Five Ideas to Help You Jumpstart Your Content Creation

By now you understand the benefits of content marketing, you see why it will serve your business better than traditional advertising, and you’re convinced it’s an effective sales tool. But maybe you’re not sure what type of content you should actually start creating for your content marketing strategy.

Here are five ideas for different types of content that you can consider sharing with your audience. Use these ideas as a starting point and from there, don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

Visual Content

Examples of effective visual content are infographics, images you share on Pinterest, and other graphs or pictures that convey information to your audience. Visual content can be super effective because it’s such an easy way for your reader to get a complete message without having to read through paragraphs of text.

Custom created infographics can be incredibly powerful in telling a company story (a picture is worth a thousand words after all!) and other visual content you share on Pinterest or other social media channels is a great way to quickly catch the attention of your audience.

Check out these examples of killer infographics that share a lot of information with readers in an easy to digest, visual format, thanks to Joe Pulizzi’s Blog on Content Marketing Institute.

White papers

A white paper is a guide or a report that takes an in-depth look at a particular topic. Don’t worry though; white papers don’t have to be buttoned up and boring! They can still be fun and engaging, and stay true to the voice of your company. Because white papers tend to be longer, more detailed pieces of content that often help solve a problem or tackle a particular issue, they are a great way to provide a helpful resource that meets a need of your target audience.

We’ve created two very different whitepapers in the past few months. One for The Photo Life and one for MatchStick Strategies. Check them out.

The Perks and Pitfalls of Getting Published, The Photo Life >>>

The MatchStick Strategies Guide to Creating Brilliant Content >>>

How-to Articles

People are constantly looking for information that addresses a “how to” question. Articles or blog posts that serve as a how-to guide are useful, easily actionable, and easy for your audience to consume. Think about the service or product you provide and create some of your own how-to articles that address a need or problem that your target audience faces.

If you’re looking for an example of a great how-to post, you can check out this post by Copyblogger.

Interviews with Experts

Your company may be selling B2B or you may sell directly to consumers. In either case though, both businesses and consumers like reading advice from someone who is considered an “expert” in their field. Interviews with outside sources are also a great way to attract new readers to your content since that expert likely has built their own audience and network. Make sure to ask the person you interview to share the interview with their own network and carefully craft your interview questions to address questions that will be practical and relevant to your target audience.

The American Express Open Forum blog has built its reputation by featuring many well respected contributors and experts and has some great examples of interviews.

Podcasts

Podcasts aren’t traditional, written content but they can still be a vital part of your content marketing strategy. Depending on whether your target audience generally listens to podcasts, this is a great way to share all types of different content in a way that’s personal and helps you connect with your audience.

The Accidental Creative Podcast is one example of how someone (or some company) can effectively use a podcast to build an audience and indirectly generate buzz about his new book.

About the Author:

Katie Humphreys is co-founder and Chief Action Officer of Plume & Post. Find more musings from Katie on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.