22 Content Marketing Ideas for Your Business

August 30, 2018

It can be difficult to come up with clever content marketing ideas for your business. There isn’t always enough time in the day to sit and brainstorm and you can often hit a brick wall and begin to feel at a loss. So, we’ve put together a list of creative content marketing ideas that you can easily and effectively implement today.

 

Visual Content

Attention spans are changing with 81% of people only skimming the content they read online, forming first impressions within 50 milliseconds, meaning visual pieces now tend to perform better than written.

 

Infographics

Make the most of visual content by turning factual or statistic-based pieces into a creative infographic. Infographics are easily skimmable when presented well, meaning the user experience is improved far more than it would be if you merely provided a bullet-point list of stats. Readers can easily navigate to the stats they require and it’s a much more fun way to present trends and finding.

 

 

Video

Record videos of products if your business is product-based, and record video tutorials if your business is service-based. We understand this won’t always be possible, but with an estimate that 82% of all consumer traffic will be driven by video content by 2021, it’s important to have some form of video content in your strategy.

 

Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing is a great way to bring the consumer or client closer to you, forming a rapport with your brand and creating a memorable experience that they will directly associate with your business. Examples of experiential marketing include interactive events, product trials, exclusive invites to try new products that aren’t for general sale yet – anything that involves the consumer to intrigue them and make them feel important to you.

 

Helpful Content

Although important, your content marketing strategy shouldn’t always be about selling. Using content marketing to build a relationship with your target consumer is far more valuable in the long-term than constantly bombarding them with sales-driven pieces.

How can you help the consumer or client? What problems can you solve for them? Using the Google Keyword Planner, you can find out what people are searching for when using keywords associated with your business to inform you of the problems they encounter.

 

Printable Checklists

Do your customers need to follow a step-by-step process to get the most out of your product? Do your clients need a guide to implement a strategy or service? Create a printable checklist (like this one) to help keep them on track as they follow the steps, marking them off as they’re complete. This is value-added content that will ensure your customers feel important to you.

E.g. GDPR Checklist:

 

Beginners Guide

Do you have knowledge that you can impart to your customers? By creating a beginners guide on a specific topic relevant to your industry, you can help your target audience achieve something on their own, which is a great way to provide a taster for what they could achieve with your service/product.

 

Invite Your Target Audience Into Conversation

There is no better way to gain an insight into the needs and desires of your target audience than by inviting them to share their views. Ask your target audience about the questions that they have, and then answer them. Ask your target audience what their problems are, and then provide the solutions in a medium you think will resonate well with them.

Use Google Analytics to inform you of where your site traffic is coming from and how users are engaging with your website to understand which type of content will be best for this, whether that be video, blogging or another medium.

 

List of Benefits of Product or Service ‘X’

Sometimes, being blunt can work well. You have a product or service that you think is great and you want your target audience to invest in it. Tell them all the reasons why your product/service is the best, however don’t make it too focused on the product. Instead, list the benefits of how your product is going to improve things for them.

 

Templates

Can you make something easier for your target audience by providing a free template? For example, if your business is a gym, you could provide a ‘workout plan template’, or if you’re holding an event or exhibition, you could provide a free ‘plan your day’ template. The possibilities are endless for this, and again it’s a great way to add further value.

 

 

Valuable Content

Give your audience a little something extra. Going the extra mile to help them out stands you in good stead among your competitors and helps to make your brand more memorable.

 

Predict Future Trends

Can you see patterns beginning to emerge within your industry? Be the first to make future predictions based on new insights that you consistently see and present them to inform others within your sector, framing you as a thought-leader.

 

 

Update Old Best-Performing Posts

Using analytics to inform you which blog posts are performing well, ensure that your best-performing posts remain relevant by keeping them regularly updated. You can also

create variations of these posts as you know the topic is already a hit, or further expand on them to provide further insight.

 

 

Guest Posts From Industry Experts

Inviting guest articles from experts within your industry is another sure way to position your brand as a thought-leader. If someone recognised as a reputable source within your sector is providing you with knowledge-filled content, it is likely to make your target audience feel they can trust your brand.

 

Clarify Industry Misconceptions

Are there any common myths within your industry that make you recoil when you hear them? Dispel these misconceptions in a blog post explaining where they come from, why they’re not true and what the actual facts are. This is again a great thought-leadership piece that is likely to hold its value throughout time, especially if kept updated.

 

Industry Secrets

You have the benefit of insider knowledge. Let some of your secrets slip – but not all! Give your audience a taster of what they could learn if they chose to invest in your brand and make them want to know more.

 

 

Top 10’s

Top 10 posts allow for fragmented reading, enabling your audience to easily scan through and quickly find the snippet of information that they require. Your top 10 can be on anything within your industry that you feel would be useful for customers to know. Referring back to our visual tips, you could even turn this into an infographic to create a better user experience.

 

Creative Content

Arguably, most of the ideas we’ve outlined in this guide are creative. However, there are some ways you can get even more imaginative with your content strategy.

 

Tutorials

Can you demonstrate how to get the most from your product or service? A product tutorial makes the consumer 85% more likely to make a purchase, so ensure you’re putting your product out there as much as possible and inform people how best to use it.

 

Entertaining Product Copy

The information about your product doesn’t just have to be the boring, bare-minimum details. Get creative with your product descriptions and tell a story. What narrative can you create to get the story inside your target customers head? What will resonate well with them and help them to visualise life with your product? Be brave, use humour if appropriate and make people intrigued by your brand – just be sure to keep it concise.

 

 

Lifestyle Storytelling

Incorporate your product into a vision by telling a story. What can your product enable your customers to do that they couldn’t before? How will your product improve the lives of your customer? Show them by providing them with real-life stories of what your product has done for others. Make your target audience want to be part of your brand.

 

 

Smart Content

Using various tools at your disposal, you can implement these simple, yet smart tactics to help you really get the most from your content marketing strategy.

 

Skyscraper Method

You may have heard of this method before and it simply refers to finding the  #1 ranking post for a search term of your choice that is relevant to your industry, analysing the post, determining how can you do better or add more value and then do it.

However, ensure that you ARE more knowledgeable on this topic and have new and interesting insights to provide, you don’t just want to regurgitate what has already been said.

 

Keep Your Content Plan Consistent

Make a schedule for when you will post content and stick to it. Have your content planned in advance and allow for any incoming or new insights to be added as and when they arise too. Work ahead of time to ensure your schedule is kept consistent and that your audience will receive your content when they expect it. If they’re aware of when you’ll be adding content, they’re more likely to come back for more.

 

Inform On Products That Work Well Together

Sell more by telling your customers about products that compliment each other at the point of sale. How can they get more value from their chosen product? This will promote impulse buys at the checkout, as 60% of consumers have been influenced by a social media post or a blog review, most consumers today have already made a decision about a product before they enter your store or use your website.

 

 

Promote Any Press Mentions

Piggyback on press mentions and shout about them too. If your business has been recognised in a reputable publication, you want this news to reach as many people as possible. Share it around, make your own version of the content and let people know you’re trusted by big media influencers. The work is already done for you, you just need to communicate it further.

 

Create Guest Content on Other Blogs

Make the most of your connections. If there is a business or a publication that you know performs well within your sector, ask if you can help them out with some content. If your advice, knowledge or insight is published by a trustworthy source, then in turn the readers of this publication will feel they can trust your brand too. This will also enable you to gain more links back to your site, gaining wider exposure for your business.

Need help getting started with these content marketing ideas? Feel free to give us a call and we would be happy to discuss your needs further. You can reach us on 0191 809 0704 or at [email protected]