1. Blogs
Blogging is one of the most popular types of content marketing for small businesses. And for good reason! Blogs are one of the best ways to improve SEO and drive more organic traffic to your site from the search engines. This can help you make the most of your limited marketing budget by supplementing any advertising with inbound content.
In fact, according to Forbes, websites that include a blog typically have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t. This means that sites with blogs have a greater chance of ending up on the first page of search engines like Google when consumers search for relevant keywords. Additionally, business sites with blogs have 97% more inbound links, which also helps with search engine optimization.
As you can see from the graphic above, there are a variety of benefits for businesses that blog regularly.
Not only does blogging help improve your search engine optimization, but it’s also a great way to build relationships with your leads and current customers. The more valuable content you provide, the more likely your target audience will be to consider your brand when they are ready to purchase. Blogs are an effective way to provide value through short-form content.
If you want to use blogging to improve your content marketing and grow your business, you’ll need to start with a strategy that includes which topics you plan to cover in your blog. Do some keyword research to see what consumers are typing into the search engines to find brands like yours. Then, consider what other topics or questions might be relevant and create blog content around these topics.
2. VIDEOS
If you want to remain competitive in the busy digital marketplace, it’s vital that you find a way to grab your target audience’s attention and engage them quickly. Consumers today are viewing more video content than ever before. In fact, one-third of all online activity is spent watching video content. This fact makes video one of the best types of content marketing for reaching and engaging your target consumers, no matter what industry you are in.
Video is a great content marketing tactic for small businesses because it provides such an appealing return on investment. According to BrightCove, brands that use video can expect to see an average increase of 157% in organic traffic from search engines. Video also helps increase time spent on site by 105%. The more time your customers spend on your website, the greater your company’s chances of making a sale.
When it comes down to it, you just can’t ignore the power of valuable video content.
If you’d like to harness the power of video you will need to consider what types of content and topics will appeal to your audience most. This will ultimately depend on where your audience is in the buyer’s journey. Short and attention-grabbing informational videos can help you engage consumers in the awareness stage. While how-to videos and product demos are great for influencing purchasing decisions among consumers in the decision stages.
Watch the Video about What we have done
3. Infographics
Infographics visually display information in a single graphic image. This helps businesses educate their audiences and provide useful information that can add value for leads and customers. Because it’s visual, it helps audiences understand data such as statistics in a more intuitive and easier way.
Additionally, good quality infographics can be identified as useful and shared by other people interested in the same topic or theme. Infographics should always contain website links so that a widely distributed infographic can be always credited to its source. This is a great means to bring new traffic to your website.
Contact us to learn more about how our designers can help create the correct infographic for you.
4. CASE STUDIES
One of the most valuable types of content marketing is the case study. They can be made with text and images but they are also content as video. Case studies are basically customer stories that illustrate how your business has helped a specific client or customer become successful. Businesses can use case studies to highlight special applications or uses for their services and products.
Case studies help inform audiences to better understand how your brand can add value to their lives or businesses. For certain audiences, a real-life example is more valuable and helps to build trust with new leads.
Case studies can be used in a variety of ways in your company. They can be used on your website, in your blogs, eBooks, social posts and videos. Sales teams love case studies when talking with new prospects.
5. eBooks
The purpose of developing eBooks is to build a relationship with target consumers so that they trust your brand and come to know you as an expert in a specific area. eBooks are usually long-form content that businesses can use to provide value for their leads and customers. It should provide useful information and insight for your target audience about their needs and challenges.
eBooks are often used for collecting lead information. Typically an exchange for the audience’s email addresses for a valuable eBook download. This means the audience must actively download the eBook and show an interest, thereby partially qualifying as a potential prospect or lead for your business. Videos introducing eBooks can also be effective here.
It’s important to know that quality eBooks require more time and investment. However, they provide an attractive return on investment as your email list grows and prospects are converted into new business.
6. WHITE PAPERS
Similar to eBooks in a lot of ways, the whitepaper is another type of long-form content that can be effective as a lead magnet. The main difference is that white papers are more information-dense, data-driven, and detail-focused. Therefore, whitepapers are best suited for B2B that want to build thought leadership and gain more respect in their industry.
According to a 2017 DemandGen report, 76% of buyers surveyed said they were willing to share information about themselves with a business in exchange for a white paper. This helps businesses gain better insights into target audiences and provides a trusted way to contact new prospects.
7. Checklists
Checklists are mostly used as supportive content to a blog post or article. It is often a type of worksheet that provides a list of things to do in a step-by-step process in order to achieve a desired outcome. These are great content assets for small businesses because they can be used to energize an existing lead base and are easy to create and promote.
In general, the more you share a checklist on social or trusted channels, the more value your business gets out of the investment.
8. INTERVIEWS
Interviews are content gold!
Interviews with industry experts or your own customers are another one of the most high-performing types of content marketing. Interview content provides valuable information and is a great way to position your company as an expert in the industry.
There are a few different ways that you can use interviews as part of your digital marketing campaigns:
- Host a live interview through a webinar or live stream like Facebook Live.
- Record interview content and make it available on your site and through YouTube.
- Create written interview content on your blog.
- Seek out opportunities to be interviewed by third-party sources.
Interviews need to provide value for your target audience through subjects that can offer useful insight for your leads and customers.
9. SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can be used in a variety of ways. It’s important to specify objectives before developing a social campaign. New businesses might want to reach new audiences while established brands might prefer to nurture relationships with customers. The type of content of your social media posts influences how your company engages new leads and existing customers.
When it comes to conversions, social media posts can be used to help new leads discover your products, alert consumers to sales and promotions, and provide leads and customers with additional information about your products.
10. Gifs & Memes
In popular culture, memes and GIFs are some of the most shareable types of content marketing on the web today. They typically feature images that have gone viral online or screenshots from films, along with a caption that says something entertaining, insightful, or relatable.
Businesses can take advantage of these familiar and popular content formats by using GIFs and memes to bring excitement or draw attention to a topic. You can create your own GIFs and memes or find relevant ones that are already floating around the internet to grab your audience’s attention and get them interested in what you have to say.
If you are not sure which types of content marketing are right for your business then please contact us for a free consultation