-service fit videos, and landing page videos.
5. Topical authority
Invest in ONE topic cluster closest to your product keywords. This works best if you are not in a highly competitive market and your product is technical or niche.
Not only does it make your website look much better if you have many high-quality articles on your blog, but this can also double as 1) and 3).
You can also send these in-depth guides to your product/industry as sales collaterals.
6. Personal branding
Specifically, your branding on LinkedIn. Tim Hanson– a fellow content marketer– says that personal branding has had the biggest impact on his brand and has also seen that it is doing the same for so many others.
“For pretty much any B2B business out there, your audience is on (LinkedIn). It’s stupid not to get in front of them.”
Finally, content marketing is still the best marketing channel above every other channel.
“It’s the best and a must in our world today – ads don’t really work anymore, and marketing depends on great content. Customers want to research information and make their own buying choices.”
Hence, great content is always the way to go.
