Content marketing includes creating and distributing digital assets and valuable content to your audience. This is generally not sales oriented and includes blog posts, social media posts, eBooks, articles, videos, and other digital content. For your website to rank high in search results, your content needs to be engaging, high-quality, in-depth, and related to your industry, business, and message.
Content marketing also aids in lead generation, and can augment your business’s brand awareness, sales, reach, customer interactions, engagement, and loyalty. The content you share can educate your customers and prospects about your products and services while building stronger customer relationships. Most importantly, content marketing has the power to create a sense of community around your brand.
Content marketing can be broken down into 10 common content types. Let’s explore each of these and see how to get the best results from them.
1. Infographic
Infographics help readers visualize data and understand it better. You can educate your audiences and provide useful information by designing simple, impactful, and meaningful infographics. They can be used to simplify blogs or even used as standalone content.
Here is an example of a simple yet impactful infographic designed by Step2Growth
2. Blog
Blogs are one of the most popular and cost-effective types of content marketing. According to Semrush, blogs alone account for 86 percent of all content marketing data. Studies show that blogs receive 97 percent more links to websites and have 434 percent more indexed pages for the SERPs.
The trick when creating a blog is to write about problems your products/service solves. Remember that your readers value fresh content and your take on their problems rather than a reiteration of what has already been said. Here is a blog content by Step2Growth to help founders combat burnout from work – Top 9 Ways to Manage Burnout from Work
3. Podcasts
The good old days of listening to the radio have repackaged itself in the form of podcasts and it is working! Podcasts are a great way to produce quality content that your audience would like and benefit from. You can use a variety of easy-to-use podcasting tools to create a podcast and try to get it distributed through the right network with a massive reach. The trick to creating your own podcast that gains traction is to choose a content format that simultaneously builds a growing audience for your business.
4. Videos
One-third of all online activity is spent watching video content. According to HubSpot research, 54% of audiences want to see videos from brands they support, which is more than any other type of content. Videos can grab your target audience’s attention and increase engagement with your brand quickly. The best part is, you can use this content starting with your website to your blog, your social media page, and even in email campaigns.
Here is a video by Step2Growth that can help startup founders build their Pitch Deck
5. Social media
Social media marketing is all about getting your target audience’s attention such that they engage with the content. The trick here is to keep track of your engagement using social media analytics and gauge how much traffic social media is generating on your site. Based on your audience’s reaction to various types of content you post, you can easily tweak your social media content strategy for better engagement.
6. Success Stories
The best way to convert leads into customers is to share some success stories. These can be in the form of case studies, testimonials, blogs, or articles. This helps increase your brand’s credibility and gives your customers confidence.
As an example, here is a case study Step2Growth created for their customer – Sidechain Case Study By Step2Growth
7. eBooks
An eBook is a great way to give potential customers valuable information relevant to your industry. They are a great kind of lead magnet and can be shared on social media or as an action on your website.
8. Newsletter
According to Hubspot research, 86% of business professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes. Naturally, newsletters are a good content option to engage with your target audience. Newsletters let you share important information about company updates with your subscribers. Send a personalized, targeted message with trackable links to direct the reader to all the pieces of content that might be relevant to them. Example Newsletter By Step2Growth
9. User-Generated Content
Testimonials and customer reviews are user-generated content that can give a short synopsis of why your company stands out. You can add your testimonials on your website, post in on social media or send it in an email. Genuine and clear product/service reviews can also enhance the credibility of your brand.
Here is a testimonial given by our customer for our services as an example-
“We approached Sneha at Step2Growth with an idea. We felt we were carefully listened to as we outlined our unusual needs. Sneha offered creative guidance and expertise, clear communication with realistic timelines, help with infrastructure training and ongoing support for our virtual team. During our launch month she provided handholding and was always easily accessible. We have emerged with a beautiful website, automated systems, marketing strategies and good business practices. Sneha’s knowledge of the specific needs early start-ups face along with her marketing expertise and engineering background provided us with all the tools for success we needed. The end result is indeed we feel we have a terrific product, exactly as promised.”
Anna Young, Clubking Inc.
10. Webinars
Webinars help you to educate your audience and collect qualified leads. You can break the webinar recording down into smaller pieces of content to share on different channels.
Aside from the above 10, there are many more types of content that you can create to market your product/services. The most effective content is the one that is valuable and engaging. look at data and analytics to create a content strategy that works for your audience. And if you’re still not sure what content to create for your business, talk to us!
