The aim of content marketing is to provide valuable content to your customers, leads and audience members, in a way that feels natural and organic, rather than disruptive. Content marketing involves attracting, engaging with and delighting your target markets.
If you focus on content marketing that is effective, you can increase conversions, improve brand awareness, boost revenue, establish yourself as an industry leader, and more.
Content marketing can be a great way to share the content your audiences want. In this guide, we’ll give you an overview of content marketing, types of content marketing, content marketing examples, and how to get a strategy going.
Content Marketing
While outbound marketing techniques may have been successful in the past, they are not as effective at catching people’s attention and converting them into customers now.
You need to make your content feel natural to your audience by creating a narrative. This will make your content more engaging and tailored to your audience.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing involves creating and distributing content via channels like social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, apps, press releases, and print publications in order to reach your target audience, increase brand awareness, sales, engagement, and loyalty.
Why Is Content Marketing Important?
Make sure your leads and prospects are well-informed about the products and services you offer so that they can make the best purchase decisions.
Boost conversions and customer retention.
You should try to build strong relationships with your customers so that they stay loyal to your business.
People buy products and services to solve problems. Your job is to show your audience how your products and services solve their specific challenges and make their lives better. Do this by creating content that educates, informs, and inspires them. Be sure to focus on the benefits of your solutions, not just the features.
Create a sense of community around your brand.
Now, let’s explore the different types of content marketing.
Types of Content Marketing
There are many different types of content marketing, including:
- Blogging
- Video
- Podcasting
- Infographics
- Visual content
- Ebooks
- Lead magnets
- Whitepapers
- Slideshare presentations
- Quizzes/tools
- Checklists
- Courses
- Webinars
- Slide decks
- Free apps
- Social media posts
And more.
Product demonstrations, seminars, physical leaflets, and phone books can all be considered content marketing.
The point is that the content supports a business goal by providing information or entertainment for free.
(Even if that goal isn’t obvious at first glance.)
For example, here are four things that many businesses want to get out of their content marketing efforts:
- Driving traffic to key landing pages
- Spreading brand awareness
- Building relationships
- Bringing in revenue
- Generating social shares and backlinks
What you’re reading right now is content marketing.
The purpose of this blog is to attract an audience with free content. I use this blog to promote my offer page for my Done-for-you marketing as well as to promote my Facebook channel.
Then, offer premium services to my followers.
Almost all influencers on Instagram use content marketing to try and grow their audience so they can make money from it in the future.
Why Use Different Types of Content Marketing?
When most people think about content marketing, they think of one word:
Blogging.
Blogging is a great way to build a following, but other forms of content are also growing very quickly.
The podcasting world has seen a growth of over 60% in the last two years, increasing from 18.5 million episodes to 30 million.
And YouTube gets billions of views every day.
When you publish content in multiple formats, you can appeal to a wider range of people.
Additionally, publishing various types of content allows you to be present where your audience spends time online.
For example, if you share your latest article on social media, the person you’re sharing it with may not see it.
BUT, there’s a chance they’ll listen to your podcast while they’re commuting home from work.
Some topics are just better suited to certain formats.
How would you prefer to learn to dance:
From a video or a written article?
Best Practices
Decide On Your Primary Content Type
What is your goal? The first step is to identify what type of content marketing you want to pursue, based on your goals.
You don’t have to put all your time, energy, and money into just one content format, but that should be the one you focus on the most.
To choose the best type of content marketing, consider what type of content will best suit your goals. If you want to build brand awareness, for example, you might want to create informative blog posts or infographics. If you want to generate leads, you might want to create gated content like ebooks or checklists. And if you want to increase sales, you might want to create product-related content like case studies or buyer’s guides.
Choose a Format Ideal For Your Niche
Choose the format that will work best for the topics you want to cover.
A podcast wouldn’t be the best idea if you’re teaching karate, videos would be much better suited for that.
If you are teaching people how to bake, you should use written recipes in the form of articles.
(Even though videos can work there too.)
That said:
There’s no one “perfect” way to format each niche topic, so don’t worry about it too much.
The format you choose should be appropriate for the topics you plan to cover.
Use Formats That Your Audience Already Consumes
Do your audience members spend a lot of time on YouTube?
Grab a camera and start shooting videos.
LinkedIn is more beneficial for text-based posts than Facebook Live for businesses.
You’re in luck – you don’t have to guess what kind of content your audience likes.
Check for places online where your audience is talking, such as Reddit or Facebook Groups, to see what topics are being discussed.
You can also use BuzzSumo.
To create content, just type in a keyword that describes the type of content you want to put out.
Additionally, take note of the types of content that gain the most traction in your industry and consider emulating their formats.
List posts are popular in the baking niche.
I would recommend using list posts as your primary content format if you are in that space.
The most popular pieces of content in your niche can be seen by using BuzzSumo.
Play To Your Strengths
You’re probably considering a few different types of content marketing to focus on right now.
I recommend choosing the format that is most convenient for you and your team.
I understand that the founder of Backlinko worked as a freelance writer for 3+ years before starting his company. He focused almost entirely on blog posts because he knew how to write for the web.
However, other people excel at creating videos. For example, Wistia prefers to hire employees with video production and editing experience.
They mostly publish video content, with some blog content mixed in.
They are good at making videos, so the videos they produce are high quality.
Double Down on Platforms That Your Audience Loves
Now that you know what format to focus on, it’s time to find out where to post your content.
If you’re focusing on written content, you’ll want to publish it on your blog and other people’s blogs (guest posting), as well as on Medium.
If you are creating video content, you should post it on YouTube.
In addition to posting your videos on YouTube, you might also want to post them on sites like Twitch or Mixer.
If you want to publish your content on Instagram, then you probably want to post workout tips for fitness freaks.
The most important thing to consider when promoting your content is where your target audience is most likely to see it. Share your content on the platforms and in the places where they are most active.
Streaming on Twitch.
Tweetstorms on Twitter.
Swimsuit pics on Instagram.
You get the idea!
No matter what line of work you’re in, you should sooner or later start using Google as part of your content marketing strategy.
In other words, to get traffic from Google, you need to produce great blog content and promote it effectively.
Find Gaps In The Market
If you want to reach your target audience, you might want to invest time and effort into creating a podcast.
That said:
Consider choosing formats that your competitors are not yet active on.
An old marketing adage says “go where they ain’t.” This means that you should go to places where your competition is not.
You might need to invest all your resources into a platform that your competition isn’t aware of.
Or using a format that’s not supersaturated.
There were very few people publishing videos about SEO when some early blog’s started receiving attention.
Moz’s White Board Friday series is one of the few examples of this type of content.
Content Marketing Examples
Content marketing can be used in conjunction with other marketing strategies in order to create a comprehensive plan. For example, you can use content to attract new customers, nurture leads, or even retain existing customers. By creating blog posts, eBooks, webinars, or even infographics, you can provide valuable information that speaks to the needs of your target audience. Not only will this give you a chance to build trust and credibility with your audience, but it can also help to boost your bottom line.
Example of Instagram Content Marketing
Lush Cosmetics’ marketing content goes well with their profile – if their profile didn’t have the company’s name on it, customers would probably still be able to tell that it belonged to Lush.
The Lush Instagram page is full of vibrant colors and different scent options for their products. It also shows all the different ways you can use their products. The page looks very colorful and unique, just like the Lush brand. And it includes pictures of different people using their products, to show that their customer base is diverse.
Example of Infographic Content Marketing
IBM created an infographic that launched their Cloud marketplace. The infographic is on-brand, well-organized, and easy to read. It explains what they’re doing with their Cloud marketplace and how customers can benefit from it. It tells audience members how they can access the marketplace and get started using it.
Example of Blog Content Marketing
Expedia has a blog that covers all things travel related. From hotel recommendations to great places to visit, you can find it all here.
Expedia updates its blog regularly to maintain reader interest and engagement. The blog covers a broad range of topics related to any kind of trip imaginable.
The blog for the travel technology company is written in a way that is consistent with the company’s image and goals. The blog posts talk about ways that the company can help customers and about customers who have had positive experiences with the company.
Example of Podcast Content Marketing
HBR IdeaCast is a weekly podcast from Harvard Business Review that features top leaders in business and management. You can subscribe to get new podcasts automatically, or choose which ones you want to listen to. The podcasts vary in length, but most are 20-30 minutes long.
The podcast is in keeping with the rest of HBR’s published content and is a great way for HBR to reach their target audience and build brand awareness through a different medium than they usually use (for example, a podcast instead of an HBR article).
Example of Video Content Marketing
Dollar Shave Club’s marketing videos are very effective, often going viral. They are usually funny and on-brand, and one of their videos has been viewed over 27 million times on YouTube. Thanks to their online video content, Dollar Shave Club has experienced great growth and become a very recognizable brand.
Example of Paid Ad Content Marketing
Revolve is a clothing and accessories company that uses paid ads and sponsored posts on social media to reach their target audience while they browse their news feeds. This allows them to get their brand in front of potential customers who may not have otherwise heard of them.
Some of their products are featured in the content ads, as well as details about their free shipping and return policy, to drive target audience members to their site (and, hopefully, convert them into paying customers).
Example of Twitter Content Marketing
HubSpot uses Twitter to market their software and to create a community among customers, target audience members, and industry leaders and experts.
HubSpot provides product information, tips, industry knowledge, and original research on Twitter. HubSpot also interacts with users and provides customer support.
Example of TikTok Content Marketing
Chipotle is very active on TikTok, using the platform to reach and engage its customers and target audience members. In addition to reacting to others’ Chipotle-related TikTok content, the brand posts TikToks of their menu items, recipes, people enjoying their food, their restaurants, and more. They have over 1.6 million followers and over 30 million likes.