6 Ways Startups Can Win at Content Marketing

For early-stage startups, building a successful content strategy doesn’t have to be daunting or overwhelming. Rather than giving in to the fear of how to build a great content strategy for a small startup, focus on what you already have and finding ways to expand it and make it better.

Once you start expanding on what you already have, whether it’s a white paper or ebook or copy from your company’s website, coming up with new content ideas becomes much easier and more manageable. So, start by building on the foundation that already exists rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

After you’ve built a strong foundation, you’ll be ready to delve into my top six recommendations for creating a winning content strategy:

1. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose

If you come up with a content idea that you think would be great for a blog, don’t cast that idea aside after writing the blog and immediately start worrying about what your next idea is going to be.

Instead, repurpose your last blog into three other forms of content. Take the best line from your blog and turn it into a shareable post for social media. Then turn it into a short video you can post on your company’s YouTube and share on LinkedIn. Then turn it into a podcast episode.

Taking one idea and transforming it into 3–5 different content pieces on various mediums is much easier and more efficient than coming up with 3–5 new ideas that you only utilize once.

At 1Huddle, we have the next 12 weeks of content already planned out in our project management platform. And we are always repurposing.

2. Know your style & tone of voice

Every company has a different style and tone, and it’s important to identify yours early on and stick with it.

If you’re just starting, identify at least three words that encompass how you want your company’s tone and style to come across. Identifying these characteristics will give your team a great framework for creating a successful content strategy. For example, is your team relatable or indistinct? Are you energetic or reserved?

Once you identify the words and themes that will shape your company’s tone of voice, you can continue to build out each of those frameworks and reference them when you write content pieces, create social posts, push out an email blast, script a video, or create an eBook.

And even though every company has its unique style, there are certain things all content creators need to be successful. At 1Huddle, our tone strives to be to the point, which means that a lot of our content is punchy and impactful within the first 10 seconds.

3. Be relatable to the average customer

With content marketing, you need to relate to your audience. This means you don’t have to write the same way you did in college English class. Your audience is made up of real, everyday people, so you need to show them that’s who you are as well.

At 1Huddle, we try to make all of our content digestible for everyone by making it conversational. Before publishing something, ask yourself: Would I word something this way if I were chatting with a friend? Does this sound natural when I read it aloud?

4. Don’t try to be like everyone else

A common mistake startups make when creating a content strategy is trying to emulate “what works” for similar companies. But if you do that, your company will never become an innovative thought leader. Instead of turning to your competitors for inspiration, find out what they aren’t doing (or aren’t doing well) and use it as an opportunity.

At 1Huddle, we noticed one of our competitors was constantly churning out blogs, but that’s the only kind of content they were creating. So, we used the skills of our team members to start leaning into video production, which is something very few of our competitors are doing. You need to be creative through the medium you’re using and through your content’s substance.

5. Support other departments with your content

Every company struggles with sharing breaking news, customer stories, and big wins. So, whether you’re creating ads, an email marketing campaign, blogs, videos, or working to improve your SEO, the primary focus should be on driving revenue. For us, that means supporting 1Huddle’s sales and customer success teams by using our content to help build relationships, create new sales leads, nurture existing leads so the sales team can close more deals, and helping customer success support the clients we already have.

Being investigative makes you a good marketer. If I see that one of our sales reps has some downtime, I call them and ask them what I could do to help close a sale, or I ask what they need from me right now. Staying connected with other departments through consistent communication will help you make sure your content strategy is designed to support the needs of your entire team and organization.

These are just five of the strategies we use at 1Huddle to build a winning content strategy. Starting out is always a challenge, but as long as you’re willing to be bold, take risks, and try new things, you will start to find what works for your company and create a winning content strategy.

Bonus: Our sixth strategy is…

We’re not just going to give you all six strategies. If you want to know our sixth tip for creating a winning content strategy, you’re going to have to earn it by answering a 1Huddle question from our game “Make It Stick.”

Question: ____ of what you learn is forgotten in just 30 days.

1. 70%
2. 35%
3. 43%
4. 87%

Think you know the answer?

Email us at me, dana@1huddle.co or DM us on Instagram or Twitter @1huddle. If you guess correctly, I’ll reveal my sixth tip for creating a winning content strategy!