Have you ever spent a long time looking at a list of flavors at an ice cream store? Walls of frozen sugar in varying colors and endless toppings can leave you an unlimited amount of choices. What if you could sample all of them? Not in one sitting of course, you’d get a stomach ache! Rather, you could try them in segments to see which you liked best and maybe you’d even find one you never expected to like.
Now, what if you applied this method to your content?
Am I saying you should go to your local ice cream store and sample each flavor to improve your content marketing efforts? I wish. What I am saying is that there are so many different types of content that you can use for your marketing strategy and you should try them to see both what works best for you and your business and to add variety to your content.
Flavors: The Content Guide
Are you ready for some new ideas for your content? Let’s get started.
Social Media
- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Tumbler
- Use social media to engage with your audience, colleagues, and peers.
Blog
- Offer your audience a bonus post to talk about a timely topic or event.
White Paper/E-book
- Increase your lead-magnet game this quarter and invest in providing your audience with a long-form white paper or e-book that will provide intriguing, useful, and interesting information that they couldn’t get anywhere else.
Email Marketing
- When your audience is drinking their morning coffee, what could be better than an email from you? Remind your clients of who you are and what you are up to.
Newsletters
- Invest time to create a quarterly electronic newsletter to send to your clients. List some accomplishments, plans for the future, and short-form content.
“Freemium” Trials
- Your full-service financial planning engagements are amazing, and you want to attract more clients! Consider offering a distilled version of your course free of charge. If you offer helpful and useful information, you can use that free content to attract future clients.
Webinars
- Let your clients see your face! Host a webinar to teach a specific and unique skill. Webinars can be formal (Skype, Zoom, etc.) but they can also be more casual if you host it on Facebook live.
Video
- Video marketing is seeing a huge spike right now. People want to see you and hear your voice. Try incorporating a video element to your marketing this quarter.
Visual/Photographs
- A picture is worth 1,000 words…so use that! Pepper your black and white text with some color to give your readers dimension.
Graphics
- Everyone loves an emoji, or a well-timed lightning bolt. Using graphics can give your content some personality.
Infographic
- Infographics are a great way to communicate complex information. They combine visual elements and complex steps to produce information that is easily digestable.
Podcast
- If you have always dreamed of hosting a podcast, now is the time. A good way to start is by being a guest on someone’s podcast. Similar to guest blogging, this will give you experience and get your name out there.
Audio
- There are many advantages to using audio. Maybe you link to a song in your blog, or you add a clapping sound once someone finished your white paper.
Use these prompts to jumpstart some new ideas to spice up your content into the new year! I can’t wait to see which ‘flavor’ you like best.
