How to Decide If It's Too Early for Content Marketing

There's never a right time to start with content marketing.

If your startup has only just launched, you're looking for quick wins.

If you're already seeing growth, have built a team, and are already investing resources into your marketing department, then it might feel like it's too late to start investing in content marketing.

In this post, I'm going to explain why:

• It's rarely too early (but it can be)
• It's never too late(but it will probably always feel like it)

Let's jump right in.

Is It Too Early to Start with Content Marketing?

You're an early-stage startup with a runway that's shorter than you'd like.

For the purpose of this post, I'm going to assume that you already have product/market fit.

If you don't, you shouldn't be thinking about your content strategy quite yet.

You should be talking to customers and figuring out who your product or service is going to provide value for.

When you've validated your business, have a few (or many) customers, and feel like you're pushing a boulder up a hill, then it might be time to start thinking about it.

Assuming you have P/M fit, you'll have a few priorities:

• Identify the best performing acquisition channels and scale them
• Grow your team
• Grow your revenue (ASAP)

You'll also have no free time, let alone 3-5 hours to write a blog post.

But... we're not saying you shouldn't be thinking about content marketing.

There are a few reasons why it just might be the right time to start.

If you want to know how much content marketing is going to cost, check out our blog post: Content Marketing Pricing: How Much Can You Expect to Pay?

Why You Should Start with Content Marketing Early

Content Compounds Over Time

Once you publish a blog post, it's not going anywhere.

Content is one of the very few marketing activities that grows and compounds over time.

Unlike ads, you can't turn off your blog posts (well, you could delete them - but let's assume you're not going to do that).

They'll always be showing up in the search results, putting your product in front of qualified visitors.

The sooner you start, the more time your content has to compound and grow. If you put off creating content because

"It's not the right time"

or

"It costs too much"

Then you might be forgetting about the long term benefits of publishing new content regularly.

Organic Traffic Won't Appear Out of Thin Air

Getting traffic from social media is notoriously hard unless you pay for it. It's also not scalable. Once you stop posting, your traffic stops.

Same with paid ads. You can see big results, but what happens when you stop spending? You know the answer.

If you dream of having a constant flow of qualified visitors to your site, then you're going to need to grow your organic traffic. Creating SEO-driven content is the best way to do that.

By creating content around keywords relevant to your business, you'll start ranking for queries that your customers are searching for, leading them to your business.

Slowly but surely, your traffic will grow, and you won't be reliant on paid traffic to grow. I'm not saying paid ads don't have their place - they do. But they're not going to help you grow in a sustainable way, like a smart content strategy will.

Content Will Help You Grow a Community

You hear it all the time.

"You need an email list"

"Community first, product second"

Both statements are spot on.

It might not feel like it now, but as you scale, you're going to need an audience who loves your product, tells their friends about it, sees your business as a source of truth, and sticks with you.

Once you start creating content, you'll be seen by those who you want to see you.

Content targeting relevant keywords around your area of expertise will get your brand in front of your audience when they're searching for solutions to their problems.

If your business is an email marketing tool, then you'll write about everything related to email marketing that your ideal customer is searching for.

No matter what type of customer you have, the same basic principle applies. Write about things that your customers care about.

Over time, your brand will become a trusted partner in the eyes of your ideal customer. They'll go to you to find answers to their most important questions.

That's something you can't buy with ads.

You'll be able to grow your email list by offering gated content in exchange for email addresses. Then, you can nurture those subscribers into paying customers.

Wrapping Up

Truthfully, I can't tell you if it's the right time to start.

You know your company best.

If you have product/market fit, have proven the value of your product or service to (ideally) paying customers, and are searching for a marketing channel that will compound over time, then content marketing just might be for you.

Want help with your content marketing strategy? Get in touch with Contentbulb.