Why You Need Content Marketing to Stand Out as a Startup

Creating a startup is an exciting prospect. You have all these ideas, an amazing product to sell, and you’re eager to get started actually making those sales. But then you find out that 30% of new businesses fail during the first 2 years, 50% during the first 5 years, and 66% during the first 10 years.

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The outlook doesn’t look good.

In fact, the startup world is overrun with new businesses, which makes it harder than ever to stand out. Plus, with the fast move into the digital landscape, consumers have more choice than ever when it comes to who they give their money too. 

As a result, new startups need to show their expertise and position themselves above their competition. This is where content marketing comes into play. Not only does it inform and educate potential prospects, but it positions a brand and helps them build a following. 

Sounds easy, right?

It’s actually easier said than done. A lot of startups don’t believe they have the resources to create content and instead focus their efforts elsewhere, sometimes on paid advertising, and sometimes on more traditional forms of marketing.

But, with the average person spending less than 20 seconds on a website, those old 20th century advertising methods don’t cut the mustard anymore. Instead, content is where it’s at, with 84% of consumers actively expecting brands to create it. 

So if you’re not already creating content, why not? 

Here are some benefits that might change your mind.

Build Trust

With so many options out there, consumers tend to seek out brands they connect with and that they trust. The age of the internet has led to a loss of trust between consumers and the businesses they buy from, which is why it’s important as a new startup that you tackle this head on right away. 

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Creating content that educates, entertains, or informs prospects about your product or the wider industry generates a sense of companionship, almost like there’s a two-way dialogue happening. 

When a consumer begins to trust what you’re saying and starts to see you as an expert in the industry, they’re more likely to buy from you. This is particularly true in an age where consumers no longer trust traditional forms of advertising (we only have to look at the statistics that show how many people use adblockers). 

Improve SEO

One of the key goals of any startup is climbing the ranks of Google to get to a higher position. When you are more visible in the search engines, you automatically get more customers and more enquiries – what’s not to like? 

But actually improving your SEO to get there is a tricky task: it can take time to see the fruits of your labor, and it can often seem like a thankless task. However, companies that blog have 97% more inbound links than those who don’t, and we all know how important incoming links are in the race to the top of Google.  

Add Value

There’s so much content out there which means that a lot of it is not very good at all – it can be fluffy, boring, and downright wrong. 

If you can consistently create valuable, engaging content, you’ll already be head and shoulders above a lot of businesses out there that think hitting publish on a 300-word post every two weeks is enough. 

Show Off Your Expertise

The internet has made it incredibly easy for almost anyone to create a website and start selling something, which is part of the reason consumers have so many choices.

The thing is, while they might have a lot of choices, the options they have might not be that good at all. And, when so many people seem to be creating a startup, consumers start to look for the expert in the mix, which can be you if you show them.

Content is a great way to prove your experience and your knowledge on your topic which is the first building block to creating trust and loyal subscribers. 

Content is the Key to Success

So, while it might seem like content is a huge outlay and an expense you just don’t have the time and money for, it’s worth reconsidering. 

Not only does producing relevant, valuable, and engaging content

 help solidify your expertise and position in your niche, but it can also help build trust among distrustful consumers and convert more people from readers into subscribers and buyers. 

When you look at it like this, can you really afford not to invest in content? The rewards can be so much greater than the sacrifices you have to make to do it – unless, of course, you’d rather end up a statistic and become one of those businesses that fail in the first 5 years.