Woman smiling in home office recording a podcast.
From content writing to podcasting, these Entrepreneur.com contributors offer their best tips for businesses looking to expand their content marketing strategy. — Getty Images/LeonidKos

CO— partners with Entrepreneur.com to bring you a roundup of the best Entrepreneur articles each week. Below are this week's favorites.

Content marketing is an invaluable tool for businesses of every shape and size. For small businesses and new entrepreneurs, it’s important to give your brand a distinctive voice through consistent content, but this can be difficult.

To help small business owners better understand content marketing, we've rounded up some of the best recent articles from Entrepreneur.com contributors with their tips and insights.

Find or become an effective content writer

Content writers write a wide variety of well-researched text for their clients. To do this, you have to be fluent in both language and creativity. According to Bhavik Sarkhedi, CEO of Write Right, there are several different kinds of content writers, including web content writers, technical writers, mass media content writers and ghostwriters. In his article, “How to Become a Content Writer,” he explains how each type of writer specializes in a specific area of content, which is important to consider when looking for a content writer for your small business.

Read the full article on Entrepreneur.

Build better email marketing strategies

Though the world of technology continues to change, there are 4 billion daily email users and that number is only going to increase. In fact, Hubspot data found that 64% of small businesses continue to use email marketing to reach their customers. According to the Entrepreneur Store in its article, “Reach More People with a Better Email Marketing Strategy,” email marketing is cost-effective, efficient and, most importantly, it works. While email marketing may be better for your business than social media, it could be disastrous if you’re not entirely sure of your strategy.

Read the full article on Entrepreneur.

Podcasts have become incredibly easy to produce, and have become the most desirable way to interview high-profile individuals.

Create and publish quality content

High-quality content has the potential to increase click-through rates and attract visitors from keywords you’re likely to use in your campaigns. This does not necessarily mean that you need to use a lot of keywords in your content — it’s more important that you write to accurately represent your business. In his article, “The Step-by-Step Guide to Creating and Publishing Quality Content,” Bhavik Sarkhedi outlined some strategies to ensure quality content, including researching topics, using a keyword-centric approach, brainstorming content ideas, using thoughtful titles and designing proper content formatting.

Read the full article on Entrepreneur.

[Read more How to Reuse Your Marketing Content]

Know the difference between earned media and paid media

Earned media is content about you or your business created and published by an independent third party, such as clients, customers, influencers, fans and journalists. Owned media, meanwhile, is content that your team publishes on your website, social media accounts or newsletters. However, despite their differences, they can be combined to benefit your business. In her article, “What Is Earned and Owned Media?”, Emma McKinstry, founder and CEO of 418 Communications, explained how you can promote earned media through your owned media, and share your owned media with influencers in order to optimize its exposure. This is just one method for reusing your content.

Read the full article on Entrepreneur.

Create a podcast for your business

Having a podcast is a unique and direct method of reaching out to your target audience and building your brand awareness. Podcasts have become incredibly easy to produce, and have become the most desirable way to interview high-profile individuals. People are also very loyal to their favorite podcasts. In her article, “4 Reasons Why Business Owners Need a Podcast,” brand strategist Hollie Kitchens explains how using a podcast for your business will allow your audience to get to know you better with each and every episode.

Read the full article on Entrepreneur.

[Read more: 6 Steps to Starting a Podcast]

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