What if there was a less expensive way than traditional marketing efforts to ensure your customers are well-informed, engaged and ready to get to the next level in your sales funnel?
Luckily for your brand, there is!
Content Marketing is a strategy that revolves around building content for your brand using the internet as a platform.
This strategy, according to recent research by CMI, has been efficient at increasing engagement for 72% of marketers and is known for being a long-term endeavor that can bring results to your business for years to come.
But how does content marketing work? What types of content can your brand create? And how important is it to make different types of content as part of a single strategy?
Let’s take a deep dive into all that.
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What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is developing and distributing relevant and useful content to your audience, usually through the web. One of the greatest aspects of content marketing is its potential to align with your brand’s voice and bring back organic views and conversions.
That content can be blog posts, newsletters, white papers, social media posts, and much more. Understanding these content formats will help improve your long-term decision-making for your brand.
The overall goal of each content is to:
- Convey your brand’s expertise.
- Show that your company values its customers.
How often you post is as important as the quality of the content you produce because it helps nurture a long-term relationship with prospects and clients.
Because your company is willing to share knowledge and is interested in the success of its customers — as shown by the content it produces — people will be more apt to choose your brand when making purchases.
Do You Need to Use Different Types of Content in Your Strategies?
Using many types of content in your strategy isn’t exactly obligatory.
But it sure can make a difference in your numbers.
That is because the internet is such a dynamic place, and seeing only one type of content all the time can be tiresome.
The more your brand invests in diversifying content the better.
This way, you can explore the difference in each format, making sure it is adequate for the type of information you are trying to deliver.
Another benefit of diversifying your content is making sure your audience is never bored.
Using the right channels and types of content, your company will be able to get much more engagement than if it only did blog posts or social media constantly.
What are the 10 Essential Types of Content?
Here are 10 essential types of content your business can create and distribute. Those are:
- Blog posts
- Infographics
- Videos
- eBooks
- Case studies
- Checklists
- Testimonials and reviews
- Influencer marketing
- Guides and how-tos
- Memes
Let’s explore each of these 10 ways to impress your customers with content:
1. Blog posts
Blog posts are a cornerstone of Content Marketing. They build brand awareness and increase engagement with your customers.
That’s clear when we look into how blogs work: they offer a platform that is so versatile it can be used to publish all sorts of content in the quickest and easiest way possible.
Tools like WordPress come ready out of the box (for free!) and can help you build a blog in a couple of minutes.
This cheap way to market your brand is based entirely upon the quality of the content you deliver.
The more elaborate, detailed and up-to-date a blog post is, the more likely it is to get the results your business wants.
The average blog post is 1.142 words long, but long-form content (over 3.000 words) can have a better chance of answering a user’s search intent.
2. Infographics
A lot of complex ideas your brand might want to deliver to its customers are way too hard to explain using only a blog post.
Sometimes you need the visuals to go with it in order to be able to properly explain your solutions.
That’s where infographics come in handy.
Infographics are visual ways to present ideas. Usually, they prioritize bullet points and numbers, instead of long-form content you’d see more frequently in blog posts.
An infographic is a nice way to show a complex idea to your customer without having to rely on as many words in order to get it done.
3. Videos
Who doesn’t love to watch quick videos on interesting topics?
Ever since the popularization of broadband connections and the rise of the YouTube era, the internet has never been the same.
That’s because more and more of the content produced has navigated toward videos over the past few years.
Videos are hard to produce, but they generate the greatest results.
After all, people spend at least 100 minutes watching videos a day, and 48% of customers rely on videos to reflect what they are interested in.
If your company can create good video content, it is more likely to convert and nurture a lead than if it only invests in written content nowadays.
4. eBooks
eBooks are also an alternative to producing content on the internet.
They are long-form texts that do more than blog posts for one important reason.
In order to download an eBook, customers have to provide your company with some information about themselves, such as an e-mail address and a name.
With that information in hand, your company can easily navigate the nurturing process, providing customers with more content that is likely to engage them.
eBooks on popular subjects can generate a great deal of interest in your company’s products and services, and that’s why you should invest in this type of content.
5. Case studies
How about using the knowledge your company already has in order to make sure new customers will come by?
That is what you can get with case studies content.
In case studies, your company shows how its expertise has already been used to help other businesses and, in return, gains a great opportunity to make sure your prospects understand what it does and how it does it.
Case studies are a great way to portray yourself as an expert in your field.
Therefore, they are among the top-quality content a brand can produce online.
6. Checklists
Customers love free tools and that’s what you give them once you make a checklist.
This type of content can be used to make sure your customers are following the right steps to reach their goals.
That’s why they are such great features to have on your website.
A checklist is simple and easy to put together and can generate leads the same way an eBook does.
7. Testimonials and reviews
Giving a voice to your clients is also a great way to generate content for your brand.
That’s why testimonials and reviews are a cheap way to increase the amount of content you have on your website.
Consulting with your clients is all it takes to have this form of content ready.
No need to pay for copywriting or a designer to produce a stunning visual collection of ideas, like with an infographic.
8. Influencer marketing
Using influencers can also be a big deal for brands.
That’s why influencer marketing is at the top of your list if you want to make sure your money is well invested.
According to research, for each dollar you spend on influencer marketing, you generate up to $6.50 for your business.
Creating content in partnership with influencers that have everything to do with your brand is a great way to make sure your leads convert.
That’s because influencer marketing borrows the trust built by individuals in order to make your brand shine.
9. Guides and how-tos
Guides and how-tos are successful ways to increase your presence on the internet, and also the engagement of your brand.
They are quick posts where your business shares knowledge with customers on specific topics.
Let’s say you’re an expert in conversions.
How about sharing some of what you learn in a simple guide? This strategy is sure to potentialize the way your brand communicates with customers.
10. Memes
There’s no reason you can’t have fun with your Content Marketing strategy.
If it aligns with your brand and makes sense for your strategy, memes are a great way to make your audience interested in your message.
Memes are a quick way to communicate your intentions, and that’s why they work so well and make up most of the internet.
Such a shareable way to present ideas also has the added benefit of potentially becoming viral. If your company can work memes into its marketing strategy it should be doing so.
11. Tools
Who doesn’t love to get something for free? Offering your audience free tools and resources is a great way to turn site visitors into fans.
Tools refer to types of content that are all about offering your audience something they can use.
If you run a marketing business, for example, then you might consider offering free templates that your readers can use to create their content.
Or say that you run a financial planning firm. In this instance, you might feature an interactive savings calculator on your website.
The possibilities are endlessly customizable, but all boil down to using your expertise to help your readers solve specific problems. The better the tools you offer, the more likely your appreciative readers will be to bookmark your site and hopefully even share it with their friends.
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12. Quizzes
There’s something about a good quiz that’s hard to resist. We all love to learn new things about ourselves, whether it’s how knowledgeable we are on a particular subject or the best winter coat for our unique style.
But quizzes also have their perks for the companies who use them. Not only do they make for a great way to engage your audience in a fun, interactive way, but they also offer the chance to collect valuable information.
If your quiz is more of an assessment, it can give you insights into your customers’ interests and preferences. Meanwhile, it can also help guide each reader to which of your products or services is the most likely to appeal to them.
Even something as simple as a fun personality quiz can help reveal your audience demographics. For this reason, quizzes are one of those types of content that make for a win-win for audiences and brands alike.
Looking for feedback that’s a little more direct? Never underestimate the power of a simple poll or survey. Many customers are happy to give their opinions for free, so never be shy about asking.
13. Whitepapers
Whitepapers are types of content that contain more information than the average article, but not as much as an eBook.
If your audience is looking for fact-based research to back up your claims, then a whitepaper is where they’ll expect to find it. It’s also a great place to lay out all your research and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
A solid whitepaper details the specific problems that your audience faces and outlines why your company offers the best possible solutions.
While the average whitepaper doesn’t always make for the lightest reading, the use of charts, data, and other visually appealing techniques can help make it all the more attractive.
Though they tend to appeal to a specific type of reader, the importance of whitepapers shouldn’t be overlooked. One study found that 71% of B2B readers relied heavily on these types of content tools when making purchase decisions.
14. Interactive Events and Content
If there’s one surefire way to build a customer’s trust, it’s to interact with them directly. This is not always possible on a day-to-day basis, but certain types of content offer the next best thing.
Webinars, for instance, are a great way to interact with audiences directly. By utilizing live scheduled broadcasts, your company can enjoy the opportunity to educate viewers as well as answer their questions in real time.
Afterward, you can make recordings of your broadcast available to future viewers who may have similar questions.
But what about readers who need fast answers at other times? Chat features can be a good way to make yourself available constantly, even if you utilize tools like chatbots.
Services like Drift allow you to create conversation boards on your website to help visitors get their questions answered as quickly as possible.
15. Social Media
Why wait for your customers to come to you when you can go to them? These days, you don’t have to look much further than social media to find pretty much anyone.
So, it’s no surprise that many different types of content marketing tools have been developed specifically for engaging audiences on social media platforms.
It can be hard enough to attract a new reader to your company’s website for the first time. Once they arrive, directing them to your social media sites can be a great way to tell them how to keep in touch.
By frequently updating your company’s profile on various platforms, you can instantly alert your audience to new content, exciting updates, or promotional offers.
Social media platforms are also great places to generate new leads. Taking out targeted ads on various platforms can be a useful way to get your brand in front of viewers who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
16. Newsletters and Email Lists
Getting your audience’s attention is great, but managing to keep it long-term can feel like a true challenge indeed. Newsletters and email lists can help get your company’s name in front of your customers regularly.
Even if your subscribers don’t always open every email, a glance at your company’s name in the sender’s column can be enough to remind them that you’re always there if they should ever need you.
That said, getting as many subscribers to open your email content as possible is even better! A large part of achieving such a feat comes down to making sure that your content is fun, relevant, and informative.
But the type of content you choose will largely come down to your goals.
If you want to establish yourself as a leader in your industry, then you might consider including links to all the latest news headlines regularly. Not only does this provide a valuable service that your readers can depend on, but it also removes the need to constantly generate all of your content.
If your company takes a more active approach to content updates, a newsletter can be a great way to let readers know when new features go live. It’s all about finding the best way to connect with your audience consistently.
Wrap-Up: Explore Different Types of Content to Engage Customers
With good ideas, your business can save a lot of money with traditional advertising and use techniques such as SEO to make sure your content reaches its audiences organically.
The creation of Content Marketing material can be a long run, though.
Don’t be shy of your initial numbers as they tend to grow over time — and are only an indicator of the potential of Content Marketing for your brand.
The right content production team can help you make the most of your efforts and boost your bottom line. Meet and hire the best content writers and content producers out there when you sign up for a free two-week trial to WriterAccess today!
