When businesses decide to start content marketing, they’re often paralyzed by the arduous task of content creation. Coming up with stories to tell seems impossible, and many feel like they’re starting from scratch. How do you tell the story of a 75-year-old company with 140-character updates and Facebook posts? How will a 500-word blog post truly communicate who we are and what we do?

What many people don’t realize, you already have a story to tell well before you decide to get online and brand your business. Every aspect of your business tells a story—from the motivations that pushed you to open your doors in the first place to the mission that drives your success. Even your office space says something about your company’s culture, values and character. Although these tidbits often are overlooked,  they are invaluable pieces of the overall brand picture and shouldn’t be ignored.

Turning these nuggets into content-branding gold doesn’t have to be scary. Here are some tips on how to get started:

1. Start small. You don’t need to create an overly complicated content marketing plan to get started. In fact, starting out with the basics allows you time to see what works. Simply start! Decide to write a blog post today about why you started your business. Tweet a couple of facts about what you do. Communicate what’s going on in your office this week. Whether you decide to do this monthly, weekly or daily, simply deciding to start can be motivating. As you blog, tweet and post more, you can analyze how what you’re doing resonates with your audience and produce similar content. Until then, get started.
2. Look at what you’ve already created.  If you’re just starting out, it’s better to work with what you already have on in hand than to begin from scratch. Every business has marketing materials, website content, sales sheets and other marketing collateral they’re using to sell their business. Use that content! Even email responses to customers and strategic partners can be content gold at the tip of your fingers. Because these answers are probably responses to commonly asked questions, they become ideal content to host on your website. Even better—next time a customer asks a similar question, send them to your website for their answer. Respond to their question and reap a click to your website. Double win!
3. Share content you’d share with friends. Your fans and followers are like your friends—they want to hear from you and what you’re doing. If something excites you, likely it’ll excite your friends. Apply the same principle to your content marketing strategy. Share what you love! If your staff has formed a softball team, share pictures and team successes! If charity if one of your core values, discuss what you’re doing. Your friends  definitely want to hear about these things, and so will your audience.