Budget is one of the biggest enemies of any marketer. You’re bursting with ideas and inspiration, but only have a small pot of cash with which to make them happen. But a big budget does not guarantee your content marketing is going to have a significant impact. Effective marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, and a smaller budget can force you to get creative, with surprisingly effective results.
We’re going to show you some of our favourite ways to use content marketing to achieve high impact results, even if you’re on a reduced budget.
Getting what you pay for
Many companies believe that content marketing is a pricey business.
But when compared to other strategies, such as outbound marketing, content marketing costs 62% less. It’s also more effective, as the Content Marketing Institute found that it generates three times as many leads and contributes to a conversion rate that’s six times higher than many traditional marketing strategies.
It’s clear that any investment you make into producing content marketing is money well spent. However, you don’t need to have a multi-national corporation’s budget to incorporate a bit of high-quality content marketing into your overall marketing strategy.
Blog, blog, and blog away
A strong company blog can set off any content marketing mission without the need to spend lots of money. You can share your insights and expertise in your sector, or invest in a few cornerstone pieces of content that will draw the right people in. Here are some ways to make your blog work harder without breaking the bank.
- Link your blog site to your main company domain. If you create a separate domain, you won’t get to enjoy the powerful impact of SEO (a cornerstone of any effective content strategy) on your main website.
- Ensure you’ve also got a clear button to click that can take readers from your blog to the main website. This usually works well if it sits along the top of the page.
- Are you looking for a free blog site? Check out wordpress.com. It’s one of the easiest and most versatile CMS for blogging, particularly if you can’t afford a paid service.
- Most blogging platforms will let you design your site using a range of free tools. If you’re looking for a low-cost way to enhance your blog’s visual impact, you could enlist the help of a web designer looking to build their portfolio. Their services will usually be much cheaper than those offered by experienced designers.
Staying regular
Getting content up regularly is another way to boost its effectiveness without spending more. Lots of companies turn to copywriting agencies like us or enlist the help of freelance writers.
A general rule of thumb for good content marketing is to post once a week. Try and incorporate keywords that your readers are likely to be searching for. The Digital Marketing Institute discovered that a quarter of web users never click past the first search engine results page. The better your SEO strategy, the more likely you are to attract new eyes to your blog.
If your team need help, a writer training workshop could be the ideal solution. Investing in a personalised session with an experienced writer, like our Head of Copy & Strategy, Claire, will give them the skills and confidence to produce engaging content that attracts plenty of attention. It’s a more cost-effective option if regular content written by an outsider is out of your budget.
Repurposing your content
After working hard to craft a great piece of content, make it work as hard as possible. Share it across all your social media channels to make sure you’re casting your new customer net as wide as possible.
You can also repurpose content for use in other ways, including:
- Short video clips
- Slideshows
- The topic of a podcast
- Cutting out key statistics or information to share as social media posts
None of these options needs to be expensive. You could get in-house staff to host a discussion or record the video content, which can easily be shared for free on your socials or posted to YouTube.
Timing is everything
If you are regularly posting to your blog and trying to incorporate key SEO terms as often as you can, you’ve conquered the beginner level of content marketing.
However, to take your content marketing strategy to the next level, it’s important to consider when you’re posting too. Uploading blogs and reaching out on social media at the wrong times could reduce the impact your carefully written content has.
According to Sprout Social, the most effective times to post are:
- Wednesday from 8–10 am and noon
- Thursday at 9 am and 1–2 pm
- Friday at 9 am
Posting your content outside of these narrow windows doesn’t mean it won’t reach a single one of your target audience. However, reaching out at times when more people are online (at breakfast or just before the start of the working day) could give your content that extra boost.
Make sure you also plan out content-writing time around important dates within your industry and company, as well as public holidays. You can use these key events, milestones or occasions as a springboard for your content ideas and make sure you’re sending out content that is both interesting and contextual – and highly shareable!
Content marketing on a budget
As you can see, great content marketing doesn’t have to be exclusive to the big spenders. With a little helping hand from the experts, you could soon have an effective content marketing strategy in place.
If you need a helping hand to get started, our team of experienced content strategists, copywriters and account managers can point you in the right direction. Get in touch and see how we can make your content sparkle.
