Creative Ideas for Better Content Marketing

To help you feed your hungry editorial calendar, we’re sharing a few of our favorite types of content marketing to help you bust your writer’s block and breathe new life into your business.

1. LISTS

Everyone loves lists. You must too, because you’re reading one right now. And what’s not to love? Lists are a fun, informative, and shareable for readers. For marketers, they are an easy way to break down any topic into easily-digestible chunks. Checklists, trends, tips, ideas, things to do, avoid, eat, or see—the number of creative ways lists can be spun is nearly endless.

2. HOW-TO GUIDES

How-to guides are a content marketing staple. Everyone appreciates solutions to their problems. Simply target a relevant problem for your audience and provide a step-by-step guide to getting it done. As valuable as how-tos are for your readers, they can be even more so for your business. Showcasing your subject matter expertise in this educational format can position you as a go-to expert in the minds of your target user.

3. INFOGRAPHICS

Infographics are among the most viewed, shared, and downloaded types of content marketing. According to recent statistics, infographics are shared more than any other type of content. But not every infographic is going to go viral. To make them effective, focus on creating graphically appealing and easy-to-read infographics that are relevant to readers’ interests.

4. QUIZZES

What type of content gets shared an average of 1,900 times—a rate higher than even infographics? The answer is, you guessed it, the quiz! To make generating quizzes easier, start with content you’ve already created. Checklists or top ten lists can easily be transformed into an interactive quiz. Apps like Qzzr and Typeform can help.

5. PODCASTS

Podcasts are a popular way to share branded content, increase awareness, and reach new prospects. Creating these digital audio files may sound daunting, but an easy way to start is to simply turn your old blog posts into podcasts. All you need is a decent mic to begin recording readings of some of your best posts. Interested? Here are some tips to successful starting your own business podcast.

6. EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

The email newsletter is not dead. While this content marketing platform has been around since the ‘90s, it can still be wildly successful today, with many national brands boasting millions of subscribers. When done right, they are an effective tool for engaging your audience and boosting the reach of your content – but creating an email newsletter that’s newsworthy isn’t easy. Our advice: Aim to inform, not sell. Avoid corporate jargon, and let your personality shine through in the writing. If you want to reach more inboxes, here are some tips on building your subscription base.

7. TESTIMONIALS

Testimonials are powerful. A customer’s positive words are more credible, and often more persuasive than any you could create yourself. Invite your customers to provide feedback whenever possible and share their stories to inspire interest in your business from potential new customers. When possible, select someone who best represents your target audience. Add testimonials to email newsletters, your website, and other digital marketing platforms.

When it comes to successful content marketing, focus first on finding a topic that matters to your audience. If the topic has been done to death, put a new spin on it or approach it from a new angle. Provide solutions, education, or inspiration. Challenge or confirm beliefs. Aim for the funny bone or the heartstrings, and support your position with loads of internal and external links to statistics and additional information. Then try as many types of content marketing as possible to find the ones that work best for your business.

Contact our Madison-area digital marketing professionals today for more creative content marketing ideas or help designing a marketing strategy to meet your business goals.