The two killers of stellar content marketing are budget and time. Who’s got any of that, really? When it comes to creating content, businesses know that a great strategy is essential to their success but don’t know where to start. In fact, in the B2C world, 52% of businesses find low budget marketing to be a challenge when it comes to building an audience, but without an engaged audience, you don’t have a thriving business. Period. We understand that budget is a serious challenge that almost every small business faces, so here are some strategies for producing quality content marketing without breaking the bank.

Always Write Evergreen

Any blogging strategy would be incomplete if you didn’t plan ahead with evergreen content. This kind of content is timeless; it’s solid advice for your audience regardless of when it is published. Coupled with effective SEO, this content will keep bringing the traffic long after its publish date which saves you time and gives a hefty return on investment if you can convert that traffic. A word of caution: evergreen content does require updating now and again. For example, if you wrote a fabulous article on search engine optimization practices, you’ll have to revisit it in a year or two as Google is always improving on its algorithms, otherwise the original content will no longer be relevant for your audience. You know what will change about your products and services over time. Common sense goes a long way here. Pro Tip: Spend some time and resources on building a wealth of evergreen content upfront so you have a bit more time to concentrate on other aspects of business down the road.

Play It Smart

The majority of businesses understand that duplicate content will get you in trouble with Google, but duplicate content isn’t limited to just having the same article on two different sites. Whether it’s a guest post or a feature on an authority site, Google sees it and looks down at you for it. (This isn’t good for your rankings, as you can imagine.) So take care when you write; ensure that you are cautious of how often you are submitting guest posts, as well as where else your content is appearing.

Re-Purpose Your Best Work

So when you create evergreen content, there are lots of options available to you for repurposing that content. First, you can do a rewrite and offer fresh content on the same topic to your adoring fans. Second, you can create multiple pieces of content from your original stellar article by changing up the format. Make an audio file or shoot a quick video. You can also make infographics, which allow your readers to get the information they need in a quick, easy-to-read format. All of these options will be less time consuming than writing about new topics, and they will show up differently in SEO rankings. [For example, Google puts a different emphasis on YouTube video results than they do regular web page results.] Since your evergreen content is already solid and good to go, collect relevant pieces and make them work for you again by reformatting them all into an ebook which will work as a way to generate leads.

Use Email To Engage

When we think content marketing, blogging is typically what comes to mind, but that’s not all we content marketers do. Email marketing gets a bad rap, but there’s no question that it is one of the most effective forms of content out there. 59% of B2B marketers say email is the most effective channel for generating revenue. (BtoB Magazine) Email marketing does take time, and occasionally money, but it’s a great way to keep your audience engaged if you are on a budget—and I think we’ve established that we all are. If you want to build an engaged audience, then regardless of time and money, you too must engage. If you play it smart, the majority of this email communication can be automated. Here at Xingley, we run both automated and manual campaigns depending on the situation, and we recommend you follow suit. For example, your new subscribers should be sent a series of automated emails introducing them to your team and inviting them to introduce themselves to you. Then they should start to receive your manual broadcasts in an unobtrusive way which includes valuable content for them. Once you see how they engage (or don’t) you can build upon your strategy until you find what works best for each person. (Read our tips on how to make powerful email newsletters here.)

Scope Out The Competition

So far, all of these strategies have not required anything but your time. This one requires a small investment. When you sign up for SEMRush, you have the ability to research keywords in a more effective way—by determining which keywords your competition is ranking for. While it might cost you a bit for the program, the information you gather through this tool is invaluable. Now you can start to develop your content around the things you know searchers are looking for and can create better content than the competition, scooping up traffic that was previously going to your competitors.

Digital Marketing Is Budget Friendly

With little or no financial investment, you can create amazing content and distribute it across all of your social channels to attract inbound leads and utilize email marketing to nurture those leads into conversions. Yes, this may be time consuming, but the return on investment is well worth it—trust us. Digital marketing isn’t about getting things done, it’s about doing things correctly, and with the proper knowledge, you can do it on a budget.