“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Confucius

Many executives are convinced that inbound marketing is an essential small business growth strategy.  They have learned that inbound leads cost 61% less than leads produced by traditional lead generation tactics like advertising, telemarketing and trade shows.   They know that blogs are an inbound lead generation accelerator – B2B companies that blog get 67% more leads per month those that don’t.   

So they decide to start an inbound marketing program.  The implementation team comes together and quickly realizes that the main ingredient to the program is content.  The first reaction often is one of alarm:  where are we going to come up with all of this content?  They need to produce:

• A 500-word blog post evey week (or more frequently)
• eBooks and whitepapers for content offers for each line of business
• Checklists, guides and tip sheets for “middle of the funnel” content offers
• Videos, presentations and webinars

The task seems daunting, to say the least.  Things really aren’t as bad as they seem.  Here are 3 ways to generate content for a new inbound marketing program:

1.  Conduct a Content Audit and Re-Purpose Existing Content

The first step in a content creation program is to do an inventory of existing content and re-purpose it for your inbound marketing program.  A good place to start is to review the proposals that you’re using to sell your products or services.  After all, a good proposal provides answers to buyer’s questions.  Material that answers a buyer’s questions is perfect for inbound marketing – one proposal could yield 10 blog posts and/or multiple whitepapers and eBooks.  Use your existing material as a basis for your inbound marketing content and you’re 80% of the way there.  You’ll want to update and reformat the material, add attractive graphics and optimize it for keyword phrases you’re targeting.  A good rule of thumb is to optimize for one or two keyword phrases per page.  You should also use keyword phrases in titles and content, but don’t overdo it – use a keyword phrase once every three paragraphs and use it organically in your writing.

2.       Outsource Content Creation

The downsizing of newsrooms across the country has produced a large pool of talented freelance writers.  There are several crowdsourcing sites for copywriting and graphic design that offer affordable options for businesses to ramp up their content creation efforts.  Most of these crowdsourcing sites let you target writers that have experience in your industry.  A best practice for starting out with crowdsourcing is to send several small projects out to several different writers.  You’ll typically find one or two that you like and you can funnel future work to them.

3.       Use your iPhone!

Many of today’s smartphones have HD video capture capability.  Interview a satisfied customer and record the video on your iPhone.  A little editing with video-editing software and you have a video testimonial to post on your website.  You could do the same thing at a trade show or networking event – interview someone interesting to your audience and post it on your site.  For those who want more advanced video production, there are plenty of affordable production options.

While Confucius’ proverbial step may seem overwhelming, keep in mind that you may already be well on your way to your destination.  A discipline approach to content creation will get your found on the internet and bring qualified leads to your sales team.  Get started today!