February 12, 2021
When it comes to content marketing, things can get a little lost in translation. For one thing, content and content marketing are not the same thing. Officially, content marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on creating content tailored to a specific audience. The Content Marketing Institute goes further, describing content marketing as not being about ‘the brand, your products, or your services’ but instead, about your audience and what they care about, and ‘how can you be the one to provide something no one else is’, i.e., how you can market your business as the leading authority in your industry.
We’ve previously looked at how to build your content marketing strategy, but now it’s time to explore the different categories of content marketing and see which might be most suited to your brand.
Video
According to Wibbitz, the seven industries investing in video marketing in 2021 include:
- Manufacturing
- Finance
- Public Relations
- Real Estate
- Healthcare
- E-commerce
- Hospitality & Travel
So, why are these industries leaning more towards video marketing? Well, for one thing, video is much easier to consume. Your target audience don’t need to have a large attention span to absorb this type of content. It also appears that the pandemic has had a noticeable impact on how businesses use video in their content marketing, with 47% of marketers claiming that video content was more necessary than ever for brands thanks to the restrictions of the pandemic. This also ties in with the 68% of consumers who said the pandemic affected how much video content they watched, with 96% saying that it had increased.
With the coronavirus causing everyone to adapt to a ‘new normal’, it only makes sense that businesses would have to make some changes to their operations. For industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic – i.e., hospitality, travel – it’s especially important to capture consumer interest now.
Infographics
Similarly to video content, infographics rely on our brain’s ability to comprehend images faster than written words (one study found that 90% of the information we remember is visual). Having infographics as part of your business strategy will help make your message more memorable to the consumer, so they will associate those images with your brand. It’s also useful for when you just want to break up your content and make it more coherent than rows and rows of skim-able text.
A good example of a brand successfully using infographics as part of their content marketing scheme would be Coca-Cola, when the big-name brand created a clever infographic to illustrate its 115 years in business. Not only does the infographic look great, but it also serves to market the company’s big celebration and educate consumers on its history via its many incarnations of Coca-Cola bottles, all the way from 1884. Now imagine this as a plain article, perhaps with a few images thrown in to add some excitement; it wouldn’t be nearly as eye-catching or effective. By using the infographic as a timeline of Coca-Cola’s history, this brand have created something much more engaging.
Case Studies
If you’re trying to attract prospective customers, then having case studies to back up your business credentials will go a long way. Case studies are effectively a sign of your brand’s success, as they demonstrate how your product or services benefitted a client/customer. Instead of you simply talking about how great your business is, case studies allow the customer to speak for you, and often, new customers are more likely to listen to others in the same boat as them. Case studies also allow you to show off the other businesses you have worked with, creating a portfolio of your past work.
Make a good first impression to viewers on your website by listing your case studies on your homepage. This could be in the form of client quotes/testimonials about how your business helped them, and why they would recommend you. Check out our own case studies as an example.
Blogging
Just because we’ve talked about the importance of visual content, that doesn’t make written content like blog posts any less important for your marketing strategy. Without new blog posts every week or month, your site misses out on getting a page indexed by Google. This increases your site’s chances of popping up in the SERPs, creating more exposure for your business. Remember, Google likes new content, so it’s worth producing new blog posts consistently – i.e., once or twice a week – to remain relevant. Also try to change your topics up a bit, so you’re not just regurgitating the same information.
You can also add CTAs to your blog posts that can lead back to relevant landing pages on your site. This will result in more conversions when visitors click onto your site and drive more traffic to your site.
The more blog content you create, the more you can share on your social media platforms to generate more attention for your business and get those clicks. Speaking of which…
Social Media
This tool cannot be undervalued for content marketers. Social media allows you to share the latest news about your business in a matter of seconds, whether you’ve got an exciting press release announcing the launch of a new product, are teaming up with another brand or simply have a personal message for your customers. With platforms like Twitter and Instagram, you can make your business less corporate and more approachable for customers, who can then like and share your posts, generating even more buzz.
One brand that has successfully utilised the power of social media for their marketing campaigns is Starbucks (UK), which boasts an impressive 586.7K followers on Twitter. This brand knows how to capture customer interest with aesthetically pleasing images of beverages and personal messages. They know that it’s essential to connect with their target audience and they use their Twitter platform to do just that, making announcements about re-openings, as well as charitable acts like offering free drinks in stores and self-service locations to NHS workers.
Final thoughts
The useful thing about content marketing is that there is no one-rule format; whatever your niche or your circumstances, there is going to be a type of content marketing that applies to you. You don’t need to follow the same strategies as other businesses, nor should you. It’s all about finding the right one that can boost your brand.
Contact us today if you want to learn more about developing a content marketing strategy for your business.
