It’s been a quite a few while we have been spending working with clients on their content strategies. It’s been something I wanted to get them into investing their resource into, but some clients have been harder than others to convince!

I can understand why sometimes it’s tough to buy into, but I definitely believe having a compelling content strategy in place is very crucial for most of the sites we work with.

 

Top 2 Commons Problems Companies Struggle with Content Marketing

The top 2 common problems that most companies have with content marketing are:

1. General lack of ideas of the type of content they can create

2. Lack of resource to create compelling content – no time or in-house writers

There are more, but these are the most repeated ones I come across! But the rest of this article, I hope, will help solve all these problems. All the tips given in this article are given for specific reasons –

• Most of these strategies can be used across multiple industries, regardless of it being “boring” or not

• They don’t require tons of time to get it done

• Plus, they will help you get MORE traffic, links, or both!

 

Getting Some Inspiration

Before I share with you 5 types of content you could create, I want to give you some tools and helpful pointers on how to get inspiration for your client’s content. At times, it could be difficult for you, especially when you are writing for a client who is in a “dry” industry!

1. Brainstorming with the client, internally –

Don’t avoid the opportunity to brainstorm with your client as it can have many advantages, one of which could be your client approving or vetoing your edgy ideas, right away.

2. Analysis of your non-competitors –

You need to look at what your competitors are doing, right? Great! It’s important to step outside your comfort zone and see what other “cool” stuffs people are doing. Don’t be surprised when you come across an idea that could have easily applied in your own niche or concept, and to your content.

3. Use Spezify –

If your brain is frozen, simply plug a keyword or two into Spezify and see what pops in a minute or two. This smart tool goes and finds tons of date – tweets, images, and blog posts – that are currently being talked about right now!

 

 

With that said, let’s get on with 5 types of content you could create:

1. Video Content

At the moment, video marketing is getting BIGGER and BIGGER day after day. Websites using it that are really performing well, I think, will dominate their niche in the future as well.

There are 2 different ways you can utilize video content in order to help your site.

Video content as link building tool – Getting links from YouTube is something you want to do always. In addition, you can create your own videos and use them as link bait; however, it could be difficult at times. If you have resources, then go ahead and create your own video content.

Increase click-through from SERPs – As a test, you can try to list your video showing in your SERPs that will take your visitors directly to your site rather than somewhere else like YouTube or Vimeo. I can guarantee you that it works really well and I would recommend you using something like Wista to help you with this.

2. Infographics

To be honest, I really don’t like them that much because most of them are terrible and you can’t even classify them as infographs at all! But personally speaking, I think they can be sometimes really easier ways to get links.

Yes, they do get you backlinks. So, if you have ample of time and resource, then do them well! Infographics can be really good way to getting back links. Here is where you can find infographic designers at affordable rates.

3. Interactive Content

Interactive content is more exciting than static Infographics. Personally speaking, the companies who can find the gap between their product or service and interactive content will win the race.

Interactive content attracts people to your site because they are genuinely useful. But it doesn’t end it all there. You can also convert your visitor into regular customers with right use of integration and call to action.

4. Question and Answer Content

If you don’t want to spend extra cash on content, Q&A type of content could be the answer for you. No matter what products or services you offer, you will get common questions asked about it.

The beauty of Q&A type content is that it has a tremendous potential to attract traffic as well as links, especially in the technical fields. Plus, it is apparent that Google is becoming the best place to get answers to all of your direct questions.

There’s a current trend among users searching for questions rather than a keyword search. So, if you can position your site where people can get direct answers for their questions, not only you will get long tail traffic, but you will also begin to establish yourself as an authority in your field.

Use tools such as WordTracker Question Tool in order to get ideas of what people are asking related with your niche. Plus, look at the Google Analytics tool and filter out keywords that include things like “how,” “what,” and “can,” etc.

5. User Generated Content

You may probably have heard about customer reviews as user generated content, but what about other type of content – images and videos? Just look at Amazon. They have been doing this for a long time now, but recently, smaller retailers are doing this too.

You may have to add little incentive in order to get your customers to generate content for you, but if it means just 10% off voucher, many of them will do and you have another opportunity for sale.

To sum it all, producing great content isn’t easy! But you still need to make an effort to start on a path where you can get it right.