The truth is, some startups will crash and burn and some startups will flourish and soar. Your new business’s failure or success can be solely dependent on how you utilize content marketing, so this is why we thought it is an important stop on our Startup Biz Checklist. With many things to take in to consideration, we have put together the top three reasons why every startup needs to invest in content marketing. But first, what is content marketing?

The Content Marketing Institute’s Definition of Content Marketing

“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

Experts say that startups and small businesses should be more focused on content marketing than larger brands because of these reasons:

1) Builds Your Brand Equity and Awareness

Startups have the opportunity to identify and occupy the positioning and personality of a brand that will give you the most competitive advantage in today’s marketplace. Your brand is valuable to your business and should not be an afterthought.

2) Builds Customer Relationships, Increases Customer Engagement and Increases Trust

Content helps you communicate with your customers. By identifying your business goals, who you are targeting, what value you will be creating for the customer and what value you will be creating for the business, you will build customer relationships and engagement over time. Pushing out valuable content helps you get noticed by social media influencers and build a reputation.

3) Increases Leads

According to our friends at Web.com, white papers are the number-one lead generation tool, with videos and webcasts coming in second and third. The focus of your content is important in generating the best leads and needs to be tailored to your target audience.

Creating content marketing for your startup is not an easy job, so it stands to reason that you’d like to focus on the type of content that gets the best results. As a startup, your content marketing is valuable and is the best way to brand yourself as an industry leader. By providing beneficial and worthwhile information to your target audience, you will increase your startup’s chance of success.