So you’re building a brand! Congratulations! You’ve got your website up and running, social media profiles all set up and now it’s time for those sales to start rolling in! Right? Um..not quite! (sorry!) If you’re an Entrepreneur and building your own brand, there is one crucial piece of your sales and marketing strategy that you simply can’t ignore – Content.

Every super successful business owner knows that creating engaging, inspiring and captivating content is key to their business and although it can be a lot of work, it needs to be at the core of your business.

Here’s Why Content Marketing Is So Important To Your Business:

1. Content Marketing Grows Your Audience 

What’s the hardest thing about starting your own business? Getting noticed right? Having people actually find your website in order to contact you. Before you can start getting leads, making sales and booking clients, you need to be discovered!

As of January 2019 there were over 1.94 billion websites on the internet. How on Earth are your ideal clients going to find yours? Unless you are already a massive brand, you’re unlikely to have top-notch SEO and be coming up on the first page of Google (unless you’re paying for ads). So as a new business owner, you need another way to grow your audience and get discovered.

Enter: Content Marketing with it’s trusty sidekick, Social Media! As a solopreneur, social media really is your best friend. By sharing your blog posts on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest & Twitter, you can reach billions of people world-wide at the click of a button – and then drive them back to your website.

Don’t like to blog and prefer creating videos? YouTube, Facebook Live, LinkedIn Live, & Instagram are all great ways to get your message out to the world and reach more of your target market.

“If you’re not putting out relevant content in relevant places- you don’t exist.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

2. Content Marketing Attracts Your Ideal Clients

Speaking of target markets, social media is filled with your ideal clients – and all you need to do to reach them is to create interesting, value-filled and engaging content on social media.

Here’s a few content ideas for you:

1. Run a 5 day challenge and share it in Facebook Groups you belong to
2. Run a Facebook or LinkedIn Ad with your lead magnet (the freebie you give away in exchange for someone’s email address)
3. Share motivational and inspiring quotes from celebrities, entrepreneurs, books, tv and films on Instagram & Pinterest
4. Join Twitter chats and get involved in conversations in your niche and make new connections

Just remember, all the content you create must have a purpose and be relatable to your ideal clients. They need to see your posts and instantly recognise themselves in it and be able to relate to you.

3. Content Marketing Showcases Your Expertise

So now you’ve grown your audience and filled it with your ideal clients, it’s time to showcase your skills and expertise! Again, there are a truck-load of different ways to do this, from creating infographics, blog posts, social media posts, videos, hosting masterclasses, webinars or challenges. Even a simple Q&A session works well! The idea here is that you give your audience value with tips & tricks, trainings and free gifts that position you as an expert in your industry.

4. Content Marketing Shares Your Mission

Every successful entrepreneur I’ve ever met, worked with or spoken to has one thing in common – they have a MISSION. It’s not just that they want to create a lifestyle that suits them and their family. It’s not just that they want to create time freedom, travel the world or have financial freedom.

They have a message to share with the world and they want to help people. Creating a mission for your business makes you stand out from the crowd and people take notice! Your mission should be the underlying factor in all your marketing, your website copy, emails, social media content, offers, products and services. It should be the heart of your business.

Think about this for a moment – what type of promo is going to get a higher reach and more engagement on social media? A blatant ‘buy my stuff’ ad, or an ad where you tell the world what you’re on a mission to create?

5. Content Marketing Makes You Famous

Earlier on I briefly mentioned that you need to position yourself as an expert in your industry and I want to go a bit deeper on that right now! And by the way, you want to become THE Expert, not just AN Expert! Why? Remember back in the day when anyone with a little SEO knowledge could make money online by selling products and services – even if they weren’t really an expert in that topic?

Remember when social media was filled to the brim with online ‘Gurus’ who promised massive results and then let you down, big style?! Urgh! Annoying right? But we actually have to thank them. Because of these so-called ‘Gurus’, real experts have the chance to shine and stand out on social media! And becoming the expert in your niche isn’t as difficult as you might think. As long as you know your stuff, YOU can do it!

When you’re an expert, a million opportunities open up for you. You’re seen as a Leader, an authority and someone who everyone else wants to be in a room with. Creating content to share via email, blog, podcasts, video & social media all becomes so much easier for you, because you know what you’re talking about and can give a fresh or different perspective on your topic.

Becoming an expert means that you are also creating trust with your community and your prospective clients will be signing up to your wait-lists and biting at the bit to work with you!

“Tools are great but content marketing success is about the wizard, not the wand.” – Jay Baer

6. Content Marketing Gets You Clients

And speaking of clients, creating engaging and captivating content and sharing it with your online community is a great way to attract and convert your ideal clients! I believe there are 3 core types of content that position you as an expert in your field, will give you the impact, influence and income you desire – and that absolutely must NOT be missed if you want to make sales from social media.

These types of content are:

1. Positioning Content
2. Relatability Content
3. Valuable Promo Content

So, do I have you convinced that Content Marketing is the key to your success yet and should be at the core of your brand? Just know this – you deserve the business and lifestyle that you dream of – the only thing stopping you from having it is you! Create a plan and take action, one step at a time and you’ll be on the path to success!