7 Powerful Content Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses on a Budget in 2024

Picture this: You’ve launched your small business and gotten a few sales. But after several months, your sales have dried up, and your runway is getting shorter. You need to generate business with a limited budget—and in a way that pays for itself a few times over.

The answer: content marketing.

Content marketing for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) is a tried and tested form of marketing, allowing you to reach a broader audience and build a loyal customer base. Semrush’s State of Content Marketing 2023 GlobalReport found that 99% of small businesses (11 to 50 employees) have seen positive results with this investment.

But what strategies should you invest in—especially when you’re short on budget and time?

We spoke to more than 15 small business owners and marketers who’ve been where you are and asked for their best tips for creating content on a shoestring budget. 

7 content marketing strategies to grow your small business.

Here are a few battle-tested content marketing strategies to market your small business:

1. Invest in user-generated content

People connect with people—not brands. Adding a face to your campaign helps you form long-term connections with your audience, and user-generated content (UGC) does that. 

“It’s a wonderful way to engage with the community and gather content that’s authentic and cost-effective,” says Ramiro Somosierra, founder of GearAficionado.

Essentially, you hire a UGC creator and have them create content on specific topics. You can create formats like product unboxing videos, livestreams, product images, giveaways, etc.

An example of a UGC video that one of Parakeet Cafe’s customer created. Source

It gives you a plethora of content to choose from while showcasing real experiences from your customers. And this can be used repeatedly on multiple channels like social media, ads, and email campaigns.

Curious about what kind of content to create? Check out our article on B2B content marketing examples.

2. Play the long game with SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website in a way that it ranks on search engines for targeted terms. Since it’s an owned channel, you control the narrative of your content.

Optimize the main pages, like product/service pages, for niche-specific keywords when you build your website. Also, create in-depth SEO blogs on niche-specific topics to show search engines and customers that you’re an authority in your space.

It’s important to remember that this is an ongoing process, and you need writers, editors, and SEO specialists to get the job done with a small budget. Why not check out what Fiverr’s marketplace has to offer?

A collection of top-of-funnel blog posts on Let’s Talk Talent’s website. Source

3. Lead with video interviews from subject matter experts

Conduct video interviews with in-house experts or thought leaders in your industry to create authoritative content on a budget. It lets you set the bar for quality very early in your content operations.

“I love video interviews as a first port of call for most small businesses,” says Charlie Southwell, marketing director of Let’s Talk Talent. 

“It’s a great way to get the experts in the business to share their passion and expertise. Which can then very easily be turned into blogs, a podcast, a video series on YouTube. The most cost effective thing is to create great quality content once, and distribute it for years to come.”

If you optimize platforms like YouTube for video SEO, that boosts your channel’s visibility too.

A hero piece (or podcast) that Rockee uses to fuel its content efforts. Source

4. Spend time on guest outreach

As a small business, your goal is to get your name out there. because when you do, your business gets more exposure. You can invest in approaches like:

• Guest blogging

• Link building using quotes

• Podcast appearances

“Outreach is free and only takes a few hours per week! I’ve been quoted in household publications and have earned backlinks simply by weighing in on topics with relevant expertise,” says Paul Kushner, CEO of MyBartender. “Platforms like Terkel and HARO are an easy way for an inexperienced marketer but knowledgeable business owner to gain exposure.”

Plus, the hosts or authors that feature you will include a link to your website or social media feed—which builds your backlink authority and brand awareness.

So respond to quotes on platforms like Help a Reporter Out (HARO), Qwoted, Help a B2B Writer, Terkel, and Source Bottle, to name a few. Or you can manually reach out to publications and top companies to be featured—as long as it’s a good fit for both ends.

5. Create customer stories for social proof

When was the last time you bought a product on Amazon without checking out user reviews? Most customers tend to ignore new listings that don’t have ratings. Similarly, your customers will do that too.

If you’re a relatively new business in the market, potential customers will want to know what they’re getting into. So the sooner you invest in processes to gather testimonials or even build bigger case studies, the better.

These content assets are powerful tools for showing the impact of your product/service on real customers. Plus, it instills confidence in the potential customer as they picture themselves in that position. Examples include written testimonials, video testimonials, before-and-after comparisons, and ROI-focused one-pagers.

“Word-of-mouth advertising is not only free, it’s effective. Simply ask your satisfied customers for a five-star review,” says Andrew Meyer, CEO of Arbor. “If you want to incentivize them a bit, enter them in a giveaway for their time. Customers are much more likely to purchase from a company with glowing testimonials.”

Dimple Contacts published a dedicated testimonials page with video and text testimonials from verified buyers. Source

6. Offer interactive content on different channels

Interactive content goes beyond the regular static image and text content you find. It includes several formats:

• Quizzes

• Polls

• Calculators

• Infographics

• Generators

• Filterable statistics

• Maps

Cloudberries, a puzzle games provider, created a jigsaw-themed bingo infographic for its audience. Being puzzle nerds, the team knew what true puzzle enthusiasts would like. They shared the graphic on their website and social media channels, encouraging customers to use it—creating a lot of buzz for the brand.

“We recently made a jigsaw-themed bingo card where people could put a circle around the fun and nerdy things they’ve done with their puzzle,” says Steve Vickers, owner of Cloudberries. “When we shared the card on social media, within minutes our followers were reposting it, boasting about how nerdy they were!”

So create content that gets engaged with and shared for brand awareness campaigns.

7. Build an email list 

With earned media channels like social media being as fickle as they are, it’s important to build a space of your own too. An email list is an excellent way to do that.

This approach allows you to build a list to share company updates, promotional offers, new launches, educational content, and more to nurture your audience. By maintaining consistent communication, you keep your brand top of mind.

There are several ways you can do this:

• Offer gated content like ebooks, whitepapers, guides, and reports.

• Create an exit-intent pop-up to capture email addresses.

• Promote exclusive or event-based offers.

• Capture email addresses through a newsletter sign-up form.

• Ask for email IDs in 1:1 social media conversations in exchange for information.

• Use timed survey-based pop-ups based on page scroll depth.

An example of a limited time offer on Bubble Skincare’s website.

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Tips to make the most out of your content marketing efforts

Here are a few best practices to maximize your content marketing budget:

1. Outsource your content production to freelancers

Hiring freelancers is an excellent cost-effective solution if you’re on a tight budget. They offer flexibility, specialized expertise, and a structured process. In Semrush’s report, 52% of businesses with unsuccessful content marketing strategies didn’t have documented processes in place.

“Freelancers can be a godsend when you’re just starting out with your business because you can contract their services on a per-need basis,” says Peter Hoopis, CEO of Peter Hoopis Ventures. “So, you can preserve your capital and keep operating expenses low when revenue isn’t pouring in yet.”

But hiring freelancers can be an overwhelming process, too, if you’re doing it for the first time. Here are a few things to look out for:

• Experience and expertise

• Proof of work

• Case studies/testimonials

• Cultural fit

• Project rates

• Shared vision and values

• Research and comprehension skills

• Communication skills

• Independence 

The goal is to hire someone who takes things off your plate—not adds to it.

“The last thing I need is to spend hours on fact and quality checking every single article I publish. I need writers I can trust to create great content without a lot of handholding,” says Roy Harmon, chief marketing officer at LeadPost.

2. Create an ideal customer avatar to refine your messaging

Hoopis emphasizes the importance of building a customer avatar or buyer persona before investing in content marketing. 

“Create an ideal customer avatar [ICA] or buyer persona and really get inside the head of your ICA,” says Hoopis. “When you have honed down on your ideal customer, then your content marketing messaging becomes more focused and fine-tuned. You will be able to craft your messages to appeal to your ideal customer and show them how they can solve their pain points.”

This targeted approach lets you reach out to the right people with a limited budget and make an impact from the get-go.

3. Hone in your POV and tell your stories

Simple educational content is slowly becoming a commodity thanks to artificial intelligence. To stand out, use storytelling—not just any story. Use your own experiences. This helps you build a loyal customer base and forge emotional connections with your audience. 

Take it from Laura and Kelly Moffat, owners of Kirrin Finch. When they realized there were limited options in the market for women and non-binary folks who want to wear menswear-inspired clothing, they set out to create a brand that did.

By owning their point of view, which is that clothing should not be limited by gender—they built an audience of 65,000 followers across four channels while building a successful business.

So craft compelling narratives and inject that into your content. Only some people will agree with it, but those who do will help you grow your business.

3. Go deep, not broad, while picking channels

Colin Jeffries, vice president of marketing and communications at BrightView, says the biggest miss small businesses make is trying to take an omnichannel approach. 

They invest too much time trying to be everywhere—and end up with lackluster efforts on each channel. Instead, he recommends that SMBs go deep, not broad.

“The best thing SMBs can do is to pick the two channels with the biggest upside potential and crush it there. Then they can add a third after 12 to 18 months, once they’re excelling on the first two,” says Jeffries.

So identify high-potential platforms first and then invest in content creation and distribution for those channels. This is where hiring a freelance marketing expert could come in handy. They analyze your business needs and offer recommendations based on that.

4. Repurpose content to maximize the content’s mileage

Content repurposing allows you to repackage core insights from different assets and rework those for other platforms.

The team at Rockee does this to get a higher level of exposure from the limited content they create. Their core content is the bi-weekly podcast published with help from a team of freelancers. By recording audio and video, they convert one “hero” asset into:

• YouTube videos

• Social media videos

• Social media graphics

• Website blogs 

• Documents 

“Doing the podcast might seem crazy, but we do this as a way of feeding multiple channels through one ‘hero’ piece of content. This way we meet our goal of high exposure from a single source, at a low monthly cost,” says Matt Laybourn, founder of Rockee.

5. Bake continuous audience research into content workflows

Audience research is not a one-time affair. You need to continuously tap into what your audience wants, along with upcoming trends in the market so you can get ahead of them. It shows customers you’re willing to cater to their burning questions and concerns—while showcasing your experience.

“We listen to our clients. We often repurpose proposals and also ask our clients what problems they have now and are planning for over the next year,” saysSouthwell at Let’s Talk Talent. “Any questions that our sales team fields in the sales process can easily be a good blog or YouTube too. So we try to be as close as possible to our clients.”

You can also keep up with industry publications, monitor content marketing trends on social forums, or send customer surveys regularly to access these insights.

6. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box

Sometimes a great way to generate buzz is to think outside the box. When you embrace whacky ideas and dare to be different, it can bring in more business than you think.

For instance, Cloudberries created the world’s first outsourced puzzle with the help of its audience and a web design agency. It built a unique tool that allowed users to color a piece in a blank puzzle—which nobody else could choose. Coupling it with a story about “Wisdom of the Crowd” drew in more users, making them invested in the project.

“We even gave the participants first dibs on buying the puzzle (which we promised to create, however it looked!) and it sold extremely well. After completing the puzzle, people were sharing pics on Instagram saying ‘Hey, I chose the color of that piece!’” says Vickers.

So what might seem odd to you could be the next viral campaign for your business. However, it’s best to beta test the idea with a small focus group to validate it first.

Make the most of your marketing budget with tried-and-tested approaches

Even though content marketing has become a vital tool for small businesses, the myriad methods available could result in you spending time on the wrong things. Instead, focus your efforts on medium-effort and high-potential strategies that promote your business, boost your brand’s visibility, and drive tangible results.

And to help you get there, hire freelance experts who can do the heavy lifting for you. 

“If you have a budget of $5,000 or less, the best approach is to assign, or hire, someone to manage the content production process,” says Harmon. 

“Have them develop the strategy and marketing ideas, manage the writers, and edit the content. Then, use freelancers and generative AI tools to produce as much quality content as you can. AI is helpful, but you’ll need real people to make sure it provides unique value to readers. Otherwise, your content will get lost in the vast sea of AI garbage.”

Remember, you don’t have to go it alone. With a freelance team that acts as your marketing allies, you can achieve remarkable growth—even with a limited budget.

Sounds good? Sign up for Fiverr today and work with top freelance marketing talent.