7 Things Your New Business Needs to Be Successful At Content Marketing In 2022

New businesses have a lot on their plates, setting up systems, taking care of clients or customers, and getting the brand out into the world. Freelance entrepreneurs often start out with a small team or no team at all and the one task that seems to be the most intimidating is the marketing strategy. 

Most business owners understand how critical content marketing is but few take the time to create a comprehensive content marketing strategy and work from it. Content marketing with a strong strategy is a game-changer for a business, but content without a strategy can be a massive waste of time and resources.

So for new businesses crafting a content marketing strategy, it’s important to have these 7 components in place to set the stage for marketing success in 2022. 

#1 Your business’s brand identity

Brands can develop over time, but there are certain core things that need to be firm from the beginning. Showing up with an authentic brand that reflects a vision of what the company wants to be and what change it plans to make in the world is the most essential thing to establish as part of a content marketing strategy. 

If you are starting a new business, and you haven’t taken the time to reflect on the brand, then this should be at the very top of your to-do list. If you aren’t sure where to start, begin by reflecting on your customer’s pain points and how you plan to address them. Your customer and the solution you offer are at the very centre of everything your business does.

#2 Knowledge of where to find your customer

The content marketing strategy is influenced heavily by where the customers can be found and what kind of content they are likely to consume. B2B businesses might focus on LinkedIn, whereas a physical product business might focus on Instagram. 

It’s not worth your time to be on every single platform. New businesses don’t have the resources to do that. So take some time to think about where your customers can be found and start showing up there first.

#3 The 3 main stories

A strong content marketing strategy is rooted in good storytelling. Every business has 3 stories: the story of the owner, the business’s story, and the customer’s story. If you are just starting out, you might be a one-man (or one woman) show, so your business’s story and your story could be one and the same. 

Once you are clear on what each of these three stories is for your business, you then want to craft a long version and a short version for each story. This will provide 6 pieces of content and a strong core to your content marketing strategy. 

When crafting these stories, it’s important to keep in mind what the intended takeaway is for each story. How do you want each story to make the reader or listener feel? What action do you want that story to inspire? 

These three stories may evolve slightly, but they will be told again and again through the life of your business, so in these early days, take the time to get really good at telling them.

#4 A personal brand for the founder

If you are the head of a company, whether that company be big or small, you need to have a personal brand. Your public social media pages should be well-curated and professional, and your LinkedIn page should reflect who you are as a person and a professional. 

As a founder, everything you do online will be a reflection of your business. So before you start marketing your company, make sure you are ready to be seen too.

#5 Clarity on business goals

What is the company trying to do at the moment? The answer to this question will change from month to month. Maybe the focus today is to make the first 100 sales, but the focus next month might be building the email list or the first launch. A content marketing strategy that is not structured around company goals is a waste of time. 

So get clear on what you want to achieve this year, this quarter, this month, and create the content that is going to help your business get there. This may look like focusing on a certain subject when a certain product is on sale or creating content that leads up to a big launch. The content marketing strategy should be working in sync with all of the other components of the business. 

#6 A generous mindset

The reason content marketing is so successful is that it gains the trust of potential customers. It is a long-term game, and businesses that try to jump to the sale inside of a social media post or a blog post are shooting themselves in the foot. Content marketing isn’t about making immediate sales, it’s about building relationships that lead to enthusiastic customers. 

So as the business owner, use your content marketing strategy to give away your brain. Show up as a teacher and when people are ready to become your customer, they will come to you. 

#7 A call to action

Even though you don’t want to be asking for sales inside of your free content, it’s important to have some kind of idea of what you want the reader or listener to do next. Every piece of content you put out should have a clear call to action. 

There is a natural journey that most of your customers will follow to get from lead to sale, this is the buyer’s journey. So mapping out a clear buyer’s journey will help you create targeted content and provide the next steps to gradually guide your readers to become your customers. 

Never Stop Learning!

This is one of the most exciting times to be a business owner. There are opportunities to connect with potential customers from around the world, and there are resources all over the internet that will guide you to business and content marketing success. 

So to be a successful business owner, continue to seek out resources and opportunities to learn and implement your newfound knowledge into your business.