Everyone knows that content is king, but marketers need to recognize that there is more to successfully conveying a message than simply strong content. For instance, taking advantage of a variety of formats to display branded messages can be just as important as coming up with new and engaging content. Additionally, the format you choose will influence the process of creating new content, which may lead to developing an exciting and engaging marketing concept that would otherwise have gone unused.

Marketing in the digital age requires an ability to adapt your content to any number of formats to reach the widest audience possible. Not only does expanding to new platforms and formats broaden your brand’s visibility, it creates a new perspective and prevents you from lapsing into monotonous marketing strategies.

Here are 6 fresh content formats to breathe life into your content marketing:

E-books

E-books are growing in popularity as more companies realize the potential for reaching out to their audience through a more in-depth format. Simply a downloaded digital publication, an e-book can vary greatly in length and subject matter, so it’s a flexible format that can help meet your goals. However, if you’re considering publishing an e-book with your brand attached to it, be sure to put careful consideration into researching, developing, and writing a sizable book that is worth downloading. Successful e-books must be able to hold a reader’s attention for longer than most other content formats, thus allowing your brand to form a deeper connection with your audience.

Podcasts

If you want to stand out from the crowd, podcasts are an interesting way to differentiate your brand while offering convenience to your audience. Like an e-book, podcasts can be effective tools for in-depth communication, but podcasts also appeal to the large chunk of your audience that is accustomed to easily digestible material such as videos and lists. Podcasts can be listened to on-the-go and the only equipment necessary to produce one is a decent quality microphone, making it a cheaper marketing endeavor than a video.

SlideShare Presentations

For some reason, SlideShare is frequently underestimated by content marketers. However, there are numerous brands that could benefit immensely from SlideShare’s capabilities if they only gave the thriving platform a chance. The effort necessary to create a professional-grade presentation is minimal and the potential impact on your viewers is huge. You can leverage SlideShare to promote a new product, explain an industry concept, or simply express your message on a platform that is already attracting consumers who are actively looking for information.  

How-to Guides

The best part about instructional content is that it allows you to speak directly to your audience about your product or brand without resorting to obnoxious, overt advertising. A how-to guide is functional and pragmatic as well as likely to boost interest in your brand by providing more information about a product. Plus, whether you choose article or video format, a how-to guide is highly searchable because it answers questions likely to be typed into a search engine by your target audience.

Vine Videos

Creating content for Vine requires adhering to unique formatting constraints—that is, videos are limited 6 seconds or less. However, this format actually forces marketers to dig a little deeper for creative ways to convey their message, which often results in an entertaining and effective clip. One of the reasons so many brands are beginning to give Vine a try is that most viewers don’t view it as a large investment to spare 6 seconds or less to watch a quick branded message.

Long-form Videos

An alternative to quick Vine clips or ephemeral Snapchats, long-form branded videos offer a larger potential for marketing your story creatively. You already know how much consumers enjoy video content, whether it’s a 6-second snippet or a 1-minute explainer video, and long-form videos are a new way to target your audience. Branded stories or mini movies of 10 minutes or more intentionally distinguish your brand from the competition by adding depth to your message. The good news it that consumers are still likely to share quality long-form videos with their peers, as videos are easy to share on social media regardless of length.

Selecting New Content Formats

While dabbling in a wide range of unfamiliar formats without proper planning may be detrimental to you marketing, it is worth expanding into various formats at a calculated pace that makes sense for your brand. Whichever new formats you decide to include in your next content marketing campaign, make sure the selections are made deliberately and conscientiously.

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