Set Up a Property

To start, you need to connect a Google Account with your website. 

https://analytics.google.com/

How do I come up with marketing or content ideas?

Why do you think this? You either don’t know your creative process or you don’t know your company as well as you should. 

Actionable Steps:

• Research Company: values, goals, story, mission statement, the “Why” behind the company, the reason behind the name. Marketing is the voice of a company, but you should listen before talking.
• Research Others: competitive analysis of similar businesses, research the overall market and trends. What your competition makes in terms of content should guide your marketing strategy. Look for over- and undersaturated topics, terminology, and the emotional appeal.
• Research Yourself: what are you best at, when or where are you the most creative, where do you think the clearest, etc. Coming up with content ideas is a creative process. Sometimes it helps to talk to people who aren’t involved in your business and to get some ideas that you never would have thought of. Not all of these ideas will work, but not all of the ideas you have will work either. As a business owner, everything you do is content. Your whole life revolves around your business, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box when you come up with content ideas. 

Should my content look like their content?

Why do you think this? You may not be super creative (that’s ok, you’re a small business owner, not a professional digital marketer) or you may not know what makes your company unique.  

Actionable Steps:

• Discover USP: your USP is your Unique Selling Point. Every company needs a USP to set them apart from competition. Research your company and find a point of differentiation. Highlight that in your content, make sure all your potential customers see that you’re unique.

   Read more about USP’s

• Market Research: compile the content of multiple of your competitors and compare/contrast. Colors, layout, images, wording, hashtags, headlines, effects, etc. Down to the smallest detail, try to figure out what these people do that works for them. 
• Unique, but Not Strange: Many industries have a standard when it comes to websites and content, and straying from that particular style may mean that your audience doesn’t recognize what it is that you do. Or, worse, they may count you off as inexperienced in the industry, and avoid you altogether. On the other hand, if your content looks exactly like all your competitors, you’ll never be noticed in the crowd. Find a way to differentiate yourself in a crowded market, but don’t reinvent the wheel (go back to your USP).

What does my audience actually want to see?

Why do you think this? You’re seeing that your audience doesn’t seem to care about the content you thought they would. This usually comes from a business owner using their own history and beliefs to guide all of their marketing strategy.

Actionable Steps:

• Customer Persona: create detailed customer personas imagining your target audience. These should be revisited every 6 months or so to ensure the persona still matches the company goals. 

• Market Research: Social media, Facebook groups, Reddit forums, Quora, etc. When you have free time, take a look through these social networks and look for threads talking about ideation for your industry. Reddit and Quora are amazing sources for this. 

Make sure you look at comments under competitors' posts as well! Look especially hard for “I wish you would . . . ” or “You should . . .”

• Interviews: forms, polls, in person, from reviews, under your posts, in casual conversation. Just ask them yourself! You may be surprised with what people say.

After this research, making content should be easier. It’ll never be effortless if you want to stay original and relevant (that’s why there are professional marketers) but it shouldn’t be an impossible task! If you find yourself struggling, turn back to the research to guide you.