During the summer months, businesses typically go into a brief « hibernation » period of relaxation and vacations. But it’s important to use this time to drive new sales to ramp yourself up for the Fall season.

The best way to keep engaged with your clientele is through content marketing. Content marketing means consistently creating and distributing information that is valuable and relevant to those people within a small business’s target audience. Keep on reading to learn 5 reasons your small business needs content marketing.

1. Boosts brand awarenessConsistency is a key ingredient to a successful content marketing strategy. This means publishing fresh content at a regular frequency, creating many opportunities for a target market to see the company’s name. Your brand becomes familiar to them, and you’ll be top-of-mind the next time they need your services. Want an easy way to do this? Send out an email blast (like this one).
2. Builds an identity as a trusted expertIf there are 10 plumbers in a town but only one provides helpful information that educates the community about plumbing maintenance, problems, options and innovations, that brand will stand out as the expert. By doing this, a brand is demonstrating its expertise, so prospective customers need not question or research its know-how. Since this small business is helping consumers without getting paid for this advice, it will also earn a reputation of being trustworthy.
3. Encourages your customer to take actionWhen consumers need to spend money or make time for a service, it’s natural to procrastinate. However, once a consumer gets clear answers to his or her questions, or hears a story that he or she can relate to, that person could finally be motivated to make a purchase or schedule an appointment. Producing content that guides a consumer through the buyer’s journey (awareness, evaluation and purchase) results in more sales.
4. Sharable content brings people in the doorCreating a steady stream of fresh information on a variety of topics opens several avenues to drive traffic to a website — through search, social media, traditional media and more — which ultimately results in phone calls, orders or foot traffic. Covering unique, timely and seasonal topics will interest a broader audience and encourage repeat visitors. It also boosts ranking in search results, making it more likely that potential customers will find your small business before one of your competitors.
5. Keeps your website freshA website often will be a consumer’s first impression of your business. A stagnant, stale website is less interesting and less professional than one with updated content that changes regularly. Undecided consumers who are researching their options might check out a website and social media presence more than once. When they come back, seeing something new and relevant makes their visit a better experience — and shows that the brand is a professional organization.