How to Spend Your Content Marketing Budget Wisely

Have a limited content marketing budget? If you’re a small business, like Kicks Digital Marketing, you need to make every dollar count. You always seek the most bang for your buck, especially when it comes to spending those marketing dollars. But where do you start? Well, first things first.

Commit to developing a content marketing strategy and allocate a specific budget for executing on it.

Recent surveys of industry experts indicate companies that follow a B2C business model typically spend about 9 percent of their total revenue on marketing, while B2B companies spend 7 to 8 percent of total revenue. Now that you know your total marketing budget, how much should you specifically commit to content marketing? In 2016, experts predicted most small businesses would spend an average of $1,921.92 on content marketing. For 2017, start by allocating about 30 percent of your total marketing budget to content creation, and plan to increase it as you see returns.

My budget is established, now what?

A successful content marketing strategy includes SEO (organic search), email marketing and a targeted approach to sharing content on social media. For best content effectiveness, start with a long-tail keyword strategy using Google Adwords. You’ll better identify your target audience and what information they actively seek online about your company and industry. With a Google Adwords certified partner on staff, Kicks Digital Marketing can help you decipher the best online strategy.

Once you know which keywords to target with your content creation, put it all into context.

• Are you delivering the right type of content to the right channel at the right time?
• Can you repurpose that same content across multiple channels over a longer period of time?
• Is email marketing the most effective strategy?
• Do weekly blogs keep your company more engaged with customers?
• Is social media a better tool for reaching your target audience?
• Can you do all of the above?

Small businesses might struggle at first to determine the right type of content and how much to deliver, but knowing your customers and what type of content they consume is key. The good news? Consumers’ perception of small business is nothing but good. They believe small businesses offer higher quality services, and they’re willing to support a small, local business – even if it means paying more.

More and more small businesses are adopting a content marketing strategy to cut through the noise to reach and retain more customers. They dress their content for success with best keyword search terms, a visually interesting image and easy-to-read text.

This might include weekly newsletters with helpful tips, engaging with customers through live mobile apps, or tapping into their online target audience by deploying creative blogs, infographics, slideshows, instructional videos, DIY articles and buyer guides.

What else can I do to market my message?

A smart marketer uses social media to tell their customer success stories, monitor conversations, and find support through online communities. Got a glowing email from a recent customer? Turn it into a testimonial. How about a recorded customer reaction to your product? Post an image or video of the reaction on Facebook or Twitter.

The most important takeaway when planning a content marketing strategy, and the budget that goes with it? Give it time. Planning a strategy takes time. Identifying the best channels takes time. Determining what content works takes time. Measuring and getting results takes time. Make content marketing an ongoing business process for your company, and not just an occasional campaign and you’re sure to succeed.