Content marketing is vital to growing a business in today’s economy. With social media, email campaigns, eBooks, and other internet marketing tools, it’s important that your content stands out in an online sea of information. Creating content that will leave a lasting impression goes far beyond words. Internet users have extremely short attention spans, so unless your content includes varying features, many users will skip over it. This article will give you a few ideas of creative ways to spruce up your content marketing and generate more leads.
Bring back the comics.
The traditional “funnies” – just like newspapers in general – are slowly dying out as more and more information is available online. Virtual comics, however, are a great way to introduce some fun into your website or blog. People are more likely to scan through a comic for the chance of a laugh than they are to read a lengthy word-only blog post that relays the same message. Comics are especially effective if you’re focusing on business to business marketing. Who better to appreciate your jokes than people familiar with the industry? In addition, creating a unique comic is easy and free with services like http://www.pixton.com.
Join the meme party.
While you might think of internet memes as territory for the young and hip, they can also greatly benefit your marketing efforts. By joining in with trends like the meme, you’re showing your target audience that you have a human side, too. Not every piece of content marketing should be serious or informational; some should just be fun. Like with comics, there are services that you can utilize to easily create your own memes. Check out http://memegenerator.net/ for ideas.
Collaborate with another business.
By collaborating with a business in your industry – or even better, one that complements you but isn’t direct competition – you can multiply your content marketing reach. There are several ways to collaborate. For example, co-author blog posts or co-host webinars. Another benefit to collaboration is idea flow. With a partner, you’ll be able to bounce ideas off one another and possibly come up with something you never would have thought of on your own.
Thank your college professors and create a Slideshare presentation.
Do you remember all those projects you had to do back in your college marketing classes? Almost 100 percent of them involved creating slideshows. The concept is the same in today’s online marketing world. Use http://www.slideshare.net/ to get your information across in a more interesting way than with traditional blog posts.
Express your opinion with a top 10 list.
Lists are great tools to relay information in a way that grabs and keeps the audience’s attention. Here’s an example. http://www.nusparkmarketing.com/2012/08/corporate-blog-benefits-lead-generation/ People love to get opinions on the most popular products, services, or ideas. With an industry-related top 10 list, you can easily boost your business to business content marketing efforts.
Interview industry experts.
Ask industry thought leaders some questions that you know your target audience will be interested in, and then write a blog post with the responses you get. Include interviews with more than one person, and indicate where these experts tend to agree and disagree. This is especially intriguing to other marketers and business professionals to whom you’re attempting to market. As an added bonus, the people you interview will most likely share your post with their audiences, as well.
MAKE IT WORK
These are just a few ideas to make your content marketing more appealing. While some basic strategies are always needed – such as blog posts and webinars – periodically throwing in more creative content will increase your online following, which will in turn boost your image and lead to more sales. The most important thing to ask yourself before releasing any content marketing item is whether your audience will find it fascinating enough to stop what they’re doing and view it. If your answer is yes, then you’ve hit the nail on the head.
