Background:  In recent years, Sweden’s micro consulting enterprise (MCE) industry has grown significantly. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the MCE business in Sweden continued to grow in a positive direction, while bigger consulting firms were heavily impacted, with around 48% of firms seeing negative growth. Because of the growth, there is a necessity for MCEs to distinguish themselves in the market as smaller consulting firms face stiff competition from larger enterprises. Due to today’s digital generation, MCEs are provided with an excellent opportunity to develop a digital communication strategy. Hence, a common strategy being used is content marketing which acts as a communication strategy to attract new customers. Problem:  After founding a MCE, there is an ambiguity in how to reach customers, as a cause of the small size of the company. The low amount of employees leads to lacking intangible assets, which instead induce word-of-mouth marketing. However, such marketing is rather uncertain and difficult to strategize. Meanwhile, there is a growth of MCE’s utilization of content marketing to increase sales. Previous researchers within the area have expressed the need for understanding MCE’s relation to content marketing, to evaluate how MCEs can apply content marketing to acquire new customers. Purpose: This thesis aims to develop knowledge on the possibilities for MCEs to strengthen their chances to acquire new customers through content marketing. Method: This qualitative research has been conducted through multiple-case study with six different cases, which includes organizational documents and semi-structured interviews. The sampling was based on the criteria of being a CEO of a MCE in Sweden, which must have a website and a LinkedIn-profile. The data analysis followed a thematic analysis to identify patterns of how MCEs use content marketing.   Results: The empirical findings presented homogenous answers aligned with the process of how to conduct successful content marketing. By identifying the four steps of ‘Awareness’, ‘Initiate Contact’, ‘Sales and Delivery’, and ‘Long-term Relationships’ the ‘MCE’s Content Marketing Model’ was established. By utilizing the model, MCEs could sustain a competitive advantage in the crowded market.

This study aims to explore the usage of the digital marketing to acquire and maintain business relationships, or more specifically, digital marketing in B2B start-ups within the Swedish market. Digital marketing is essential for businesses nowadays and has become a significant factor for business companies for improving and implementing their marketing strategies. Furthermore, business relationships have always taken an essential role among companies especially today due to the heightened level of digitalization. This case study attempts to answer two main research questions which this paper investigates on. To provide an exhaustive answer to the research questions: “How digital marketing contributes to acquiring business customers in B2B start-up context?” and “How digital marketing contributes to maintaining business customers in B2B start-up context?”, digital marketing approaches of eight respondents, theoretical implications and additional information will be examined in the upcoming chapters. The study concludes, that it was found that digital marketing is understood as an innovative and effective method for attracting, maintaining and building business relationships. However, the lack of resources is one fundamental reason why start-ups have difficulties in acquiring and maintaining business customers in practicing through digital marketing. Additionally, it was found that digital platforms and tools such as websites, industry specific platforms, and blogs provide the highest advantage for start-ups. Moreover, social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook were in most use for presenting content that is informative, educational and honest. Digital marketing strategies in acquiring and maintaining business relationships are indicated in the analyses which give sufficient details in answering the research questions. The paper will provide suggestions for doing further research in improving the current topic in digital marketing.