Million Dollar Micro Business

13Content marketing

Content marketing will help you grow a business that is solid, strong and here to stay. I've used my Value Marketing Method to build multiple businesses (see figure 4, overleaf). It's the quickest and easiest way to grow a lucrative online company, which isn't to say it's quick or easy! It's all relative.

Some would argue that sinking a bucketload of money into social media advertising is easier and quicker, and initially it may be, but if you don't have great content marketing, and proof of your expertise and credibility, your success will be short-lived. What's more, it will soak up a huge amount of initial capital and continue to eat into your profits. Build your content first, then funnel advertising towards high-quality content.

The Value Marketing Method has eight elements:

1. social media
2. calls to action
3. search engine optimisation
4. third-party media
5. podcasting
6. live speaking
7. awards
8. publishing.

Developing all of these elements over the first two to three years will ensure your business is built on a solid foundation that will stand the test of time. Some elements are harder to rack up than others (think awards and publishing), but you can cover the first six from the outset.

Figure 4: The Value Marketing Method

It's so much easier to have a plan for your content marketing than to wing it from week to week and see how it goes. Without a plan, the ...