Imagine a little birdie whispering in your ear that content marketing is the way to go. After all, what’s not to like? It drives traffic to your website, generates leads, and boosts brand awareness. 

You rn:

The best part? You can have everything content marketing has to offer! No, it’s not entirely free to create content (it requires a sizable investment) but it beats paying for printed ads, billboards, or direct mail (which don’t always have the desired results). 🙄

Other than that, content marketing is a cost-effective way to generate traffic and convert people to your business. And in this article, we’ll show you how to make this strategy effective and low-cost. 

Interested? Then, let’s dive in! 

How much do organizations spend on content marketing?

How valuable is content marketing to companies? Let’s put it this way: most are willing to dedicate 10 to 29% of their budget to it and spend money like: 

Source: Giphy

But how much does content marketing cost? Well, let’s look to content marketer Lee Densmer on LinkedIn for a straight answer: 

“As a benchmark, on average, a small business may spend around $2,000–$6,000 per month on content marketing, while larger companies may spend $10,000–$50,000 or more per month.” 

Thank you for the answer, Lee! In essence, the cost is determined by certain factors, such as the:

• Size of your business
• Complexity of the campaign
• Industry you’re in
• Number of target personas
• Channels where you want to publish your content
• People you employ in the process

In short, the initial investment is high, true. But if you produce high-quality content, you can greatly boost engagement and return on investment. Taking these factors into consideration can help businesses create a budget that aligns with their goals and maximize the impact of their efforts. 

For example, the average writer charges $0.05–$0.20 per word, but the price might rise if you want subject matter experts. On the other hand, a designer might cost you $50+ for creating visual content that’ll attract readers. 

Prices also highly depend on the type of content you want to create. Videos can range from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the complexity of the video. Simple ones usually cost little, while animated videos might cost you rather more. Meanwhile, a social media post might cost you $50. 

The bottom line? You don’t need to spend an outrageous amount of money to create the marketing campaign of your dreams. You can get good results while keeping at the bottom end of the spending spectrum. 

And you know what? It’s time to show you how you can do that. 

What are some effective strategies for cost-effective content marketing?

Alright, here’s the million-dollar question: how do you keep content market strategy at a reasonable price? Oh, it’s easy! If you follow our advice, you’ll be at the top (and with more money in your wallet) in no time.

Here’s a preview: 

Let’s talk about each of these strategies in more detail so you have a better idea of what to do. 

1. Create buyer personas

Hi, I’m Julie, a marketing manager in New York, age 42. 

My hobbies are yoga and reading, but I like to travel most of all. However, I find it hard to do that since my life is so busy, and I don't have the money to spend on vacations. I just want to escape the stress of the city, just for a bit. 

Does this sound like someone who's part of your target audience? Probably not, but just imagine for a second. You sell a product or service that can help Julie — and others — find the time for their personal lives. 

But guess what? Julie is entirely fictional! It’s just a buyer persona, AKA a fictional representation of your ideal customer (based on research and data). Knowing who your customers are is the first step in delivering more effective and relevant content, which leads to improved customer satisfaction and experience. 

2. Focus on an audience niche

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

Who loves my brand most of all? 

If you don’t know the answer to this question, we’ve got some bad news for you. 😬 You should know what type of person is obsessed with your product and keeps buying it because they can’t live without it. 

Customers who can’t stop yapping at others about how awesome your product is — this is the target audience you should aim your efforts at. Why? Because you already know they want your product, and you can find the best solutions to keep them engaged. 

3. Conduct a content audit

How does your content usually perform? 

Source: Giphy

Oh, maybe that’s because you’ve never performed content audits before. At least you can start doing that now, so all hope isn't lost. 

What are content audits? They analyze your existing content and evaluate its performance, strengths, and weaknesses. Their purpose is to identify areas where you can improve your content and optimize it to better fit your goals. 

4. Produce content consistently

Content strategies are like saving accounts. If you keep adding money every day, you’ll be happier in the long run. In translation, if you post content regularly (AKA, have a schedule), you get the best results. 

Basically, you get that 💸.  

You won’t see immediate results, however. It takes a year or so of regular publishing to attract a regular traffic flow. But it’s well worth the wait and investment. 

And the best part? You can do it at your own pace! If you want to post three blog posts per week, you can as long as it doesn’t bog you down. The vital bit is to stick to a schedule at all costs! 

5. Repurpose existing content

You recycle, right? Sorting waste from plastic and whatnot. Or wait — maybe you use objects made out of recycled materials. No matter what you do, the principle of recycling can also apply to content. ♻️

Yep, it’s true. The concept entails tweaking your most popular content into a new format to reach a wider audience. Now you might be rolling your eyes, thinking it’s redundant to use the same content instead of producing something new. 

But don’t be skeptical — repurposed content can save you money and time! You don’t have to spend resources to create new content, but you can turn a hot blog post into a video. Or transform internal company presentations into templates you can share with people.

The idea is that tailoring old content to new formats can catch someone’s attention and resonate with them better. In short, repurposing content can help drive conversions without being a chore. 

Try it! 

6. Create both timely and evergreen content

Content sometimes feels like walking a tightrope. Why? Because you have to juggle two types of content to achieve maximum output: evergreen and time-sensitive content. 

But you know what? 😃 You’re gonna nail it (as long as you have a consistent publishing schedule). However, let’s see what these types of content mean. 

Evergreen content is like this article: stable. Nothing will change anytime soon about this topic, so you do it once and that’s it. It’s perfect for delivering long-term traffic. 

Time-sensitive content, however, is constantly on the run. It’s content about things related to your niche that are of temporary relevance, such as industry news, events, and trends. 

It’s important to focus on this type of content because it shows you follow trends and keep your content updated. 

In conclusion, doing both evergreen and time-sensitive content is the key to increasing your ROI. 

7. Look at quality instead of quantity

The truth is, you can pump thousands of articles a day, every weekday, and wash your hands of it. Cross your fingers and hope your content will produce the results you want quickly. 

But you wait and wait — nothing happens. Most likely because you focused on creating content as fast as possible and forgot about quality along the way. Yikes. 

Quality is more important to your people (and for Google, ngl) than pushing content out at a fast pace. Nowadays, some search engines use AI to detect and penalize low-quality content that’s not relevant to users. 

So, make sure your content is original, engaging, and trustworthy. This is the secret to ranking high in search engines and driving organic traffic. 

8. Consider video content

We’ll be honest: video content is not for everyone. 😢 If you want to stay on a budget, you should stay away. 

BUT it does have its benefits. According to Wyzowl, 91% of companies use video as a marketing tool, from live-action videos to screen-recorded ones to animated videos. 

They have all kinds of purposes: explainer videos, testimonial videos, product demos, training, customer or employee onboarding — you name it! They’re perfect for telling stories, showcasing your products, or entertaining your (possibly younger) audience, but they might cost a pretty penny.

A good tip: make your videos informative and emotional to capture people’s interest and drive more conversions. 

9. Make use of memes 

Yep, we did. And yes, using these humorous images or videos whenever you can will appeal to your audience. As long as you don’t go overboard. 😅 You don’t want to sound like you’re trying too hard to appeal to your customers. 

Memes are viral and highly popular; they’ll certainly spark conversation among your peers. Moreover, they’re shareable, especially if they’re funny, relatable, and relevant. There are plenty of tools you can use to generate memes, such as Imgflip (see image above) or Meme Generator. 

10. Leverage user-generated content (UGC)

UGC is content created (and shared) by your audience. Think of testimonials, photos, or social media posts; in a nutshell, content where people leave their opinions about your brand or recommend your services.  

Why is UGC good for you? Because it builds credibility. People consider UGC as authentic, trustworthy, and, most of all, relatable. It also showcases your audience’s loyalty and satisfaction with your brand and services. 

Think about it: you’re more likely to buy a product if the review comes from a close friend rather than the brand itself. For example, seeing someone like you use that product will convince and inspire you to try it yourself, right? Right. 

11. Promote your content on social media

Social media platforms like LinkedIn, X, Facebook, or Instagram are perfect places to find inspiration and engage with your audience. I mean, 5.17 billion people currently use social media worldwide; it’s a shame not to capitalize on this profitable opportunity and drive brand awareness. 

That’s as long as you create content in the right format for each channel, of course, and make it relevant and engaging for your audience. 

Besides, it’s a great way to listen to customer feedback and respond to their comments, questions, and complaints. In a nutshell, build a relationship with them. 

12. Experiment with interactive content

Have you heard of interactive content before? No? Well, you’ve heard it here first, folks. And we’ll gladly teach you all about it. 🤗

In simple terms, interactive content is a cost-effective (and powerful) content marketing strategy. You use a content marketing tool, like Ceros, to create all kinds of interactive content, such as quizzes, polls, and calculators. Tools that you can use to engage users and create memorable experiences that catch people’s attention and encourage sharing. 

Not only does it enhance engagement but it also drives brand awareness and reduces the need for expensive ad campaigns. 

Take a look at this Mastercard landing page created using Ceros: 

As you scroll through it, you’re amazed by the playful and vibrant experience. It has clever animations and explorable content that keeps you on the page, but aside from being interactive, it’s also fun and informative. 

Just like interactive content should be. 

PS: You can check Ceros’ Inspire Gallery for more examples. 

***

A new trend emerged a few years ago, one that changed how we work so drastically that it feels like we can’t live without it anymore. Yep, we’re talking about artificial intelligence.

But the question is: can you use it for content marketing? 

Let’s find out!

How can AI lower the cost of content marketing? 

Ah, AI our clever little companion. 

With its rapid evolution and seamless integration into our lives, it’s hard not to wonder if one day it’ll take over the world and decide to eliminate us all. 

Dun dun dun…

Source: Giphy

Until then, though, AI is truly helpful in keeping your content marketing within budget, due to its ability to optimize your processes. As a result, you’ll achieve greater efficiency, better resource management, and more targeted strategies. 

But how? 

For instance, many AI tools create content at scale, from simple articles to social media posts. It’s less costly than hiring a writer and decreases the time it takes to create the content (it’s done in minutes rather than days). 

Don’t get us wrong — we’re not gonna paint artificial intelligence as this one great thing that solves all your problems (although it’s close). It does have its pitfalls, such as: 

❌ Legal and ethical concerns — People are concerned that you, or rather AI, will steal their data. Which is a fair concern since AI uses sensitive information (without asking for permission) when collecting data. 

Plus, AI is biased. According to USC researchers, 38.6% of ‘facts’ used by AI aren’t fair to all genders, races, and locations. Yikes. 😬

❌ AI is inaccurate — Oh, you’ve surely seen plenty of AI disasters. Like when Microsoft deleted an AI-generated article that recommended tourists visit the Ottawa Food Bank. 

So, when you use AI tools, make sure to check the text for accuracy and any fairy-tale answers that will harm your reputation. 

❌ AI lacks emotion and creativity — AI is great at taking information from the Internet and generating text. But you may well find it lacking in the emotional department. As a result, your text might sound robotic and lacking in personality. 

Moreover, AI won’t be able to come up with original content; it’ll just rephrase content already publicly available. 

Okay, we’ve talked enough about negative stuff. Let’s focus on the positive side of AI and see how it can help lower the costs of content marketing. 

Keyword research

SEO is highly important for every content marketing campaign. Without it, search engines won’t even consider your content, so you won’t rank highly with them. 

In specialized fields like SaaS content marketing, for example, that’s a big no-no, as you might miss out on opportunities to sell your product. 

To help you (and save you time and coffee wasted during research) AI can generate keywords based on your business, product, or service. 

There are plenty of tools that perform personalized and in-depth keyword research and come up with content ideas based on those keywords. 

Brainstorming content ideas

Oh, is this you when you’re out of fresh ideas? 

Source: Giphy

We feel you. ✋But after discovering AI, things got a lot easier. With just a simple prompt, AI can generate ideas for your next article, social media posts, and more. 

Oh, is that a segue I smell? Yep! The tool you need to create content at scale and brainstorm is Ceros. With Studio, you can craft interactive designs that stand out and drive sales. Plus, Ceros offers 150+ preloaded templates to kickstart your creative process—making it all feel effortless!

Drafting content

With artificial intelligence, you can empower your writers to focus on what they do best! AI tools can help produce content — of all kinds — more efficiently and quickly, enhancing your creative process. 

Okay, maybe not entirely better. You still need someone to tweak it and give the text life and a voice. It’s the only way to make your content stand out and nurture your relationship with your customers. 

But AI does give you a hand when you need it the most. 

Streamlining and scaling content creation

There’s only one true way to streamline the content marketing process and create content at scale: Ceros. 

With Editor, it’s super easy to edit copy, images, and interactions so you can post content faster. But Editor  also helps with content scaling, which means you’ll produce more quality content pieces at a faster rate. 

The best part? 

You don’t need specialized knowledge to use Editor. Its interface is intuitive and simple, so you can start creating the interactive content you want right away. 

Ceros will never let you down; whenever your business grows, Ceros will be there for you, every step of the way.

***

One more thing and then you can start creating your own budget-friendly content marketing strategy.

Let’s talk about how to measure your campaigns’ success. 

How to measure the cost-effectiveness of your content marketing campaign

Luckily, you don’t have to use measuring tape for this task. 

Source: Giphy

But you should take the time to measure the cost-effectiveness of your content marketing campaigns through a few important metrics. Here’s a list: 

• Conversion rate – This metric measures the percentage of visitors who complete the desired action of the campaign, like signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a resource. 

Tracking conversions indicates how effective your content is when it comes to reaching your business objectives. 

• Engagement metrics – How well does your content resonate with your audience? You don’t know? Well, you must. This metric tracks likes, shares, and comments — anything your audience does. 

The higher the rate, the better, as it shows your content is relevant and valuable to your customers. 

• Email engagement – If you’re an avid fan of email marketing, then you’ll definitely want to measure how much your clients interact with your email content. 

Think open and click rates, which indicate how likely your audience is to buy from you.

• Cost per Lead (CPL) – To truly understand how cost-effective is your content marketing campaign, you need to measure CPL. 

It shows you how much it costs to generate a lead through your content and if your efforts are yielding a good return on investment. 

• Website traffic – Organic search? Social media? Referrals? Where does your traffic come from? Understanding this can help you figure out which channel is most effective in driving traffic. 

You can then allocate resources more efficiently and focus on the channels that yield the best results. 

• Bounce rate – This is a metric you don’t want to be high because it indicates that your content isn’t meeting user expectations and isn’t relevant to your audience. 

What can you do to reduce bounce rates? Make content as relevant as possible, but don’t forget about its quality. If you do this, you’ll surely raise your engagement and conversion rates. 

You’re now set to tackle this wonderful world of cost-effective content marketing. Godspeed! 

Over to you!

You remember Ceros, right? It’s the go-to tool for creating cost-effective content marketing campaigns without breaking the bank. 

Just ask our users:

And if that isn’t convincing enough —

We have cookies! 🍪 So, schedule a demo with Ceros today.