How many types of content marketing do you think exist? There’s a lot! But there are a few of them you can choose to focus on if your business is brand new.
Content marketing is a form of internet marketing where businesses share relevant and valuable content with their prospects in order to convert them into leads or customers.
Content marketing represents a strategy to drive and maintain demand by consistently delivering useful, relevant, and valuable content.
Let’s take a look at 7+ different types of content in digital marketing.
7 Types of Content Marketing
1. Blog Posts/Articles
One of the most popular types of content marketing is blog posts/articles.
With the evolution of the internet, there are nowadays different types of blog posts for different search intents.
And these types of blog posts are usually classified into three main categories:
Informational
These blog posts contain valuable pieces of information that the reader is interested in and therefore, they are more likely to share them with their followers and friends.
When creating an informational post, the content marketer should make an effort to create strategies to increase the likelihood that their readers will share it.
The more it gets shared, the more Google sees it as valuable.
As a result, Google may rank this post higher in the search results and you will get more traffic to your website and increase your business goals (sales, lead gen, sign-ups, etc…)
Transactional
These blog posts are useful for businesses to get more leads, and convert more leads into sales and sign-ups.
The content marketing tactic used in these types of blog posts will be something that will encourage the reader to take the desired action.
A transactional post contains the main “money keyword” you want to rank for in Google.
For e.x, money keywords are search terms like “best content marketing tool“, “photoshop vs canva”, or “buy iPhone 13 pro”.
Behind these “money keywords” lie a searcher’s buying intent. When people look for these kinds of money keywords, they are usually ready to perform a transaction.
Navigational
This type of blog post is mostly created by brands. Since they are not traffic drivers, bloggers are not keen to spend time and money to produce such content.
A navigational search query usually looks like this: “Gmail login”.
You see, there’s no point in writing a blog post about where to go to log in to a Gmail account because the only site that will rank for this keyword will be Google itself! And the same applies to other brands.
For e.x, if you purchased a project management software like Monday and want the exact web address to sign in. Then you might search something like “Monday app login”.
Blog posts should be informative and helpful to your audience otherwise there’s no point in writing one since you’ll never rank on the SERPs because of the low quality of your content.
Your articles should serve a purpose for your audience, there should be some intellectual value or provide solutions to your reader’s problems.
A high-value piece of content doesn’t necessarily mean a 10,000 words article.
It can be as short as a 500 words blog post but if your reader gets the answer to his/her question, a solution to his/her problem, then it’s considered high-quality.
Why? Because it has served and ended the user’s search intent.
2. Videos
The digital landscape is constantly evolving with new types of content marketing, new trends, new technology, and new ways of interacting with the online world.
Video is one of the latest trends and it is seen as a powerful way to engage the audience, especially if it has high-quality content, and is entertaining to watch.
Videos are rapidly becoming an important factor when it comes to creating brand awareness on social platforms.
Videos are very engaging and have a high ROI but they require a lot of time (can take days or even weeks) to produce only one video.
So businesses need to adapt the way that they market their products through videos if they want to be successful.
The rise of social media has also boosted video content creation but unlike YouTube videos, videos on social media are much shorter.
In addition to this, video marketing has taken an even bigger role in our lives.
According to The State of Video Marketing 2022 study, businesses are generating more and more leads via video marketing alone. Check the chart below:
This continuous increase in video consumption shows that people have changed their consumption habits and are now actively looking for video content.
Video marketing has become a crucial part of every business’ content marketing strategy.
It helps businesses to establish a personal connection with their audiences and thus, helps brands leverage that connection for sales and lead generation.
3. Podcasts
Podcasts are short-form or long-form audio pieces that are streamed online via a podcasting software.
Using podcasts for content marketing has become a lot more effective since podcasting software allows you to schedule, record and upload your podcast anywhere you want.
A big advantage of this is the fact that podcasts can be easily segmented and targeted. You may create different podcasts for specific audiences, topics, or niches.
Unlike a blog, where it is usually recommended to no go too broad in your topic/niche selection, a podcast can have a large selection of niches depending on the size of your audience.
A podcast can be distributed to several channels where it can be listened to directly from your chosen channel or app by using an RSS feed.
It is important for businesses to create and promote their own RSS feed as this will help them to get more reach and increase their brand awareness.
The main advantage of using podcasts as a content marketing strategy is that it doesn’t require a big investment upfront.
To begin, you will only need a very good microphone, a laptop obviously, and a podcast platform which is usually free for your first 5-10 episodes, depending on the platform.
Podcasts are also easy to produce and share with your audience, which can make them more cost-effective than other forms of content marketing.
While podcasting isn’t as popular as a blog or a YouTube channel, it has exploded in popularity in recent years (probably of the low cost of producing podcasts).
4. Infographics
Infographics are visual pieces of content that usually appear in a blog post.
The way businesses or marketers use infographics is to provide a more visual and straightforward way of conveying the main message of their post.
An infographic doesn’t have to be made for one reason only as long as it is highly identifiable and informative.
There might be a percentage of your audience that can consume your content better when they images.
So, it’s a good idea to incorporate infographics in your articles.
5. eBooks
Ebooks are the rage these days because they help to establish a personal connection with your reader.
The primary reason why businesses love creating ebooks is to share some of their expertise with their audience. eBooks can be used in two ways:
If you want to build your email list, you can offer a free eBook in exchange for the reader’s email.
It can be a short piece of info on a specific topic based on your expertise or services.
Or, you can create an entire ebook and it’s usually a large, comprehensive guide to how to achieve something that you could possibly offer as a service or product.
Ebooks are becoming very common because they give the reader more information than just a blog post.
In addition to this, there are many free platforms that allow you to create your own eBook.
For instance, you can write a whole article in Google Docs and then export is a PDF. There you have your eBook!
If you want more professional-looking eBooks, you can use one of the cheap tools listed below:
6. Social Media Posts
The types of content for social media are relatively simple forms of content that are dominantly pictures, videos, stories, and reels.
These are great for communicating with a niched audience, and it’s important to take advantage of all the different features that these platforms provide you.
Usually, if you put out a single type of content for e.x, static images only, you might limit your reach.
So, it’s best to diversify your content on these platforms.
7. Emails
Emails are one of the oldest forms of content marketing and they’re used to communicate with current and prospective customers continuously through email campaigns.
Emails provide businesses with another channel that they can use to interact with their audience and build up trust.
They also provide another way for businesses to capture leads and turn them into customers.
More and more businesses are embracing email marketing in their early days because of the high ROI emails can provide.
But to get that positive ROI, you should have a clear and strong email marketing strategy.
An email marketing strategy is a list of steps that you take to engage and communicate with your audience.
It helps businesses to communicate with their customers in order to build up relationships, brand recognition, product awareness, and more.
You can visit this article to learn more about how to set up a solid email marketing strategy.
8. Webinars
A webinar is a form of online event that allows businesses to connect with their audiences via a live streaming video.
As the webinar name suggests, webinars are conducted online.
This type of content marketing helps businesses broadcast their content to their audience at a specific time and date.
There are different types of webinars you can do, some focus on discussions and presentations, whereas others are all about the interaction between attendees and an instructor/speaker.
If you’re comfortable talking live to an audience, try doing a webinar to see the return on your business.
Usually, (not all though) some marketers do webinars with the intent of selling a high-ticket program at the end.
And many have testified of the power of webinars for high-priced courses and programs.
Final Thoughts
Depending on your business needs, you can use a combination of any of the above-mentioned content marketing strategies to reach your target audience.
As always, it’s best to know your audience first before creating content so that you know what type of content and what strategy would fit them best.
As you can see, there are many different types of content marketing in the digital marketing world.
However, some may be more effective than others depending on your industry, the market you’re targeting, and your goals.
You should also keep in mind that the best form of content marketing is often the simplest form.
You should focus on creating truly valuable and useful information for your audience in order to gain their trust and respect.