If you’ve already made content marketing a part of your overall strategy, great! If you’ve decided to make content marketing the majority of your overall strategy, even better. You are steps ahead of many other business owners.
The next step you should take is to gain some insight into what your audience likes, what they dislike, and what they are searching for on a regular basis. You should also understand that there is so much more to content marketing that writing and posting articles on your blog.
If you want to create content that attracts the audience you’ve been hoping for, you need to get to know them, of course. However, while you’re in the process of learning more about your target demographic, consider the following types of content. They have been time-tested and have been proven to produce consistent results.
- Ebooks – These are such a popular choice because they are almost always mutually beneficial for the marketer and the recipient. Marketers can offer ebooks or other premium content as an incentive for joining a mailing list or “liking” something on social media, and their site visitors can learn about something or obtain practical information. It’s a great way to increase your brand’s reach and establish a presence with your future clients and customers, and it also helps you to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
- Interviews – If you can manage to establish a connection with someone who has a large sphere of influence, this can be one of the most useful types of content you ever post on your blog. Why? Because you can share the post, your interviewee can share the post, and all of his or her supporters will probably also share the post. It’s a social media marketer’s dream, and you are sure to see a boost in web traffic as a result of all of that sharing.
- Infographics – These are great because they are both visually pleasing and informative. People also really love to share infographics. Other businesses will sometimes even post your infographic on their own blog. The key is to create an infographic based on something that your audience is looking for, and you should always include your business logo, web address, and contact information at the bottom of the graphic.
- Videos – If a professionally-made video is in your marketing budget, it’s well worth the investment. A great video will not only drive traffic to your website, but it will also entertain or inform the people who are watching it, which takes you one step closer to leaving a lasting impression on your future customers. If you’re really lucky, you’ll produce a video that goes viral. Videos can really take your marketing to the next level if they're done well!
- Templates – Creating a template for something that your audience needs to do doesn’t have to be too time-consuming or costly. For example, you can create a business letter template, a basic PowerPoint template, or even a generic WordPress theme that they can use on their own blog. The sky's the limit, as long as it is relevant to the interests of your audience.
Again, your goal is to create unique and original content that has been specifically planned around the interests of your current and future customers. You'll find that the results are well worth the time and effort. Try implementing some of these tried-and-true traffic generators for increasing your brand’s exposure.
Want to learn more tips about attracting traffic and creating better content? Contact us or download our Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing ebook today.
Image courtesy of Hubspot. Used with permission.