Content Marketing: Thought Leadership for Small Companies

According to recent studies by the Content Marketing Institute and The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Blogging may be most useful for small companies who are in the unique position to offer thought leadership in their industry. As larger organizations back off blogging in favor of social media in their digital marketing strategy, niche marketers may be able to differentiate themselves from the crowd. These days people are still always looking for information, especially in niche markets. As saturated as the internet is with information anymore, people have become immune to reading blogs to some degree because the data all seems to be repeated on certain topics.

However the more specific the topic becomes the more likely you are to be able to still appeal to readers.

There are still some basic guidelines to keep in mind for blogging, regardless of the topics:

• Include good quality content.
• Make sure it is well written.
• Current information is essential.
• If possible, use a new spin on the topic to make sure your content also gets shared though social media networking channels

Of course, one of the more important things to keep in mind is how important it is to be informed about the topic. Being in a niche and writing about it means what you write had better come across as though you are a professional in the business. Provide an interested reader with quality material or up to date information and you will have a loyal follower. Demonstrate you really don’t know what you are talking about and just trying to attract traffic with keywords will only drive people away.

Quality Is King

A good content marketing campaign includes blog posts. This could be on your own site or blog or as a guest on another blog. In fact, what better than to find another related niche site and get yourself on there as a guest blogger now and again. This not only gains traffic to your site but establishes trust.

Visitors to your site may still be leery and see you as a sales person. Get involved with a community relating to that niche and you become more of a trusted resource on the subject. Keep in mind there really is no content marketing without blogging. Increase your inbound marketing by using blogging as an important attraction marketing tool.

Make a Splash

According to a Dr. Nora Ganim, Director of the University of Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research, “The blog is evolving to more than posts of the latest headlines”

If you have success with blogging, this can still carry over into your social media networking efforts as well. Not only can you re-outpost your own niche articles on your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter pages, other people will too. When you attract followers with your content marketing efforts, you can make sure that those are interested in the same niche will find your blog but also share it.

Again, this helps establish trust. Promoting yourself on social media is expected. When people find you because others are promoting you it makes them less leery about your intentions. Find your niche and focus your content marketing in this area. Establish yourself as a trusted guru in the niche, and your efforts will go from outbound marketing to inbound marketing in no time.