Content Ideas to Market Your Local Business

One of the biggest challenges faced by local businesses is marketing themselves. Small and medium-sized businesses, and even some larger businesses, often don’t have either a plan or a resource dedicated for marketing.

Even with an employee to take on some responsibilities, this is likely someone’s “extra” job at a local business, and that person is likely to not be a marketing pro. Work priorities and immediate needs will always get in front of business promotion, even though marketing is make-or-break for the success of an enterprise.

Breaking Writer's Block

I’ve been thinking a lot about these issues as we roll out our updated Sponsor program for the McKinley Park News, especially our features that let all types of local businesses reach our local area and ever-growing readership.

We’ve worked hard to make tools like Sponsor Profiles, Sponsor News and Sponsor Events as intuitive and easy to use as possible, including from mobile devices. However, sometimes the hardest part is coming up with the marketing ideas themselves: Writer's block affects everyone (including myself).

To help our Sponsors, I put together the following list of content ideas — and some general marketing tips — that I published in our Sponsors Guide. After thinking about it, I thought this might be of interest to our entire business community here in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood, and to anyone else who might find it useful:

20 Ideas for Sponsor Content

Tell your story to our community within our highly regarded and popular local news publication. Here are 20 ideas to inspire you:

1. Celebrate a Milestone in Sponsor News.
   Announce a big step forward for your enterprise.
    
2. Promote a Sales Event in Sponsor News and Sponsor Events.
   Push scheduled sales events or specials.
    
3. Introduce a New Product or Service in Sponsor News.
   Talk about your latest offerings.
    
4. Welcome a New Employee in Sponsor News.
   Introduce a new team member.
    
5. Recognize an Employee in Sponsor News.
   Showcase employee accomplishments.
    
6. Showcase Your Workplace in Sponsor News.
   Show employee success, satisfaction and fun!
    
7. Announce Awards & Recognition in Sponsor News and Sponsor Events.
   Share word of your enterprise's awards and related ceremonies.
    
8. Announce Acknowledgments in Sponsor News.
   Share memberships, new certifications and compliance updates.
    
9. Highlight Community Events in Sponsor News and Sponsor Events.
   Promote your participation in public-facing community events.
    
10. Highlight Industry Events in Sponsor News and Sponsor Events.
    Share your engagement in events for your industry.
     
11. Highlight Commercial Events in Sponsor News and Sponsor Events.
    Share events where you sell your products and services alongside others.
     
12. Promote a Customer in Sponsor News.
    Show a happy customer of your product or service.
     
13. Share a Testimonial in Sponsor News.
    Relay a testimonial from a happy customer.
     
14. Congratulate the Community in Sponsor News.
    Laud a person or organization for their accomplishments.
     
15. Send Holiday Greetings in Sponsor News.
    Share your holiday message with the community.
     
16. Remind of a Deadline in Sponsor News and Sponsor Events.
    Highlight the end of an opportunity.
     
17. Highlight Investments in Sponsor News.
    Share your investments in capacity and capabilities.
     
18. Announce Career Opportunities in Sponsor News.
    Share employment openings and events.
     
19. Publish Your Advocacy in Sponsor News.
    Advocate on an issue that affects your enterprise.
     
20. Say Thank You in Sponsor News.
    Express gratitude to others.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas for telling your business story? Share it in the comments below.

I hope this list might inspire you to think how you will market your enterprise. I wish you great success! Cheers!

— Justin Kerr
Publisher, McKinley Park News