9 Content Formats to Design a Fail-Proof Content Strategy
Author: Arjun Chatterjee
Published On: 29-09-22
Last Updated on: 30-01-24
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
70% of customers prefer receiving product information from blogs than ads. Interestingly, video is one of the most preferred content format examples. What if you combine both these formats in your content strategy? Your sales can potentially skyrocket!
No matter how unique your products and services are, a well-defined content marketing strategy is essential for reaching the audience where they are. The more formats you use, the wider audience you can reach.
Instead of a single newsletter or a few blog posts, creating different types of content will engage more customers. Informative articles, attractive videos, and personalized emails—a combination of all these will surely ramp up your ROI.
So, when it comes to various types of content marketing, how to get started the right way?
This post will walk you through the top-performing content writing formats, their benefits, and best practices to use them effectively.
Table of Contents
- Why Use Multiple Content Formats for Marketing?
- What are the Key Content Formats?
- What Type of Content is the Best?
- How to Choose a Content Format for Your Audience?
- Parting Thoughts
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Use Multiple Content Formats for Marketing?
Your customers might enjoy reading an enriching blog post to learn about your products or services. But, a section of your target audience might love videos or infographics even more. And, that’s why you must use multiple content writing formats for marketing your brand.
Expand Your Reach
When you create audio, video, and textual content, you automatically enhance your brand awareness. This is because you’re creating quality content for a variety of audiences. It makes your content marketing plan accessible in multiple formats. Moreover, you can even reach customers outside your target audience, like podcast listeners!
Boost Brand Positioning
Your videos, articles, or case studies will speak on behalf of your brand. It can be aggressive, peppy, or highly professional – it’s just “you”.
For example, Wix is popular for highlighting its brand through engaging ads involving celebrities. Who can forget their Superbowl ad campaign featuring Gal Gadot and Jason Statham? Currently, Wix is the leading website builder platform with 32% market dominance due to their content efforts.
Fulfill Multiple Content Marketing Goals
Yes, we get it—your ultimate goal is to sell your products. However, you’ll have other content marketing goals like improving conversions and traffic.
You can achieve all that by using multiple content formats:
- Write compelling blog posts to inform the audience – Turn Clicks into Clients with 120+ B2B Blogging Ideas!
- Develop engaging videos to promote products
- Publish case studies to establish your brand’s credibility
- All this fetches you more leads and sends more traffic to your website.
What are the Key Content Formats?
Modern companies are trying to attract customers with multiple content formats according to market trends. The most high-performing content types are: videos, blogs, images, and infographics. Take note of this ultimate content type list for golden tips to revamp your content strategy.
Blog Posts
Do you know that there are more than 1.7 billion websites, and around 600 million are blogs?
Articles and blog posts are the most straightforward content writing formats that enable you to inform and engage your audience.
What’s more, you can include keywords within the posts related to your products. So, when a customer enters a search query including those keywords, they’ll land on your website.
Blogging is perhaps the best way to improve your search rankings and visibility. In fact, companies investing in blogging receive 55% more visitors than their competitors. Moreover, they enjoy a better ROI automatically!
For example, Mint offers personal finance applications, who have successfully boosted their business through their blog. They provide actionable tips, strategies, news and infographics in their blog posts to help readers.
Guess what? The company gathered immense organic traffic and crossed over 10 million users in 2010, just 3 years after their inception. All thanks to their outstanding blog!
Later on, they sold their firm to Intuit, for a whooping $170 million. So, that’s how a blog can turn things around for any brand.
Video Content
Who doesn’t love watching videos in this Tik Tok and Instagram era?
It’s a fail-proof method to engage a wide range of audiences. That’s why 87% of companies observe that videos provide better traffic.
How will it benefit you? You can talk about your product’s benefits within a few minutes. The compelling visuals, music, and video script will leave a lasting impression on your customer’s mind. Moreover, you can post these videos on multiple social media channels to boost engagement.
86% of marketers use video marketing to improve revenue. You can also make the most out of video content by developing –
- Instructional videos offer a solution (how-to videos)
- Explainer videos to teach customers a skill or do something efficiently
- Promotional videos to market your products and their benefits
For example, Patagonia uses video content marketing to describe product features in detail. Besides its short videos, the brand is famous for its long-form documentary-style product videos.
Further, Patagonia highlights its product benefits and how you can use them in multiple situations. The company takes brand storytelling to another level!
Infographics
Talking about your product features is good, but backing it up with proven statistics is better. But the only catch is: your target audience might not be interested in reading blog posts or watching videos all the time.
That’s when you can grab their attention through infographics.
Infographic content allows you to present complex data in a format that’s easy to understand. You can organize the content using attractive visuals, market statistics, graphs, and precise text blocks.
This content form allows you to pack a lot of exciting information to drive more traffic to your site. Almost 45% of marketers utilize infographics for enhancing their business prospects. So, you can rely on these formats!
Let’s take the example of Course Hero, an online learning platform that uses infographics to engage readers. Their literary infographic series is famous for portraying classic stories in a visually attractive format.
- It makes learning more convenient and fun
- Enhances engagement and traffic
- Showcases how they value their customers’ learning needs
Case Studies
To establish your brand image in front of other businesses, you’ll need valid proof. One of the most effective content format examples for achieving this is case studies. These reports document how your brand has helped another business prosper.
Moreover, these content formats contain factual data and statistics to show what you’re capable of delivering. The studies might highlight your marketing efforts, service benefits, customer solutions, and related aspects.
So, when a business owner learns how you helped another firm solve a problem, your brand image improves. You become more trustworthy, which will fetch you more clients in the long run. That’s why almost 75% of B2B clients feel case studies influence their buying decision.
Here’s a simple format for crafting a case study for your brand.
Asana is an excellent example of how case studies should be. Their studies are packed with stats, relevant expert quotes, facts, and images and are presented in a skimmable format.
You’ll also find sections about the client’s problem, Asana’s solution, and how the tool boosted the client’s ROI.
So, the way Asana has crafted these case studies shows their hard work, performance, and determination to add value to any business.
Gated Content
Gated content is any piece of content that you offer your customers in exchange for their information. This content can be an e-book or a video about your product. Moreover, it usually provides additional information and insights.
You might ask, “What’s in it for me?”
Well, you get to amplify your lead generation. Further, by utilizing the customer information, you can launch targeted campaigns. You’ll be surprised to know that some marketers have experienced almost 900% growth in customer contacts!
Let’s consider Oracle Sales Cloud, a platform helping companies elevate their business and boost sales. To view a live demo of the tool, users need to enter their email address. After that, users are presented with a more detailed form they have to fill up.
Since the live demo promises to offer sales optimization, targeting and other effective insights, users fill the form without much hesitation. As a result, Oracle can gather more leads, customer analytics, and opportunities to segment their email lists.
They can also execute enhanced marketing campaigns by utilizing the user data obtained from gated content creation strategy. So, the live demo or video helps Oracle attract more customers and provides them with valuable content – in exchange for their basic details.
Whitepapers
Whitepapers, often seen as the “heavyweights” of content marketing strategy, are more than just lengthy reports. They’re a bit like the wise mentors in stories, full of knowledge and advice.
Now, why should businesses care about whitepapers? They’re fantastic for showing off expertise – sharing detailed knowledge builds trust and showcases your authority.
They’re also great for solving specific problems. Picture a puzzle – a whitepaper provides the missing pieces, offering clear, detailed solutions to complex issues. This approach helps in generating leads too. It’s like inviting people to a special event; those interested in the topic are likely to sign up to get your whitepaper.
So, whitepapers? They’re your go-to for depth, expertise, and building trust.
Newsletters
Do you want to stay in your customer’s minds all the time?
The answer – send them weekly newsletters. These content formats are effective for sharing content your audience might have missed. Also, you can send email newsletters that talk about the latest industry news.
Want to take it up a notch? Try these tactics –
- Announce the latest product launches, discounts, offers, and contests you’re running.
- Highlight other content formats you’ve previously created, like articles or videos.
Newsletters will positively get you more leads and boost your brand voice. As 31% of B2B marketers feel newsletters are the best for lead nurturing, you can give this a shot!
The Hustle Daily Newsletter is a fine example of newsletter marketing. It is worth more than $27 million and has around 1.5 million subscribers.
How did they manage that?
By providing a huge variety of interesting content, primarily articles, for free! The Hustle newsletter sends engaging content on business ideas, trends, and statistics to your mailbox.
Webinars
You can organize webinars on topics related to your brand’s services to engage your target customers. These are usually Q and A sessions, interactive, fun, and knowledgeable.
These sessions provide an excellent platform to promote your products and their features. You need to create an account on Zoom or a similar conference tool to get started.
Webinars are great for demonstrating your expertise and brand value. So, use videos and presentations during the sessions to offer more value to your customer.
In addition, partnering with industry experts will help you improve the credibility of your webinars. That’s why 89% of businesses feel webinars are better than other channels for acquiring leads.
Notion organizes webinars to offer real business advice to their viewers. The company provides valuable insights into its organizational practices through its YouTube channel.
So, it gives the audience solid know-how on business management and associated topics. Their content creation strategy is simple, actionable, and helps them strengthen their brand.
Podcasts
Podcasts are fantastic content formats that can attract your customers, especially those who love audio content. Moreover, it’s easy to cover a variety of subjects like business, mental health, or personal finance.
The best part? Once you upload your podcasts on a platform like Apple Podcasts. So, your audience can download and listen to them anytime.
You can offer authentic, precise, and interesting information in minutes through this content form. In addition, your content developers can repurpose articles and videos to make these podcasts.
Look at the .future podcast series by Microsoft. The podcast is available online on their official site and covers exciting technical concepts like cyber warfare and data science.
Users can listen to these audios on SoundCloud and Spotify conveniently. Further, Microsoft can target audiences with a technical background and passionate techies!
What Type of Content is the Best?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to what type of content is the best, as it varies across industries and platforms.
Some popular types of content marketing include blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, and social media posts. The best content type should align with your content generation strategy, resonate with your audience, and deliver your message effectively.
To make an informed choice, conduct audience research, analyze your competitors, and continuously monitor content performance to refine your approach. The best content is the one that achieves your specific content marketing goals while connecting with your audience.
How to Choose a Content Format for Your Audience?
Identify Target Audience or Customers
You need to determine your target audience before trying to captivate them.
Suppose, you sell high-end cloud computing software. So, you know your primary buyers are IT professionals and organizations.
Next, find out the following details about your customer –
- Key pain points
- Topics of interest
- Favorite content formats
Based on this info, develop buyer personas to choose the appropriate content form.
Determine Content Marketing Goals
Identifying your content marketing goals will help you select the best content format. For instance, blog posts might offer you better Google rankings, whereas videos might fetch more traffic.
The most common marketing objectives include –
- Boosting search rankings
- Lead generation
- Improving website traffic
- Better brand engagement
Implement a Format that Meets Goals and User Preferences
Next, you must check whether the content form meets your business goals. Also, it must satisfy your customer’s preferences.
You might aim to enhance brand awareness and engagement. So, videos and short-form blogs might be the answer. For lead generation, webinars and gated content might be ideal.
Check If the Format Conveys Your Brand’s Message
Lastly, you have to ensure that your chosen content formats help you in brand storytelling. The content format must help you convey your brand’s message and value proposition to the audience.
For example, if you wish to present a lot of facts and statistics visually, infographics might be better than blog posts.
Parting Thoughts
By now, you must have become a pro in utilizing various content formats! If not, you can keep experimenting with different content types to understand which works.
The content marketing domain is ever-changing, with new trends coming in every day. For instance, short-form videos and podcasts might be the rage in the coming years. Also, social media polls and quizzes will be more popular than ever!
If you need assistance in selecting the appropriate content formats, WrittenlyHub will provide you with the best content writing services in the industry.
Connect with our expert team to develop the perfect content marketing strategy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is content marketing so important?
Content marketing is all about connecting and engaging with your audience in a way that feels personal and valuable. It builds trust, establishes brand authority, and boosts your digital presence, essentially nurturing customer relationships without hard selling.
How to make content interesting?
To make your content plan interesting, focus on storytelling. Begin with a captivating hook to grab the reader’s attention. Use relatable anecdotes, analogies, or real-life examples. Vary sentence structure and length for flow. Make sure your content provides value or solves a problem for the reader.
What does content marketing include?
Content marketing spans a wide range: from informative blog posts, engaging videos, and eye-catching infographics to insightful whitepapers and interactive webinars. It’s about using different types of content creation to tell your brand’s story and provide value to your audience.
How to measure content marketing results?
If you’re wondering how to do content marketing in a way that delivers results, then you should be mindful of certain crucial metrics. Generally speaking, measuring content marketing results is about tracking engagement, leads, and conversion rates. It’s looking at website traffic, social shares, and the quality of interactions. These metrics give insights into how well your content resonates with your audience and drives them towards your business goals.
How does content marketing work?
Content marketing works by drawing in your audience with relevant, valuable content that educates or entertains. Instead of pushing products, it pulls people in with a narrative they care about, nudging them down the sales funnel with a gentle, guiding hand.
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