Creating engaging content for your business may seem like a daunting task, especially when trying to do it on a small business budget. It doesn’t have to be expensive nor daunting however, especially when you consider these 11 big content ideas on a small business budget.

  1. Use key personnel in creating content.  Every business has key players who have interesting stories to tell. It doesn’t even have to be business related. Employees can talk about their backgrounds, hobbies and like and dislikes. This can help create a more personal feel for your organization and allow your prospects and customers to put faces with names. Use these same employees to brainstorm other ideas.
  2. Listen to your customers. The questions your customers are asking about your company are great fodder for content articles. Your customers may even have ideas on articles they would like to read about or may volunteer to submit a guest article. This also helps you stay interactive with them.
  3. Tell stories. You probably have an endless array of stories from being in business that are interesting, funny or that you learned great lessons from. Share them with your readers using your own voice and personality.
  4. Use trade publications. Obviously you don’t want to plagiarize, but something you read may give you a great spin-off idea of your own. It could be a good idea to give credit to the original writer. How can your readers make use of this idea?
  5. Use product history as broad subject. What is the history of the types of products your small business creates? If you operate in a smaller region, historical articles about that region may be interesting. What about your own company history?
  6. Use graphics and images. This will not only make your content more readable but it can fill space. Use photos to give a virtual tour of your small business, show employee celebrations, or non-profit activities.
  7. Talk about your products. What you sell may be your biggest source of content. You can create a wealth of content by describing your products quality, features and why it solves a problem. You could create weeks or even months of content, but be sure to sprinkle them in so your content stays of interest.
  8. Demonstrate new uses for your products. Most companies create products that are versatile. Share in your content how your customers are using these items in various ways. It may give them additional ideas and sell more products.
  9. Create lists. Lists are very popular on the internet and creating them can be relatively easy, based on your own experience. Think about ideas your readers would be interested in like “6 Innovative Ways to save Energy”, “Five Things You Can Do to Save on Your Business Insurance”.
  10. Exploit your advantages as a small business. Perhaps it’s customer service, personal attention, responsiveness or your guarantee. Write about what differentiates you from your bigger competitors and why you are a better choice.
  11. Recycle and repurpose your content. Save everything you create. As time goes by, something in the news may make the content relevant. This older content may be able to be massaged into fresher content. You can also use content in a variety of social media platforms.

Many small businesses don’t get started in content marketing because they may believe they have to have the perfect plan befores starting. Small businesses should just go ahead and dig in, even if you fumble a bit along the way. Content marketing is too important to not get into the game. Besides, what you learn along the way will be valuable.