9 types of content marketing (+ important tips and strategies behind them)

Humble brag but... when it comes to ROI, content marketing is hard to beat. 💅

For real—content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional marketing strategies, and costs 62% less to execute.

It’s no wonder B2C and B2B marketers continue to prioritize unique content creation.

But when we talk about content marketing, there is so much more to it than just blog posts. Sure, they're a popular part of any content marketing strategy, but if you're solely relying on blogs for business growth, you will want to read on.

In this guide, we share:

• The benefits of content marketing
• Various types of content marketing you can use
• Top content marketing services and tools to boost results

Defining content marketing

Content marketing is the strategic approach to marketing that attracts your target audience through consistent creation and distribution of relevant content.

Ultimately, the steady output of content aims to generate profitable customer action, such as sales. But unlike some other traditional marketing tactics, content marketing doesn't include pitches or self-promotion.

Content marketing is all about giving customers real value, usually in the form of:

• Information
• Education
• Entertainment

A comprehensive content marketing strategy typically involves creating assets in a variety of content categories, including:

• Blogs
• Case studies
• Infographics
• Webinars
• eBooks
• Email
• And way more

But you know what? We'll talk more about the different types of content marketing in just a scroll. First, let's talk benefits.

9 benefits of content marketing

Here are a number of benefits of content marketing in your strategy and team structure:

1. Builds your brand awareness

   
   By consistently creating valuable, engaging content, you increase visibility and recognition of your brand across multiple channels. Quality content helps establish your unique voice and expertise in your industry, making your brand more memorable to potential customers. Live rent free in there minds, my dudes. 😎

2. Gains trust in your brand

   
   High-quality, informative content shows of your expertise in your field, and builds credibility with your target audience. This is great for customer loyalty and engagement, helping towards that aforementioned brand omnipresence.

3. Improves your visibility on organic search

   
   Creating relevant, keyword-optimized content helps improve your website's ranking in search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you naturally. Regular content updates signal to search engines that your site is active and authoritative, further boosting your SEO. Winning.

4. Boosts traffic to your website

   
   Fresh, engaging content gives people a reason to find and visit your website repeatedly. By addressing your audience's needs and questions, you create multiple entry points for visitors to discover your site through various channels.

5. Supports other marketing tactics

   
   Content marketing integrates seamlessly with other marketing efforts, providing valuable materials for social media, email campaigns, paid advertising, and sales enablement. It creates a foundation of resources that can be used across all marketing channels.

6. Provides a competitive advantage

   
   By regularly hitting 'Publish' on unique, high-quality content, you differentiate yourself from competitors and position your brand as an industry thought leader. This helps you stand out in crowded markets and build authority in your niche.

7. Brings in high-quality leads

   
   Educational content like eBooks and newsletters attracts prospects actively seeking solutions, engaging them with your expertise and naturally guiding them through the sales funnel.

8. Helps with retention of clients

   
   Regular content keeps existing customers engaged and informed about your products or services, leading to improved customer relationships. It provides ongoing value that helps maintain connection with your audience post-purchase.

9. It's cost-effective

   
   Compared to traditional marketing methods, content marketing typically delivers higher ROI over time. Once created, content continues working for you indefinitely, generating organic traffic and leads without additional investment. It can be repurposed across multiple channels, maximizing its value.

Quick-fire statistics on the benefits of content marketing

• Content marketing can increase website conversion rates by up to five times
• Content marketers drive 7.8 times more unique website traffic year-over-year
• 95% of B2B customers report that content helps them trust companies
• 61% of consumers have bought something they read about in a blog

Types of content marketing

So, what does successful content marketing look like?

Firstly, a documented content marketing strategy. A secondly, a strategy filled with multiple types of content formats.

Let’s look at some types of content marketing formats you can use to build up your strategy.

• Blogs: A fan-favorite, blogs are particularly impactful when paired with SEO best practices to up a brand's visibility organically (and for free)
• Case studies: A case study is a piece of content you create that outlines your success with a particular client—particularly useful in the B2B industry
• eBooks: eBooks are a great way to establish your brand as an authoratitive or knowledgeable voice in your industry, helping build trust and loyalty (and get leads)
• GIFs/memes: Not all content marketing formats need to be long-form expert content—sometimes we need a laugh, and that's where memes come into play
• Infographics: Infographics stop informational or data-rich content from becoming dull, dense, and hard to digest; they win over the audience with a short-attention span and visual mind
• Podcasts: Podcasts are audio files distributed online, usually in installments, so people can listen (and share) on-the-go on apps like Apple Music and Spotify
• Webinars: Webinars are a great opportunity for your prospects and clients to learn new skills, keep up with trends or product updates, and figure out how to get the most out of their martech stack.
• White papers: A white paper is an authoritative report meant to educate readers and help them solve relevant problems by promoting a particular method of action.
• Video marketing: The effectiveness of video marketing continues to grow in SEO and social media—in fact, a whopping 93% of brands that used video on social media got new customers

Tips for effective content marketing

Now that you have an arsenal full of content format ideas, here are the top three best practices to get the most out of your content marketing strategy.

1. Choose quality over quantity

   
   

   Content marketing is all about building trust. It takes time to build that trust, but remember: it can be quick to lose trust, and the likelihood is that you might not be able to win it back.
   
   The moral of the story? Trust is important, and it derives from the content you produce as a brand.

   So, we recommend always prioritizing content quality over quantity. Choose a publishing schedule that empowers you to share high-quality assets consistently.

   You may have to start slow and build up your pace over time, but it’ll be worth it in the long run. Some of the best content marketing assets continue to generate leads for your business long after you first publish them.

2. Do your keyword research

   
   

   One of the main objectives of a content marketing strategy is to generate more brand awareness; something you can measure via content marketing metrics like website traffic.

   The best types of content marketing leverage SEO best practices so you don’t have to spend money on ads. It’s essential to do your keyword research before planning out your editorial calendar.

   Take the time to find keywords relevant to your target audience and check out your competition. Search engines are getting better and better at scraping different content types to find keywords, even with video.

   The more you incorporate keywords into your content creation, the better your results will be as time goes on.

3. Make sure you're repurposing your content

   
   

   This is a hill we are willing to die on: Content repurposing. ⛰️
   
   Content marketing tactics cost less than traditional ads and promotions, but they still require time and money to create. To maximize the benefits of your content marketing strategy, it's essential to engage in content repurposing.

   

   Repurposing content helps you maximize your ROI. For example, let’s say you conduct research for a webinar on industry trends.

   You can capitalize on your effort by reusing your findings to create blog posts, infographics, and videos.

   When you repurpose, it also empowers you to optimize content formats for each distribution channel.

   You can keep webinars and blog posts on your website while sharing the same information via video or infographic on social media.

   Anytime you create a new content asset, ask yourself how you can take that information and repackage it in another format.

Essential tools for effective content marketing

Here are three tools that help you get the most out of your content marketing plans.

1) Content marketing platform

A content marketing platform helps marketing teams plan and execute content marketing strategies.

Content marketing solutions include:

• Marketing calendars

• Project management tracking

• Digital asset management

• Performance tracking

Optimizely CMP’s software makes it easy to manage content operations all in one place. Our platform is built to help you keep all of your content organized and for maximum collaboration.

2) Social media scheduler

Content marketing and social media go together like memes and Instagram. One piece of content can be shared across all of your platforms for maximum reach.

However, as most marketers know, executing social media campaigns can easily take up someone’s entire day. That’s where a social media scheduler comes into play.

Social media schedulers let you plan out your posts up to weeks in advance. Most solutions help you manage editorial calendars for several platforms at once.

When you plan out your social media posts in this way, your team has more time to focus on tasks such as content mapping and content creation.

3) SEO optimization software

SEO optimization is the difference between generating organic traffic and spending your marketing budget on ads.

You can use SEO tools to find the best keywords for your brand and compare your content with your competitors’.

Optimizely CMP integrates SEO features directly into its content marketing platform, including keyword research and real-time content optimization.