10 Amazing Ideas to Ramp up Your Content Marketing

The content marketing landscape is constantly evolving with marketers experimenting with new and creative ways to stand out from the crowd. You cannot just stick to writing a weekly blog if you expect to keep attracting newer audiences. A strategic approach to creating and distributing content will keep your content from disappearing in a sea of obscurity.

[tweetthis]#Marketers constantly look for ways to create & deliver effective #ContentMarketing.  @augfrank[/tweetthis]

Here are ten ideas you can use to get your content marketing strategy into overdrive.

Infographics

Infographics are the solution to all the complicated bits of your business or product that you have trouble conveying to your audience. By means of simple graphics, colorful text and interesting one-liners, you’re breaking down complex topics into easily digestable content. They easily catch the eye of the audience and makes your content more understandable. Canva is one of the most popular online tools for creating infographics with tools like Infogram, Piktochart and Venngage also widely used.

Case Studies

82% of marketers in North America use case studies in their content marketing according to the Content Marketing Institute. It’s like a photography studio displaying pictures that show how good they are. Case studies present your audience proof that your product is of good quality.

Ebooks

Ebooks are the best way to confirm your expertise and convey it to your audience in the form of informative research about industry-relevant topics, product guides, or even a curated collection of blog posts. By placing your ebooks as an email opt-in, it can also act as an effective source of leads. They also help build your brand, help potential customers and position you as an authority in your field.

Client interviews

Client interviews bring out a more personal face of your brand to your audience. Presenting your audience with an actual conversation about how customers solved problems with your product, helps you gain the trust of others (read: prospective customers) who face similar problems. You can publish interviews on your blog or as a video or podcast.

Market guides and comparisons

Your blog should be doing more than just focusing on your product. Look at the business environment you are operating in and do write-ups and comparisons with other products in a similar market. It could either be a direct comparison with a competitor (assuming you come off looking good) or how-to’s for using other products that your customers tend to use. My company CallHub, builds communication and outreach software. While most of the content on our blog is dedicated to our product and write-ups about our niche, we also dedicate space to how-to’s for other businesses in our blog that the CallHub platform integrates with.

Instruction guides

This is where you need to think of every use case for your product. If any of them seem like something people might need help with, you should be writing about it. For example — if you are selling bags, you should be guiding people on the best materials, the right choice for each occasion and weather, trending designs in the market. Any and all information about your niche that your target audience finds useful is a great way to keep them engaged and on your website.

Video blog

Videos do a better job of keeping the attention of your audience than text. You can use videos to give customers a quick overview of your product without overwhelming them with too much written content. You can make and edit your own videos using tools like Camtasia or choose a professional video service like Raptmedia. Animated video services such as GoAnimate are another way to get creative with your product videos. Just go through this list of explainer videos and tell me you don’t want to get into videos.

Audio podcast

Podcasts are a great way to stand out with your content as well as give a personal touch to your content. Hearing someone speak and explain the intricacies of the product or give insights into the market space creates a better connection with your audience than written content. Podcasts are easier for your audience to consume on the go and are not very expensive to make. Buffer has a great list of marketing podcasts you can check out before you get started.

Comics or cartoons

Comics may not be able to compensate for product reviews or in-depth research but they can connect with audiences on a level that is not possible with factual content. If your comic made someone pause for an instant and smile or laugh or think, you’ll have succeeded. Comics also have a much higher chance of going viral as well as the ability to bring your website a steady stream of loyal audiences. If you look at the blog of popular browser testing platform, Browserling, you see that it is made up almost entirely of comics with an occasional product update. Goes to show that when it’s done right, comics can carry a lot of your content marketing weight.

Slideshows

The best thing about slides is that you don’t have to go out of your way to make new content. By making slideshows an integral part of your content strategy, you can repurpose data, images, and content from your blog articles, videos or podcasts for a new traffic channel to your site. The more channels you promote your content, the better returns you get from content marketing.

Final Thoughts

Don’t wait too long to branch out with your content strategy. Right now, you might be in a comfortable position with a process that you’ve built up. It becomes very easy to stay with the flow when your strategy may be giving you a consistent number of leads and traffic. But if you don’t experiment with newer channels for growth, you’ll never know what you’re missing out on. You don’t have to stop doing what you’re doing. Just put aside some time to let your creativity loose on a new project. If it doesn’t work out, move on to the next idea. Just don’t stop trying something new.