Owning a business is not for the faint of heart. Keeping all of the theoretical plates spinning at one time brings a unique set of challenges. You know your content marketing strategy is lacking. But where to begin? When choosing between one content type and another content type, you may not know where to start. After all, you started your business because you love what you do – not because you want to spend countless hours engineering a marketing strategy – and hoping that you’re doing it correctly. As a business owner, you want your blows to count. With many different types of content available, choosing a content marketing strategy to employ for your business can be tough. You need target guidance on what methods are optimal for your needs, when to use them, and how to use them. Don’t worry – we got you... We’re breaking down a handful of different types of content marketing strategies to effectively promote your business by keeping your audience engaged, reach new target markets, and provide value to your consumers. Let’s dig in!

Blogs are the most well-known form of content marketing. Although blogging has been around for quite some time, creating a blog article has more recently become more useful for businesses to engage with their target audience. If you’re not yet utilizing this effective and cost-efficient form of content marketing, start right away! A valuable blog post is well researched, relevant, and unique. Blog content builds authority in Google’s eyes by encouraging a search volume increase in your website when relevant SEO keywords are included. This requires keyword research prior to writing. Blogs build trust with your audience by thoroughly explaining the topics chosen showcasing yourself as an expert in your industry. Each blog post should also include a call to action and relevant backlinks to help searchers from other sites find your brand. Blogs are also multifaceted in that you can blast them over diverse platforms. After posting the blog on your website, you can send that article to your email list, professional networking sites, social media accounts, and so on. Focusing on SEO keyword research, choosing relevant topics, and posting frequent blogs will ensure your blogging efforts are successful. Our blog at Nimbletoad provides free resources to people looking for marketing information that will help them grow their business. We have a variety of content from email marketing to search engine optimization to social media marketing. The information is valuable and relevant to potential clients.

What are infographics? They’re a fun way to break up a marketing strategy with visual imagery content. They work wonders on visual learners – which happens to be the majority of us! A good infographic is eye-catching and contains valuable, streamlined information on the topic chosen. Infographics don’t need to be overly complicated – in fact, simple and meaningful is the way to go with this tactic. The whole point is to take a lot of complex information and summarize it by selecting the most important points and organizing them in an appealing way. Seems simple enough, right? They can be added to blogs to emphasize a point or used standalone for social media or professional networking sites. We’re all about multifaceted content marketing approaches because you clearly see the return on your investment. The infographic below shows the difference between earned, owned, and paid media. This infographic is simple to understand, which makes it more ideal. It still provides valuable information to those who look at it.

As with all content marketing techniques, the idea is to appeal to your audience, whoever that may be! Video marketing accounts for an enormous form of content on the internet and a successful content format at that. In fact, 96% of consumers find videos helpful, and nearly 75% are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video. Videos may reach a broad audience however – a marketer can tailor each video to engage their ideal customer. Certain videos may showcase how-to’s by an industry expert themself (you!), others interview successful team members, and some videos address specific pain points your audience may have. Regardless of the topic – as with all forms of content marketing – the goal should be to provide value to your target audience by positioning yourself as a skillful professional with answers and solutions to the challenges they face. Consumers are looking for a hero, of sorts, to solve their problems. You have the talent and expertise – create content that showcases these abilities in the finest way possible. Keep the videos brief and full of information. Two to three minutes is all that’s needed. Long videos tend to lose the attention of the viewers. Also, include a call to action in the video. Encourage prospective buyers to subscribe, respond in comments to the question you pose, or forward the video to a friend who may benefit from it. For example, this video covers tactics to increase a winery\'s direct-to-consumer sales. This video provides value because Drew Hendricks positions himself as an industry expert with answers to questions people may have.

eBooks are a great way to supplement your cold emails or website visitors with a valuable piece of content right off the bat for your potential customers. This appeals to the selfish motives of all consumers by receiving something for free immediately. As the name suggests, eBooks are electronic books that are often available as PDF downloads. This form of content marketing combines your knowledge with the opportunity to showcase it in an appealing visual way. Instead of focusing on advertising within your eBook, the focal point should be (yep, you guessed it) on the value you’re providing to your readers. A good rule of thumb is keeping the promotional aspects of the eBook between 5 and 10 percent of the overall total. There’s no specific length requirement to eBooks – but they can tend to get lengthy. To keep your readers attention, be sure to include chapters, subheadings, bullet images, infographics, and any and all other intriguing formatting elements. These tactics break up the text for readers so they don’t get lost in the weeds. Having a creative eye will suit you well for this type of content marketing. Spending time on a thoughtful title along with an appealing design will be sure to attract interested minds. eBooks can be used to provide valuable information, at no cost, right off the bat. Of course, when working with clients, you should absolutely charge for creating an eBook. But again, this form of content marketing is multifaceted – in that, there are many different avenues they can be used for.

Everyone loves a good success story – am I right? As consumers ourselves, we’re often drawn to finding out whether success was achieved with the product or service we’re considering investing in. After all, who wants to invest and experience failure? Not I. Think of case studies as a bona fide success story. Case studies are an excellent way to paint a story in your prospective client’s mind’s eye by summarizing the problem your potential customer is facing. Followed by providing a solution with step-by-step examples that prospects can use to repeat the process. Lastly, include a summary of the results that your customer achieved using your product or services. Emphasize how the results solved the problem that your client faced and you provided a solution that made their life better. By solving problems your potential clients face before even meeting them, you’re laying the groundwork for strong and lasting relationships. They trust you. You’re solving their problems – and they haven’t even met you yet – talk about a good first impression.

Appealingly engineered podcasts have proven to be a highly effective form of content marketing however – they require quite a bit of thought and professionalism prior to recording. It’s important to plan a podcast well in advance. Just “winging” it will only lead to a waste of time, energy, and money. A professionally crafted podcast, using the correct equipment, can be distributed to an entire network of podcast listeners which results in a massive outreach. Podcasts can be packed full of valuable information that listeners can take in commuting to and from work, cleaning their homes, walking their dogs, or partaking in any other mundane daily activity. With podcasts, you can slip into pockets of time your consumers have and provide them with incredible value. Offering solutions to problems they face, answering questions they pose, and interviewing credible sources on your podcasts can all contribute to yet another valuable content marketing plan to add to your arsenal. The podcast, Legends Behind the Craft, features top leaders in the wine and craft industry. In these episodes, Drew Hendricks interviews a variety of people and what they are known best for. Episodes include how website personalization can increase customer engagement and conversion rate optimization with Zach Kamphuis and creating a brand that lasts with Megan Rounds.  

User-generated content, also known as consumer-generated content, refers to content related to your brand that’s created by someone who’s not an actual representation of your business. It comes in many different forms. From a social media post, a review, a video, and so on. This form of content gets customers involved. Others can respond to the comments, forward them, retweet, repost resulting in more exposure with little effort on your part. Making this a very cost-effective method. When people are willing to share their positive thoughts and experiences with your brand and business, this speaks volumes to potential customers. If others are willing to honestly share their feedback, it shows how genuinely great your products or services really are. User-generated content is authentic because people are saying good things about your business. These invaluable comments are easily shareable. And, as you would expect, provide potentially extremely high volumes of exposure for your business. How do you get user-generated content? Give them something to talk about... (queue Bonnie Raitt “Something to Talk About” melody.) But really –  if you want great customers to talk about your brand, you need to give them a reason to do so. Offer rewards for kind words, run content and quizzes to get engagement, ask questions on a social media platform, such as Twitter or Facebook. The potential ROI you can receive far exceeds the effort you’ll put in to encourage user-generated content. And truly, once the comments get going, they can spread like wildfire. Offering potentially excellent content, and very little cost to you as a business owner.

Similar to user-generated content, testimonials and reviews on products or services come directly from the consumer. What’s the first thing you do before purchasing a product on Amazon? You look at the number of stars the product received and then read the reviews. Why? Because you want real people to give their true thoughts so that you don’t waste your hard-earned money on a product that’s less than satisfactory. The same concept works well with prospective customers for your brand. They want to see what others are saying, what their experience was, and how they enjoyed your product or service. These testimonials and reviews carry a lot of value and should be added to your website, professional networking sites, and social media. Nimbletoad has a section for reviews on the website. By having this section, the agency can show potential clients what other clients think of the work that was done for them.

Whitepapers are often confused with eBooks. They’re not the same. Whitepapers are long-form content, very densely packed with information. They take quite a bit of research and much attention to detail. As with most content marketing techniques, the purpose of a whitepaper is to guide and inform readers about a complex issue. Then, advocate the best way to go about achieving a solution for the particular problem. It’s meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, and ultimately make a decision. Thorough research and in-depth statistics add validity to the brand and provide immense value. Whitepapers provide a detailed comprehensive view of a product or service making them most useful at the end of the sales funnel. Adding images can make the information more fun and worth the read for most consumers.

In today’s world, social media has a big hand in digital marketing. This cost-effective form of promoting products and services has proven to be effective because these figures likely have a loyal following that trusts their opinion. Tapping into this market allows a brand to reach a specific audience. The followers of these influencers trust their opinion on a product or service so much that around 40% of people report that they purchased a product online after seeing it used by an influencer. When utilizing social media marketing as part of your content marketing strategy, you’re strategically positioning yourself in front of an audience that’s already interested in similar products or services. This engages new leads – while also advertising to existing customers. Do your research and find influencers currently promoting services that are similar to what your brand offers. When you appeal to an audience that’s already in need of what you’re offering, they’re far more likely to actually purchase or book. How do you find these influencers? The most straightforward approach is to message them directly through the social media platform that you follow them on. You can also use a management tool to connect, keep track of, and pay your influencers. A few management tools include Upfluence, InfluSoft, and CreatorIQ.

Still not sure which methods may suit your specific brand? With so many options available, it can be tough to know which content marketing strategy will be the most effective. Various techniques appeal to certain industries, niches, and audiences more than others. This list is meant to gather information on what content marketing strategies are feasible, how to deploy them, and when to use them. At the end of the day, no marketing strategy we have listed above will fail your business.  However, there may be some that work better for your specific brand than others. At Nimbletoad, we understand that your business has a unique voice and story. We’ll help you create more brand awareness and tell the story in a way that appeals to your target audience using the techniques we have outlined in this article. We know that the right approach can make all the difference in a powerful content marketing strategy and we’re here to help you achieve - victory for your brand. We’ll help you attract your dream clients, and achieve consistent, ongoing, and long-term success. We live to see you, as a business owner, flourish. To find out if we’re a good fit for each other, fill out our online form or give us a call today! We’re eager to help your business grow. We’ll ask the right questions, learn about your business, and talk about your marketing goals. There’s no one size fits all approach to content marketing – let us tailor your approach to the needs and goals of your business. That way, you’ll truly achieve success in the most unique way! Contact us today to get started!