Small Business Success: The Importance of Investing in Creativity

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Nothing is free for very long, and it’s a cardinal law of business that people need to spend before they can earn. The same rules apply even with the most abstract of concepts; in this case, it’s the creativity of online content. The quality of what people read on a website has become so influential in the success of a website that businesses are willing to pay big money to improve in that regard. Many startups have even started investing in SEO for small business services to engage their customers online.

The importance of creativity when investing in SEO for small businesses

Back in the early days of the Internet, people just put their ideas and words on their online spaces without any rules whatsoever. No topic was off-limits, every tone or style of writing had an equal right to be heard by the millions of users across the web.

Some websites began performing better than others, and were making money hand over fist. It wasn’t long before people realised that this was all because of the content. Content creators caught on as soon as everyone else did, and began charging for their services. There are even SEO companies with entire departments dedicated solely to content creation.

Quality in Quantity

Unfortunately, many small businesses underestimate the power of creative content and what it could do for a site. The most any of them will do is just give the job to a random employee and stick with whatever they come up with. This move is short-sighted, regardless of the actual skill level of the person writing the content.

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Even the most skilled writers won’t be able to help a website compete in the SEO industry, because the nature of the Internet allows quality to exist everywhere. Writers all over the world are creating quality content every single day; it’s not just a question of how good the products are anymore. It’s a question of how many consistently high quality products a company can roll out every day.

The Best Investment

This is exactly the reason why even small businesses need to consider putting more investments in creative content and SEO. Just because they think that it’s something big companies do for their own websites, it doesn’t bar them from doing the same thing. In fact, using creative content has greater positive effects for smaller businesses than for their multi-national counterparts.

How to leverage creativity and engage with your customers online?

  1. Publish great content
  2. This goes without saying, but it would be neglectful to not mention the importance of high-quality content when it comes to SEO for small businesses. Yes, you need keywords to rank high on the search engine results but if you don’t write for both Google and the user, you won’t stay long at the first page. If you want your content to rank at the top, it needs to have expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, otherwise known as E-A-T. This has become a major ranking factor for Google plus it allows you to offer content that answers a searcher’s query.

    If you can write great content yourself, that’s good but it’s always better to seek outside help, especially from providers of local SEO services. They’re experts at cranking out web copy and articles guaranteed to rank and engage your target audience.

  3. Build a Community or Group
  4. There are various effective ways to build an online community so that you can interact and engage with your customers. Forums have been around for decades and are still being used widely as a method of interacting with customers and allowing customers to interact with one another. They’ll also likely stay around for the foreseeable future.

    Aside from forums, also find it beneficial to connect with customers on various social media platforms. Customers are already on these networks every day, so why not bring the conversation to where they’re already spending most of their time instead of relying on them visiting your forum? Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups are just two of the plethora of social media platforms that you can utilise to set up brand or topic communities.

  5. Host webinars or livestream sessions
  6. Webinars and livestream sessions are innovative and effective local marketing strategies to engage your customers. They allow you to reach a large target audience on platforms that are both user-friendly and interactive. People also love the visual aspects of webinars and livestreams, allowing you to make personal connections with both prospects and loyal patrons. You can also come off as more passionate and entertaining during a webinar as opposed to just dumping all the industry insights you know on blog posts or e-books.

  7. Develop online contests or referral programs
  8. You’ll need to cough up some dough for the rewards or prizes, but the number of participants and potential leads you’ll get will be well worth the costs. On a strict budget? Technically, you don’t need to give out expensive rewards. Even a bestselling item from your catalogue or gift certificates will be enough to draw participants in.

    If you’re not up for contents, you can offer existing customers a free product, a discount coupon, a free week of service, or some other reward for referring their friends or family. Remember, word-of-mouth can be incredibly powerful, so customers telling their social network about your business is incredibly valuable.

  9. DIY infographics
  10. Infographics are incredibly powerful local marketing tools. They’re easy to digest, they’re visual eye candy, and people love sharing them online. That means they’re an effective way to drive up links and referral traffic, which is good for small businesses investing in SEO.  You can either hire a local SEO services provider to make you an A+ infographic or you can make your own if you don’t mind a bit of a challenge.

Online Creativity: It’s all about pushing the boundaries

In the age of technology, we’re currently moving towards an era wherein human creativity can be a company’s competitive advantage and biggest asset. With a more diverse and creative local marketing strategy, you ultimately create better digital experiences for your customers. Organisations that aren’t embracing the shifts in consumer expectations will lag behind those that are.

You can start small: by publishing better content and creating branded pages for your business on social media before branching out to more difficult strategies such as webinars and online contests. What matters is that you’re on the path to embracing the power of creativity. And as Confucius once said, ‘It doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop.’

If you want to learn more about how a little creativity can translate into a big push in profits and local marketing, contact us today. We have extensive experience in helping clients from various fields, and making the necessary adjustments to make SEO work for them.

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