In a previous post, we discussed five common forms of content marketing. Today I’d like to provide you with a list of five more.
Books –When I wrote my first book there was no internet and you had to use a publisher. Back then books were either paperback or hardcovers. Today, however, you can self-publish a book pretty easily.
An eBook is basically either a .pdf file you can send as an email attachment, or it can be an electronic file that is readable by a dedicated eBook reader like the Amazon’s Kindle or the Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
When it comes to producing a paperback or hardcover version of your book, there are plenty of print publishers willing to print and ship your book for you.
Once produced, you can use the traffic gravity produced by sites like Amazon to distribute your book all without the need of the traditional publisher. There are few better ways to demonstrate your expertise other than authoring a book. Personally, I have 10 books on small business-related topics that I distribute in eBook and paperback formats principally using Amazon.com.
Podcasts –Because there are many times where it is not appropriate to use one’s eyes to consume content such as when driving or walking the dog, the podcast, that uses audio only, fits the bill. A podcast can be an audio version of a blog or an entire audio course.
Creating an audio program or podcast requires nothing more than a simple microphone and some free audio software. When producing a blog podcast I, personally, use a Blue Snowball microphone that cost less then $50 and the free audio editing software Audacity. Since I have a WordPress site, I use the free plugin called BluBrry Power Press for audio versions of blog posts. Here is an example of blog style podcast we produced.
When it comes to a course podcast, I often use a cheap Digital Voice Recorder that I place in my shirt pocket as I deliver a course to an audience live and then edit the final product with the free Audacity software. Since a course podcast is so easy for us to produce, we offer several free audio courses in the Audio Courses tab on SteveBizBlog.
To leverage our podcasts, we also syndicate them to iTunes and Stitcher to take advantage of their audience. It’s free and, it exposes our content to a whole new audience.
White Papers– While a blog is usually less than 1,000 words and you can produce it regularly, a white paper is a more in-depth document that covers a more complex set of issues and is not produced on any schedule. White papers lie somewhere between a blog post and a book.
Reports/Case Studies – A report or case study is produced by conducting research or experiments and recording and analyzing the results in such a way as to support a thesis or principle. A great example of a report is the Demand Curves report that was produced by Harry Dent, a copy of which resides in the Free Downloads tab on SteveBizBlog.
Testimonials – As I discussed in How to Harness Peer Pressure for Effective Marketing most people are lazy and rather than look at the merits of a particular decision they reason that if someone else liked it, then it must be good, so they follow the crowd. Testimonials, therefore, serve the purpose of using someone else to testify to your character and qualifications.
Related to testimonials are awards that are recognition of a person’s or business excellence or achievement.
How can you incorporate one of the five content marketing ideas to attract new prospects to your business?
