Different Types of Content and Their Uses

Let’s admit it- establishing a business is not a walk in the park. It requires a lot of your time, energy, and effort, hence, it is advisable to strategize the process initially. First thing first, to make your business successful, you need to focus on your target customers. Presenting the right message to the right audience at the right time is the key to marketing success types of content. However, no marketing is complete without a proper content strategy. Effective content strategy can help you get ahead of your competitors, increase traffic, and generate sales. With plenty of options to choose from, it is quite an overwhelming task to choose the content type appropriately at different marketing stages. The best way to determine what content to use for marketing is to ask your audience questions and what services they need depending on their purchasing phase? Is your mind still in conflict about the different types of content and how to use them? Here is the list of different types of content:

• BLOGS

Blog posts are one of the most common types of content for all types of businesses. It is widely used to build brand awareness and solutions that your products and services provide. This is the first step in the marketing funnel.  Besides, the blog also contributes to improve SEO, attract the target audience, and boost search engine ranking.

However, blogging is not a cakewalk; you need to practice patience and consistency to reap its benefits. Write content that your audience is searching for or create some informational content that your audience finds exciting yet intriguing. In this way, you can build strong relations with your customer base and drive more traffic, leading to generating leads. Don’t forget to include relevant keywords and links in your blog post to stand out from your competitors.

• INFOGRAPHICS

Various research studies point in the direction that infographics are likely to read 30 times more than that of texts. It is an emerging marketing strategy, mostly used by companies to publish their brand stories and gain the attention of the target audience. Companies are using infographics to present thought, leadership, share statistics and distinction that supports growth to the target audience.

Infographics are the type of content that uses simple design and graphics to share valuable information. Due to its simple style and structure, users tend to share infographics more on social media platforms.

While creating an infographic, don’t forget to add white space between data or images to make it digestible for your readers. Also, make sure the font size and font type are user-friendly.

• e-books

This is the second step in the marketing funnel; the audience is interested in your product or service offered by your company and wants to know more. In this stage, you specifically send targeted content that includes product descriptions.

This is where long-form content is required. In such a case, an eBook is your go-to option. You can share your knowledge and expertise with your potential customers through eBooks. Remember, since an eBook is a long-form content format, you must incorporate as much in-depth knowledge as possible to keep your audience hooked.

Further, you can ask for email and contact information from customers who want to download your eBook; this way, you can grow your email list. Is your business team short on budget and don’t know how to design an eBook? No worries, you can look for a beautiful eBook designer that will help you create an eBook to keep your readers engaged.

• WHITE PAPER

It is mid-funnel content where you discuss the solutions that your product provides and its in-depth methodology.  In the case of white paper- you pick up a trend, collect information and curate a content piece providing relevant information regardless of the length of the content.

White paper is considered an excellent source for businesses to collect information and generate leads. You can better understand your customer and use the information to maintain contact with them for an extended period through the white papers.

White papers are different from the eBook because the content is majorly based on evidence and is detail-oriented. White papers provide customers with the solutions to their problems in a step-by-step guide. You can build trust, brand authority and receive inbound links and leads through white papers.

• CASE STUDIES

Again, it is mid-funnel content lying in the conversion stage. With case studies, you tell stories to your prospects about other customers. It is an evident-based approach where you define the role of your product or service in providing a solution to certain problems. It helps in building trust with your prospects and convince them to purchase the product or service.

However, you should take the consent of your previous customers before sharing their stories. The more specific and accurate your case study, the greater the possibility users will believe in your business and form informed purchase decisions.

• VIDEO

Regardless of your niche, video content is one of the best ways to reach the target market and keep your audience engaged. Video can be used at every stage to create transparency and build brand loyalty.

You need to research what type of content your audience likes before making the video. Most users want to watch short videos, so plan your content ahead of time to make your video look organized. If you wish to drive a larger audience, then live video might be a wise move. You can also rank high on search engines by optimizing the video content. A best practice is to intricate your video on social media and blog posts to get maximum reach.

• WEBINAR

Another form of content, webinars, is a powerful way to interact with the target audience and educate them. Webinars are usually for business-to-business organizations since they are more data-driven. It belongs in the middle of the marketing funnel.

You can leverage this type of content by asking users to register for webinars, collecting the lead generation information. An additional benefit of webinars is you can convert its content into your blogs.

Make sure your webinar is a maximum of 30 to 45 minutes and include a Q/A session at the end of it to engage the audience. You can also reach out to influencers or leaders in your industry to appear as guests in the webinar and share their insightful knowledge.

• PODCAST

A podcast is an audio form of content that keeps the audience engaged with attention-grabbing yet inspiring information. Be mindful; podcasting is to share valuable content with the audience and not to do sales talk. You can, however, build brand awareness, share unique ideas, and hence increase revenue.

CONCLUSION

High-quality content always lays a solid foundation for marketing campaigns as it drives organic traffic. Before deciding on any content strategy, first understand the intended audience’s expectations, needs, and requirements. Once you get a clear picture, you will be able to creatively craft your content and grow your business’s online presence.