Running a business can feel like you’re being pulled in all different directions, are you marketing to your potential customers, serving their needs when they come to you, and making sure you manage through paying invoices and keeping everything running? And then content marketing comes along. The difference between a thriving business and one that’s struggling can often boil down to effective website management. If you’re not looking after your website, you could be missing out on leads, and serving the community you are building. A critical part of this is generating engaging, value-driven content that not only attracts your target audience but also turns them from a lead to a customer.
The ability to weave your brand story into your content strategy can be the secret weapon that propels your business forward. Whether you’re running a bakery in Camden, a quirky antique shop in Shoreditch, or a tech startup in the Silicon Roundabout, your story could be what sets you apart from your competitors. By creating a brand people recognise through their content, you can keep your customers coming back for more.
So, how do you unlock your brand story and create engaging content that connects and converts? Read on to learn more.
Understand Your Audience
Firstly, understanding your audience is crucial. Ask yourself these questions. Who are they? What are their needs? Do they have interests? What are their pain points? What sets you and your business apart (Your USP, or Unique Selling Point)? This knowledge should form the grounding of your content strategy. Use social listening tools and data analytics to create insights about your audience. If you have a social media presence, look into your audience demographics and characteristics. These insights can inform the kind of content you should create, the tone of voice to use, and even the best times to post on social channels.
Your Brand Story – The Heart of Your Content
In the heart of every successful small business, there’s a compelling brand story. It’s your history, your purpose, your mission. It’s what makes your brand relatable and human, fostering a connection with your customers.
To identify your brand story, think back to what made you start your business. Start at the beginning, identify the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Are you supporting the local community? What are your business’s values? And most importantly, think about how these will resonate with your target audience.
Once you’ve thought about your brand story, use it to focus your content with a unique voice and perspective. Share your journey through blog posts, social media updates, newsletters, or even through an ‘About Us’ page on your website.
Creating Engaging Content
Your brand story can now be the source of engaging content. But, remember, the primary goal of the content you’re creating is to provide value to your audience. Think about your audience’s challenges and how your business can help solve them.
Taking as an example, if you own a small gardening business in South London, your content might include a series of ‘how-to’ blog posts about maintaining a garden, social media updates about the plants best suited for a London climate, or even video tutorials about composting with little garden space. Content you can create can be used across multiple channels, for example, writing a blog post on the best 5 plants for bedrooms, you can then create a TikTok talking about your top 5 countdown, and an Instagram carousel showing off the top 5 plants. This ensures you are creating content across the channels your customers are using.
Storytelling and Social Engagement
Incorporating your brand story into your content strategy can also boost your social engagement. Stories have a way of resonating with people, fostering deeper connections. They stimulate emotions, generate empathy, and make your brand more memorable.
Sharing your journey as a small business owner in London, the hurdles you’ve faced, the celebrations you’ve had, and the community you’ve served, can all serve as powerful narratives. These stories can be shared across your website, blog, and social media channels, creating an authentic and relatable online presence.
To sum it up, your brand story can be that ‘secret sauce’ that sets your business apart in what can be a saturated market. It provides a human element to your brand, something that customers are increasingly valuing. By understanding your audience, unlocking your brand story, and creating value-driven, engaging content, you can elevate your website’s purpose, boost your social engagement, and drive meaningful conversions.
So, start delving into your brand story and let it be the light to guide you and your business to a compelling, conversion-driving content strategy.
Image by msgrowth on Freepik
