If you asked 10 different marketing teams about their favorite types of content marketing, you’d have 10 completely different conversations. A marketer can talk about his amazing YouTube series. Another person might discuss SEO topic cluster strategies. And another factor could stem from how they partner with influential bloggers to create visual content campaigns for Instagram and Snapchat.
Indeed, the phrase “content marketing” is often used as a generic definition for all the ways you promote your content strategy. But the reality is that there are many content marketing formats, and each has its own benefits. Knowing the different types of content marketing is important because it gives you more options in your digital marketing toolbox. Additionally, understanding how to use them effectively is crucial to creating a cohesive overall content marketing strategy. Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
Different types of content marketing
Each piece of content you produce should have a defined purpose. Some examples include education, inspiration, utility, persuasion, entertainment, or sales. In addition, there are many different formats to consider. Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
Here is a short list of the most common types of content marketing:
- Blogging
- Case studies
- Achievement
- Customer testimonials
- Online reviews
- Whitepapers and eBooks
- Model
- Video
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Seminar
- Interactive content
- Social network
- User-generated content
- GIFs and memes
When thinking about different examples of content marketing, keep in mind that people learn in different ways. Different types of content appeal to different segments of your audience. Some are auditory learners and are intrigued by podcasts.
Others are visual learners and prefer videos, infographics, or presentations. And others still prefer text, such as blog posts, white papers, or reports.
So by leveraging multiple types of content in digital marketing, you can attract more learners.Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
There is no “best” type of content marketing
Several types of content marketing support an inbound marketing approach. Other formats can be an important part of an account-based marketing (ABM) initiative. Likewise, some content naturally supports your sales team.
Additionally, some types of content are more relevant than others for specific stages of the customer journey. For example, blog posts, articles, and videos can be a great way to connect with people who are in the travel awareness stage. White papers, eBooks, and webinars are often suitable for the middle stage of the buying process. Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
And case studies, success stories, and ROI calculators can be key when it comes to overcoming objections and persuading prospects to become customers. Leverage different forms of content that allow you to speak to potential customers no matter where they are in their journey.
Benefits of using different types of content marketing
Businesses and brands can reap many benefits from content marketing, including:
- Expanding reach and brand awareness
- Attract attention
- Establish thought leadership
- Generate traffic
- Build trust
- Deepen relationships
- Create social shares and backlinks
- Increase sales
Each type of content offers unique benefits. A strong content strategy template should include different types of content that will serve different purposes.Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
1. Blog
Blog content is an exceptional way to build your brand and drive traffic to your website. A well-organized blogging strategy helps you focus on keywords and topics that interest your target audience. Longform content is the perfect way to solve problems, answer questions, and establish authority in your space.
High-quality, optimized blog posts can also perform well in search engines, boosting your SEO. Long-form content tends to be a more enduring type of content marketing than many other formats. So the content you post today can continue to generate traffic and leads for years to come. Compare that to social media posts, which can get buried in news feeds after a few hours. Another benefit of blogging is that it emphasizes your brand personality. If your brand is creative, smart, or interesting, blogging gives you many ways to express your unique personality.Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
2. Case studies and success stories
Case studies and success stories are great examples of conversion-focused content marketing. It’s an extremely effective way to generate leads at the bottom of the funnel. When potential customers read about similar customers who have had a positive experience with your organization, it provides them with social proof and helps them make purchasing decisions easier.
In other words, they feel like you’ve done it before, so they can expect the same results.
Case studies are especially important for high-cost, value-added products and services. This type of content emphasizes marketing ROI and reduces major investment risk. Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
3. Online customer testimonials and reviews
Customer testimonials and reviews are another form of content marketing that leverages social proof. They are especially useful to help your brand overcome potential objections from potential customers and reduce their sense of risk. Additionally, online reviews on third-party sites like Google, Angi, or Trustpilot are also a valuable off-page SEO signal.
When Google sees a large number of positive reviews related to your brand, Google will let them know that your brand is trustworthy and your website will rank higher in the search results. with brands with fewer positive reviews. Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
Here are some easy ways to increase the number of reviews and testimonials you get:
- Ask existing customers directly
- Create automatic tracking requests sent to customers after they buy from you
- Incentivize customers with discounts or other rewards to share their opinions
- Add a review/testimonial widget to your site’s homepage and other important pages so visitors can quickly leave reviews without leaving your site.
4. Whitepapers and eBooks
Whitepapers and eBooks are a great way to develop thought leadership, gain credibility in your industry, generate leads, and position yourself as an expert. They are usually longer and more technical than blog posts. This allows you to delve deeper into a particular topic and share more detailed information beyond what you can normally do in a blog post.
Create whitepapers and eBooks when you have particularly deep or distinct knowledge in a particular field. With whitepapers and eBooks, it’s important to share quality content that delivers the value they expect when they spend time downloading your content.
This type of content marketing strategy tends to work especially well in the middle/bottom of the funnel. During this stage, you need to further educate the prospect about the problem they are facing, the solution you offer, and why you are a better choice than your competition.Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
5. Market report
Market reports are an extremely effective way to gain media attention and position your brand as a thought leader in your industry. This type of content marketing targets decision-makers who need access to vast market data to build their strategy.
Reports can focus on market share, spending, trends, technology, consumer behavior, or any other factor. What makes them especially powerful is their ability to generate high-value media mentions, backlinks, and leads (assuming you unlock the report).
6. Videos
In recent years, video content has become increasingly important as a content marketing agency toronto strategy.
- Videos help attract 300% more traffic.
- Video helped generate leads for 83% of video marketers.
- Watching brand videos convinced 84% of people to buy a product or service.
- 68% of marketers say video delivers a better ROI than Google Ads.
- 88% of video marketers say video gives them a positive ROI.
Video content is effective because it allows you to connect with your target audience in a visual and engaging way that many other types of content can’t.
For example:
- Short explainer videos of 60 seconds or less are a quick and easy way to quickly educate potential customers on a topic.
- How-to videos help customers understand how to solve a very specific problem
- Introductory videos can help customers see the product’s features quickly
- Interviews allow your customers to see the human side of your business. And interviews with clients allow them to see what they can achieve on their own.
- Long-form videos can tell a story in a way that creates an emotional connection with the audience
- Social media clips quickly capture attention and drive engagement
7. Infographics
Infographics allow you to quickly and clearly present a large amount of important information, including business, industry, or SEO statistics, maps, events, timelines, and more. They can act as standalone pieces of content that can be shared across social media platforms. Additionally, they can serve as a supplement to written content, such as a blog post or white paper.
Besides being visually appealing, infographics are great for social media marketing efforts, and particularly interesting ones tend to be widely shared. Additionally, if you are featuring an infographic on a page of your site, you can easily create a small HTML snippet to allow others to embed the infographic in their site. The HTML code can be encoded so that whenever someone embeds an image in a web page, a backlink to your site is automatically included in the description. The more people embed the infographic, the more backlinks you get, which benefits your SEO.Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
8. Podcasts
Podcasting is becoming an increasingly effective form of content marketing agency Toronto and branding. One of its biggest advantages is that it allows you to deliver long, high-value information without investing too much time or effort. It allows you to share your expertise and stories directly with your audience. It helps you build relationships with your potential customers by connecting with them on a more personal level.
Another big advantage of podcasts is that they are portable. They are easy to listen to while commuting to work or during a cardio workout when reading might not be an option. If you interview guests on your podcast, you get the added benefit of having the ability to use your podcast as a lead-generation tool. You can invite representatives from the companies you’d most like to do business with and feature them as a way to
1) create podcast content and
2) build relationships with new leads.
9. Webinar
Webinars are a great content marketing tool for educating your prospects and customers, and positioning your brand as an authority on the industry or topic. The visual format makes them perfect for illustrating how to get the most out of your product or how to fix a specific problem. Most webinars tend to be longer (over 30 minutes) because they contain a strong educational component.
You can also use webinars to collaborate with potential customers. As a result, you’ll create unique content while building relationships with new leads.
Another important benefit of webinars is the direct interaction between the presenter and the audience. Viewers can ask questions and presenters can answer them in real time. This creates a more personal connection than more static forms of content. Dreams is the best content marketing agency in Toronto.
10. Interactive Content
Interactive content such as quizzes, reviews, checklists, apps, tools, or games can be used to engage with your target audience while gathering valuable information. For example, mattress company Helix offers an interactive “Sleep Quiz” designed to help potential buyers find the perfect mattress based on their sleep preferences. And, of course, to receive your test results, you must provide your email address, which Helix can use to market its products to you.
You can use the same types of engagement content to attract new leads, get customer feedback, increase retention and engagement, or create an initial audience to retarget later. And of course, you always have the option of simply entertaining them.
An added benefit of interactive content is that it can attract a large number of inbound links.
11. Social Networks
With billions of active users each month, social media can be a key tool in your content marketing arsenal. The main benefit of social media is direct interaction with your audience. It’s a real-time feedback loop to help you understand what your audience cares about and chat with them live to dig deeper.
For some brands, social media can also be used to direct your audience to sales, promotions, and events. Additionally, social marketing gives you a direct path to distribute your content to your audience and showcase your brand personality in the process.
To effectively manage your social networks, you need to know the platforms your audience prefers, as well as the types of posts they find useful.
For example, if you run an ecommerce store that sells climbing gear and your primary audience is millennials and younger, you might focus primarily on adventure-filled posts. on Instagram and TikTok. If you’re targeting 50-somethings looking to take retirement seriously, you might do better with YouTube videos or Facebook posts that link to text content.
To further boost your social media marketing performance, try building relationships with some of the influencers in your space. Influencers can have very loyal audiences and communities that can help amplify the impact of your content.
12. User-generated content
Few content marketing options drive the same level of engagement as user-generated content (UGC). UGC is content posted by customers that showcases your brand in some way. For example, this could include someone posting a selfie while using your product or tagging your brand in a post. It could be a customer recording a YouTube video, recording the unboxing of the product.
Or it could be your audience posting photos in response to a contest run by your brand. UGC is very effective because it is based on both word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) and social proof. After all, potential customers are more likely to trust other consumers than your marketing materials. And when someone likes your product and joins UGC, they’ll likely tell all their friends about it, which will speed up your brand’s reach.
Conclusion
Content marketing strategies are very important. There are many other strategies other than blogging. You can do it yourself or contact The Dreams Agency for your marketing related needs to take your digital marketing to the next level.