How Content Marketing Helps You Define & Differentiate Your Business

The concept of Content Marketing can seem very obtuse, especially to small business owners who are trying to wrap their heads around the marketing tactics that will benefit their business. Content is a broad category, and overwhelmed business owners who just need to get their messaging in front of people don’t have time to figure out the details on their own. They need easily defined marketing activities that will bring more clients to their door.

When I talk about content marketing, it’s common for business owners to mentally or verbally define that as one thing, like website copy, social media posts, blogs, or Instagram videos. They need to put content into a box so they can make a quick decision on whether or not it’s something they need. 

While I totally understand this reflex, my mission as a marketing provider is to better communicate the concept of content marketing so that it is:

1. Easier for small business owners to define and understand

2. Embraced as the heart from which all of your marketing decisions flow

Once you grasp the simple broad definition of content, it’s much easier to see how those “one thing” sub-definitions fit within it.

What is Content Marketing?

According to Merriam-Webster…

Content noun

Con·​tent:  the principal substance (such as written matter, images, music, etc.) offered by a website or on social media

Basically, content is never only one thing. It’s all the things you use to tell people about your business, what it does, and how it will benefit them. I often say that marketing is a form of communication. Content is the substance of that communication. It encompasses:

• Websites

• Blogs

• Published articles

• Written posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Business Profile

• Visual or video on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube

• Emails

• Presentations

Your written, visual, and personal messaging is all content that is intended to communicate something about your business to ideal clients. 

With this definition and perspective in mind, consider the following questions:

• Am I communicating at all about my business?

• Am I creating content with this goal of communication, or any goal at all?

• How many segments of content do I currently use?

• Does all my content communicate a consistent message?

• Am I using the form of content that resonates with my target audience?

When I meet service-based business owners who are doing their own marketing, or only working with a single service provider (like a social media manager), I find that they are missing the true purpose - and therefore value - of content marketing. 

Almost every time, what I notice most is that they put a lot of stress on themselves to put out any content at all. They end up with hit or miss frequency, mixed messaging, and a frustrating sales journey. If this resonates with you, I promise that there is a better way!

Content Marketing Builds Relationships with Your Ideal Clients

When I communicate with someone, my hope is that they understand me and I understand them. In other words, I communicate for the purpose of establishing and building a relationship. The better communication there is in a relationship, the better it all works.

Content marketing is how we get that communication off to a great start so that your client relationships are easier to build and maintain. In the context of marketing, communicating well always has to come from a plan. It’s important for businesses to know how and what to communicate across every applicable channel so that their content is engaging to the right people.

This is where Content Marketing services at Marketing to Mission come in. What we do is work with our own ideal clients - service-based businesses in Southeastern PA - to develop a comprehensive content marketing strategy, then execute it for cohesive communication that reaches potential clients where they are.

Bringing it Full Circle: Why We Need to Work Closely With You

Believe it or not, my process exemplifies this communication and relationship concept every day. What I want for my clients is exactly what I aim to do with my clients. My work is just as much about relationships as any other service provider, and our relationship is central to delivering your best content marketing.

My team and I have the marketing education, experience, and skills to research your target audience, identify strong keywords, recognize demographics and habits, and create a strategy that will deliver the right message to the right places.

What we can’t do on our own, what we absolutely need to do with you, is find out exactly who you want to serve, what difference your service makes for them, and how you provide value.

We need your expertise on your business!

Our Content Marketing services rely on a close relationship in which we regularly connect to brainstorm and plan. These meetings allow us to learn more about your industry and business. More importantly, we use them to dig into your mind to pull out all the best content. This process gives us what we need to produce content that perfectly reflects your brand and values, then deliver it to the potential clients it is most likely to attract.

By the way, we’re also working hard in the background to make sure your content is optimized for search engines and formatted for AI visibility. It all ties together for an end result that includes solid writing, consistent visuals, technical proficiency, and well-managed frequency.

Balanced Content Marketing Services for Your Best Messaging

When I talk to service business owners who are frustrated with their marketing services, it’s usually one of two extremes:

1. Their marketing is fully outsourced, feeling formulaic and artificial

2. Their marketing services are fully siloed and limited in scope, requiring them to produce most of the work on their own

Neither of these methods work long-term. The first option causes you to lose sight of your unique value to clients. The second option forces you to step outside your expertise and spend time away from doing what you do best.

A balanced content marketing service keeps you involved in the process by tapping into your ideas and experience, then takes care of production and publication while you get back to work. You get to continue being the expert in what you do, and your marketing team will be the expert on delivering your content.

If you have been frustrated trying to fulfill the pressure to produce massive amounts of content but without a strategy or the right support, then you need a better partner.

Marketing to Mission puts our relationship with small business owners first, because we believe it’s the only way we can truly support our clients in their mission.

Our Content Marketing services are designed around our mutual relationship so that the strategy we implement is the one that genuinely reflects who you are and what you offer. Book a discovery call now to get started on your comprehensive content marketing strategy.