According to Nicole Kroese, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Likeable Local, the best way to cut through the noise is to create content that adds value and is not overly promotional. “In the past few years, small-business owners have had to be more strategic and consistent in their content marketing efforts to stand out and see results,” Kroese said.

And since content creation tends to be time intensive, a premium commodity for many small-business owners, Kroese recommends curation as one tactic that provides value but doesn’t take a lot of time. “Today, with the mass amount of content, trying to reinvent the wheel with always-original content is hard to sustain,” she said. “Becoming a great curator of valuable articles, resources, and even engaging short-form social posts is something readers can really appreciate, and something you can scale.”

To learn more about content marketing strategies that work, sign up for the webinar “Content Marketing: How to Engage Customers and Build Your Small Business,” featuring guest expert Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute.