Big creative assets lead to big links, true. But you don’t need big-budget content to win big-budget links. This September, SEO consultant Stacey MacNaught outlined for us how to maximise your budget to get the most from your content marketing.
Overview
Speaker’s name: Stacey MacNaught
Job role and company: SEO Consultant at MacNaught Digital
Twitter profile: @staceycav
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceycav/
Link to the slides: TBC
What was the talk about?
Effective content marketing doesn’t need big budgets to succeed. It’s possible to win links without breaking the bank.
It starts with fresh ideas. Surveys and infographics have been done to death, so look beyond these.
To that end, don’t cut costs in the planning or promotion stage. If you’re exceeding your budget, cut back in design and development, never ideation.
Solid research and planning are essential for low-budget campaigns.
Take your timing, for example. By spotting trends or jumping on seasonal content, you can easily gain traction for a campaign. Use Google News to identify when seasonal content starts getting talked about online and time your campaign accordingly.
It’s also worth creating a feature calendar for the year that highlights special events, awareness days/months, and other notable dates for your campaign.
When you create your asset, go for evergreen linkable assets rather than one-hit wonders. Think templates or guides — self-generating content like this offers greater scalability than one-off assets.
Above all, it is the story that matters. A story provides the hook that generates links time and again, so make sure you find yours.
Favourite quote
“Focus more on stories and less on dressing the content up”
Thanks so much for having me this morning #brightonseo. Some of those links again:
When certain topics peak in press – https://t.co/jmvLgZhNHY
When press start talking about key seasonal events – https://t.co/7TYQMtiTXH
Data viz tools – https://t.co/34PrqJA44t
— Stacey MacNaught (@staceycav) September 13, 2019
Potential impact on the industry
Content marketing is a necessity if you want to win links and gain coverage. It drives traffic, builds trust, connects with audiences, and builds value-led links.
But solo enterprises and SMEs shouldn’t be excluded by a limited budget. It’s possible to implement a successful content marketing campaign without blowing all your budget.
This starts with focusing on solid research and diligent planning. Time your campaign accordingly. This isn’t just about jumping on trends — it’s also about ensuring you’re not eclipsed by something bigger.
Once you’ve hit on a strong idea, create a value-led asset that people link to because they want to, not because you asked them to. And always look to free tools, journalist resources (such as HARO), and publically-available data to build your asset.
Stacey’s talk makes successful content marketing something all businesses and marketers can use, regardless of their budget.
Key takeaways
- Prioritise planning and ideation, not design and development
- Timing is essential — plan your campaign according to trends and events
- Evergreen, self-generating content offers scalability and consistent results
- Your story should be your top priority for any content marketing campaign
- Lean on free or affordable tools and resources to save time and money
