Many solo entrepreneurs resort to doing everything themselves. Bookkeeping, selling, cleaning, buying, customer service and promotional activity. As their business grows, the demand on their time increases. It’s at this point when small business owners should identify tasks that are better outsourced to a professional. Content marketing is an obvious candidate.
For many small B2C firms, a Do-It-Yourself content marketing strategy is the obvious way to generate the material to attract web traffic. But is a DIY strategy a false economy?
If you have to rely on a vehicle to keep your business running, do you take time out to service it yourself or do you use a professional? If you’re really competent at vehicle mechanics, and enjoy it, then it may be an option you consider. But if motor maintenance is not your thing, you will probably find a reliable mechanic instead. You can then use the time you might have spent on servicing to look after another part of your business.
It’s the same for content marketing. There are times when it’s best to use a professional. Let me explain.
A recent study highlighted the benefits B2C firms experienced after deploying different types of content to promote their business. Take a look at the following:
The graphic above suggests that around three quarters of B2C firms have had a good experience with content marketing. They have seen improved brand awareness, a higher search engine ranking and increased web visitor numbers. Almost 50% are using content marketing and social media to reduce traditional advertising costs and generate new leads.
The content that seems to be getting the best results are articles, blogs, social media posts and videos. E-newsletters and whitepapers also continue to track well. As B2C firms plan to invest further in these techniques during the coming year, they can be assumed to reflect past success.
The research goes on to find that some 61% of B2C firms in the survey write their own content. That’s understandable, as many small firms are on a tight budget. But a DIY strategy could be a more expensive option in the longer term.
The same research found that 79% of small firms spend up to ten hours a week on content creation. That’s a big chunk of time if you’re a solo entrepreneur. Consider the following:
Evidence suggests that it takes, on average, three hours to write a blog post. A carefully researched article or whitepaper takes even longer. That means you might be able to generate two or three blog posts per week or perhaps one carefully constructed article. But, is that enough for your on-going lead generation needs? Research elsewhere links the frequency of blog posts to the volumes of leads generated. So, the more you post, the greater the probability of generating leads.
All this means that the task of content creation will make increasingly more demands on your time as you strive to increase lead volumes and conversions. It will sap your effectiveness and pull you away from other business tasks demanding your attention.
What’s to be done?
If you don’t enjoy researching, writing and generally pulling together quality content that will engage your customers, try testing the outsourced option. Try it for three months. Monitor the impact it has on your business performance, and stress levels!
You will be able to keep control of the style, tone and editorial content and track if search rankings and traffic levels improve. If you brief your copywriter well, you should see an improvement in lead quality and conversion rates too. Plus, you should assess the value of your re-allocated time; time you would otherwise have spent writing content but which can now be used more productively elsewhere in your business.
If after a three month test, you don’t see a worthwhile improvement in business performance, you can try another content professional or go back to the DIY approach. If you get it right, you will have grown your business and be better placed to drive the rest of your business forward to the next level.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Fixed price copywriting and ghost blog writing offers for small business
No comments:
Post a Comment