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Even the best content marketing strategy will sputter if you don’t have a way to execute them at a high level. You want each piece of new content to fit into your strategy. At the same time, you want it to resonate with your target audience and help you reach specific goals.

As you consider high-level things like content marketing objectives and the types of content marketing you’ll use to achieve them, you want to take the time to develop templates that turn theory into action.

Let’s break down what a content strategy template is, why it’s so important, and how you can create one.

What Is a Content Strategy Template?

There are many different elements of a successful content strategy. You want to have an overarching content strategy framework in place. This helps you see everything, from your marketing goals and objectives to the content marketing resources you have available. Your content strategy itself functions as the roadmap, guiding you as you go along.

And a content strategy template? That factors into the equation with the actual execution of your content creation.

As the name implies, a content marketing strategy template should be something that is repeatable. It should serve as a formula for each individual piece of content that you create to keep things consistent and on target as you go along.

What Are the Elements of a Good Content Strategy Template?

A template may sound simple on the surface. But remember, we’re talking about a content strategy template. Not just a content template.

The latter could be a simple outline structure or a step-by-step process to create an infographic or “how-to” video.

When you introduce strategy into the picture, your content templates become more sophisticated. Along with creating basic structural outlines (things like content length, paragraph size, or tone), you also want to incorporate big-picture elements.

How does your strategy factor into each piece of content that you create? What keywords are important to include? What CTAs matter in your current marketing campaign?

These are all important elements that should be intimately embedded into each content strategy template that you create.

Why Is a Content Strategy Template Useful?

Taken together, both the strategic and practical elements of a content strategy template can help you create a repeatable, high-quality content plan. These have multiple benefits. For instance, a good content strategy template can:

Content templates help streamline your content creation process and bear fruit both internally as well as with customer-facing interactions.

An Example of a Content Strategy Template

One example of all of this in action is creating a content pillar template for your website. This would likely focus on a primary long-form piece of content that is a few thousand words long and centers on the primary keyword or industry-specific topic you’re addressing.

From there, you can build out medium-length sub-pillar pieces that cover tangential topics. Each of these can come with their own supporting blog post.

As you flesh out briefs and content creation instructions for each piece, you can keep the larger pillar strategy in mind. You can choose keywords, use internal links, and generally point everything you create toward a single topic that addresses a pain point or need of your audience. Pillar strategy breakdown helping growth marketers understand what a content strategy template is and how to create one

Collectively, this creates a content strategy template that you can repeat with each pillar that you create.

How Do You Create a Content Strategy Template

There are many different elements of content strategy. On-site blog content, email marketing, social media, and countless other communication channels can play critical roles in each marketing campaign.

So, how do you develop content strategy templates that jive with each of your content marketing strategies? Here are a few steps to help you get started.

Once you’ve considered your resources, team members, processes, and, of course, your goals, it’s time to pull it all together. Create a template for engaging, effective content that includes all of these factors. From there, you can duplicate your template any time you create a fresh content strategy.

Optimizing Content Strategy With Templates

Great content marketing strategies come from combining vision with consistency, and a template is the best “boots on the ground” way to do that. A good template helps you turn thoughts and goals into actionable content creation. At the same time, it keeps every piece of content focused on your digital marketing objectives.

As you develop each content marketing strategy, don’t assume it will magically come to fruition. If you need an expert's help, consider working with a content team. Creating content strategy templates will provide the repeatable structure necessary for success.

KPI stands for “key performance indicator.” These are more than generic goals you aim for as a business. They are specific, targeted objectives with quantifiable value.

Good KPIs are clearly associated with metrics that allow you to understand if and when you hit them. “Growing revenue by 6%” is a business goal. “Increasing sales conversions by 6% by the end of the quarter” is a KPI. 

You can apply KPIs to any part of marketing — including content. But what do content marketing KPIs look like? Let’s break it down.

What Are KPIs for Content Marketing?

Businesses use KPIs to achieve specific results. In the case of your content marketing strategy, the overall objective of any piece of content is to provide value for the consumer.

However, there are many other ways valuable content can positively impact your brand, such as building authority, credibility, and visibility. When you dig into the details (which is necessary to establish effective key performance indicators), content marketing KPIs can take a variety of forms. Your content marketing goals may include:  

For any of these KPIs to work, they must be fleshed out, properly defined for your specific marketing activity, and tracked over time.

How Do You Write a KPI Statement?

As a content marketer, if you want your KPIs to be effective, it’s best to formally write them down. You can create effective KPI statements by taking the time to consider each KPI before you decide what the specific objective is that you’re trying to achieve.

Begin the process by reviewing your content marketing strategy. This is your roadmap that considers your larger content-related goals as well as the tactics, resources, time-tables and other factors that go into achieving them. 

Once you’ve considered your overarching goals, you need to define what it would take to turn them into reality. This criteria is essential if you want your KPIs to be effective. It’s helpful to remember the SMART acronym. What are the Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based details that can turn each broader goal into a series of targeted benchmarks?

SMART goal setting helping to set KPIs for content marketing

You also want to consider the data that you have available. What information do you already have, and what additional information can you gather?  

For instance, if you’re trying to increase email sign-ups, how many do you currently have? How many new sign-ups did you get last month, in particular? This kind of past data helps you gauge how many more sign-ups you can aim for and reasonably expect to achieve as a future KPI.

Once you’ve taken all of this into consideration, decide what KPI or KPIs you specifically want to measure. Write them down, along with things like metrics to track and the time within which you want to reach the goal.

How Do You Set KPIs for Content Marketing?

Understanding how digital marketing KPIs work within engaging content is one thing. The tricky part is applying that knowledge to your specific content strategy. If you want to figure out the best KPIs to track for your marketing efforts right now, ask yourself the following questions: 

Use these questions to personalize your KPIs and align them with the specific content marketing goal you’re trying to achieve as a marketer right now. If you’re still struggling to set effective KPIs, working with a content marketing agency can help.

Setting Content Marketing KPIs That Work

Content KPIs can take on many forms. At the end of the day, though, you want them to serve as specific, data-backed stepping stones that help you move toward your larger objectives — both with your content and your overall growth marketing strategy.

Use them to keep you focused not just on larger goals but on each content-related benchmark and achievement that keeps you moving in the right direction.

A content-based objective is a KPI that relates to the content you use to promote your business. These benchmarks play a critical role in the creation, execution, and analysis of your larger content marketing strategy.

Let’s run through what growth marketing goals are and why they’re important. From there, we’ll consider what these goals look like in the context of content and how you can integrate KPIs for content marketing into your larger content marketing strategy.

Why Should You Set Goals for Your Content Marketing Strategy?

Before considering content marketing objectives in greater detail, let’s consider the importance of content marketing and the benefits that having goals provides for your content strategy. The biggest benefit is that goals give you a clear picture of where your content marketing is headed.

Content marketing is a vast and complex part of the digital marketing world. From social media to a blog post, emails to ads, each content type stands on its own. Having goals ensures that all of these work toward the same results.

Once you have content marketing goals in place, you can also measure your success and failure easier. This ensures that your valuable content isn’t a black hole of expenses that isn’t performing.

We’ll discuss the specific ways to set measurable goals in a bit. Remember, though, having these metrics in place helps you gauge effectiveness and improve as you pursue your content marketing efforts.

What Are the Objectives of Content Marketing?

There are many different objectives that you can strive for with your content marketing. The main objective of content marketing is to provide value for your target audience.

This should always be a factor, no matter what kind of quality content you create. Content production should strive to educate, inform, and resonate with potential and existing customers and their needs. But value isn’t the only objective.

Content marketing can also align with the three main pillars of a good growth marketing strategy. Here’s how.

Improving Authority

Improving authority is another marketing objective of content strategy. Apart from providing value for readers, it is the number one biggest benefit of content marketing, and should be a primary goal at all times.

Brand loyalty is a major part of sustained success. When you use your content to demonstrate your firm grasp of industry knowledge and expertise, it cultivates trust and establishes your brand as an authority in your industry.

Building Credibility

Another business goal that content marketing can help you achieve is boosting your online credibility. There are a lot of companies online, and likely, you have countless competitors right within your own industry or niche.

Content marketing allows you to show your superiority as a solution for the consumers that you’re targeting. You can use off-site content, like guest posts and other digital PR tactics, to create natural credibility in the eyes of consumers. You also gain some third-party credibility at the same time.

Enhancing Visibility

Brand awareness is another powerful objective that you can target with your high-quality content. As you create relevant content, in particular, you can use an SEO strategy to optimize your site.

This boosts your visibility in search engines. As you associate yourself with various keywords, link to high DA websites, internally link between other pages on your site, and so on, a search engine will begin to prioritize you in SERPs, leading to greater visibility.

The pillars of growth strategy describing the objective of content marketing

What Are SMART Goals in Content?

Authority, credibility, visibility, and, above all, providing value for your end users are all major objectives of content marketing. But these are all 10,000-foot view concepts.

It’s all well and good to understand the big-picture benchmarks behind your content marketing strategies. But what do these content marketing goals and KPIs look like in action? What do content marketing objectives look like in real life?

This is where applying the SMART goals concept can make a big difference. Here are a few SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) goals you can set to guide you as you create content:

When you apply the SMART concept to your content goals, it gives them a greater purpose and potency within your larger content marketing plan.

Using Objectives to Guide Your Content Marketing

Content marketing is a powerful way to build a business. But it should never happen haphazardly. Consider partnering with a content marketing agency if you need an expert’s advice. They can help you create a sustainable strategy to achieve content marketing success.

Objectives give your content a greater purpose for your brand. From building authority and credibility to improving visibility and, above all, providing value, make sure you infuse your content with clear objectives that can keep you on track as you create a successful content marketing strategy over time.

21st-century marketers have a buffet of content options to choose from. Every time a marketer engages in the content marketing process, they have to choose what kind of content they want to develop to achieve their current goals.

This can be tricky, as various kinds of content tend to serve different purposes. They can also require different skill sets and tools.

This makes understanding each content type is an essential step in the content creation process. Let’s break down why content is important in the digital marketing world. We’ll also explore what content options are out there and the many ways they can help a content marketer reach their target audience.

Why Is Content Important in Digital Marketing?

Content is a powerful, multi-functional digital marketing tool. Technically, marketers have always worked with content.

However, marketing in the technological age has given birth to a myriad of unique types of content in digital marketing. Blog posts, emails, podcasts, videos, infographics — the list goes on.

Marketers can use these to develop intricate content marketing strategies. These can provide a roadmap that guides them through the vast and overwhelming online marketing world.

From the consumer perspective, content is important because it helps with every stage of the customer journey. Content can help bring brand awareness to a brand and its offerings. It can inform users, encourage sales, and even provide customer support after the point of purchase.

While content is powerful, once again, it’s only effective if a marketer is using the right content marketing type for each situation.

What Are the Types of Content in Content Marketing?

There are many different types of content. Some of these, like blog posts or video content, were already listed above. Other content marketing examples include social media, guest posts, ebooks, demos, case studies, email marketing, landing pages, and user-generated content.

While understanding each individual option is important, it’s also essential to understand the function that each of these plays in a larger content strategy. Below is a list of several overarching categories that content covers. The same kind of content format can function in multiple categories, such as a blog post serving as an educational and self-help marketing asset.

Marketers should be well aware of these categories whenever they go to create content. That way, they can ensure they are using the best content types and formats to reach their intended consumer audience.

The variety of content available doesn’t just boil down to different formats and lengths. Each type of valuable content serves a distinct purpose in the content marketing process, and managers should always be aware of the kind of content they need for each project.

Being Purposeful With Your Content Marketing Strategy

Content strategy is a complex and nuanced field of business. As time goes on, it only promises to become more complicated, too.

As you craft everything from short social posts to lengthy videos and whitepapers, remember to be deliberate. Create a content marketing campaign to back up your decisions and an accompanying framework to keep track of your content marketing resources and guide the creation process.

If things get too overwhelming, you can also invest in a content marketing partner to help guide you through the process and breathe life and purpose into every piece of content that you generate.

A content plan (or content marketing plan) is the way you plan on creating digital marketing assets for a larger content strategy and framework. It takes the wider concepts of your content plan and focuses them on specific tactics and actions you can take to turn concepts into reality.

Every content plan is different. It should take into account existing marketing vision, current goals, and whatever digital content trends are popular at the moment. If you’re trying to come up with a content plan for 2024, you’ve come to the right place. 

Let’s break down how to develop a killer content marketing strategy. We’ll look at what kind of content to create, review what is trending, and consider a 10,000-foot overview of how to pull together an effective content plan this year.

What Content to Create in 2024

Every year has its own content marketing trends. As artificial intelligence comes to play an increasingly outsized role in the content world, marketers can plan for another dramatic shift in the kind of content they’re creating moving forward. 

Over the next year, the biggest trend is going to be a shift away from generic content. As AI provides more answers without the need to leave SERPs, basic “101” pages will become irrelevant. 

Instead, content creation trends will focus on two things: being helpful and educating audiences.

The former includes genuine thought-leader pieces and unique industry opinions. The latter relates to things like “how to” articles and self-help infographics and videos.

Speaking of videos, moving pictures also seem likely to remain in vogue in 2024, as well. The enduring entertainment and engaging aspect of videos of all forms remains a powerful way for marketers to get their messages out to the world.

Demand Gen Report adds that interactivity is also on tap. Demos, quizzes, industry-specific calculators, and even simple click-through embedded links remain important priorities in 2024.

What Are the Biggest Marketing Trends in 2024?

Okay, so helpful and educational content, videos, and interactive assets are all important types of content right now. But what are the actual marketing trends of 2024 that are driving these needs?

We have already touched on the biggest one. AI really is the trend that is behind most content creation right now. Content creators everywhere are looking for ways to utilize AI with their content.

Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) — which the company intends to complete testing just in time for 2024 — will also be a big factor throughout the year. Learning how to rank in search results and make the most of potentially throttled click-through traffic will be a defining challenge of the next twelve months.

Google’s Helpful Content System is also going to factor heavily into the coming year. As AI puts pressure on content creators to clean up their content, Google’s automated content rating system will aid in deciding what content is “helpful” and what content, well …isn’t. The tech giant updates this system from time to time, and savvy marketers will be following those changes closely as they seek to use the information to improve their organic marketing strategies.

What Should Be Included in a Content Plan in 2024?

Considering the content types and trends above, how should you build a content plan for the year? Here is a quick overview that you can use as a content plan template or a content roadmap to help you get started.

Begin With Your Content Strategy Framework

This is a 10,000-foot view perspective of your content marketing that holistically considers things like your organization’s vision, mission, and values, as well as your marketing goals, plans, and tactics. Use it as a reference point to start the more detailed content creation process.

Set Specific Content Strategy Goals for the Current Year

These should align with your larger content marketing strategy, keeping long-term goals in mind as you seek short-term gains in the next twelve months.

Establish a Content Strategy Plan

Your content plan is where the rubber hits the road. Remember, there are many forms of digital marketing, from search engine optimization to influencer marketing. What are the marketing strategy components you need to promote your brand effectively right now? 

Should you create a pillar page and supporting topic clusters on your company blog to educate your target audience? Is it time to embrace more interactive content, such as user-generated content, quizzes, or demos? Should you finally invest in the equipment to create proper video content? This is where you make the detailed decisions.

Get on a Schedule

A year is a long time to create content. From social media to blog posts, guest posts to email campaigns, you want to structure how you release all of your content. A content calendar can help you spread out your efforts and allow them to build on each other over time.

Plan to Assess

You may love your content plan heading into the year. But you can’t be certain it will align with actual trends or search engine changes as you go along. Take the time every few months to assess if your content is doing well and gather feedback on the user experience of your audience, as well. Iterate and optimize to ensure your content is performing how you want it.

Building a Content Plan for 2024

Content marketing strategies give you a reason and focus for your content marketing. But you need a solid content plan to put those concepts into action. If you don’t have a content marketing strategy (or framework, for that matter) already in place, you can work with a content marketing agency to help you build one.

In 2024, your content marketing plan should focus on a few key things. AI is in the spotlight. Helpful content is a necessity. Video is effective. Interactive content is encouraged. 

If you can factor these elements into a thoughtful and fleshed-out content plan, you can enter the new year with confidence, knowing you’re making the most out of the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.

As marketers develop their website content marketing strategy, it can be challenging to know what kind of content they should use. The issue isn’t coming up with enough ideas so much as choosing from the plethora of options available.

As you flesh out your content marketing strategy, you want to consider all of the different forms of content out there. Only then can you effectively choose which ones fit into your marketing plans.

Let’s take a look at the different types of content marketing available and how you can use them to reach your target audience, educate them, and ultimately encourage them to take action.

What Is Content Marketing in Digital Marketing?

Before considering individual types of content, it’s important to remember the purpose of content marketing in the first place. Too often, marketers focus on content creation and have content strategy take a back seat. 

However, you always want to start by thinking of how your content factors into your larger digital marketing strategy. At Relevance, we consider a strong growth marketing strategy to focus on three areas: authority, credibility, and visibility.

Content marketing helps with all three of these things. Its biggest contribution is in the area of authority. Quality on-site content shows your audience that you know what you’re talking about and are a thought leader in your industry or niche.

Content also helps establish credibility through digital PR efforts, such as a guest post. On-site, informational content can enhance SEO, too, by helping with keywords, link-building, and technical SEO strategies.

What Are Examples of Educational Content?

As AI becomes a bigger factor, the quality of a brand’s content is coming into the spotlight. Strong SEO is no longer enough. You have to create great content that genuinely educates, offers unique insights, and provides value for the reader. 

The good news is that Google has provided guidance on how to make good content that will rank. To do this, the search engine has established its E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, trustworthiness) guidelines. A content strategy example that follows E-E-A-T could be a company blog post that provides insightful information from a certified professional on your staff.

Google's E-E-A-T guidelines outlining how to create different types of effective content marketing

For those comfortable with digging deeper, the search engine giant also provides Helpful Content Updates. These aid in generating “helpful, reliable, people-first content.”

What Are Types of Content Marketing?

There are many different elements of a content strategy. Each content type below provides its own value as part of your larger content marketing strategy. Let’s consider each one and how it can help you achieve your marketing goals.

Onsite Content

This is the “big one.” Your onsite content is the content that lives right on your own website. It doesn’t require a social media outlet, third-party publication, or even an email service. This content is fully in your control.

Onsite content can take on many different forms, each of which is helpful in its own way:

Onsite content is one of your best long-term forms of content marketing. It can be intensive and expensive to set up. However, once created, content that lives on your site can continue to deliver traffic and provide CTAs in perpetuity with minimal maintenance.

Gated Content

While much of your on-site content is free, there are certain kinds of content that you only want to give people when they’ve taken a specific action. This is called “gated content.” This includes things like:

An example of gated content in action could be receiving an ebook after signing up for a newsletter or submitting a request for a demo. These are important in-depth marketing steps that help move people who are already considering making a purchase toward the bottom of the sales funnel.

Other Forms of Content Marketing

On-site and gated content are two major content options that every brand should consider. But they aren’t alone. Here are several other forms of content that you should consider. Some of these are variations of on-site content, while others are off-site. In either case, each contributes its own value to a larger content marketing strategy.

From onsite and gated content to the smorgasbord of different formats that content can take, there are many ways you can tailor valuable content to meet the current needs of your brand.

Using the Right Types of Content Marketing

As you consider the different elements of content strategy that you want to use, keep this list in mind. To create effective content marketing, you need to analyze your customers, marketing goals, resources, and so on. Then, consider what kind of content fits into that framework. 

Should you invest in content marketing blogs to inform site visitors and lead them down your sales funnel? Do you need social media marketing content for off-site lead generation or to help you retain existing customers? 

As you identify the different components of content marketing that you need, assemble them into a content creation plan. If the whole thing gets too confusing, this can be a good time to work with a reputable content marketing agency like Relevance to keep your content educational, effective, and up to date. They can help you generate high-quality, effective content that can build your brand’s authority in the eyes of the world, your industry, and especially, your target audience.

Content pillars are a great way to organize and centralize your content creation. They provide focus and synergy to your content marketing strategy by unifying your content behind a select series of themes that are central to your brand.

While pillars are popular, they can be overwhelming to pull together. How many pillars should you make? What topics should you choose? How long should each pillar be?

Let’s go over a few pillar post examples to help understand how to determine your content pillars before you pour all of the time, effort, and resources into making them.

Pillar Power: Using Pillars to Revolutionize Content Strategy

Let’s start with a quick reminder of why pillars are so important for a successful content marketing strategy. A pillar is an extensive resource that covers a key theme of your brand. 

The primary pillar itself covers this theme holistically but not necessarily in detail. Instead, it serves as a central focal point for that overarching topic within your brand’s marketing assets and resources.

How Do You Organize Content Pillars?

Pillars should never stand on their own. On the contrary, they should be at the center of a cluster of content that relates to the same key topic. This pillar and cluster strategy is a key part of building an effective content pillar strategy.

The pillar cluster model surrounds pillar content with a variety of sub-pillars and smaller articles that flesh out the subject in greater detail. These should connect with one another using internal linking strategies, and everything should link back to the primary pillar at some point.

From there, content marketing teams can create things like email and social media content that support, link back to, and tie into the pillar. The end result is a tight-knit group of content assets that vary in size and scope while simultaneously focusing on a key theme for your brand.

Pillar strategy breakdown showing how you can determine your content pillars

How Many Content Pillars Do You Need?

As you build a content pillar strategy, one common question is how many content pillars you need. Should you make one main pillar for your whole site? Do you need dozens spread across countless topics?

The answer lies in between these extremes. If you focus all of your content on a single pillar, you restrict your marketing message too much. 

At the same time, you shouldn’t make too many pillars. Pillars, with their clustered supporting content, are resource-intensive, elaborate endeavors. They require a lot of time and effort. On top of that, you don’t want to spread your primary messaging too thin by taking on too many themes at once.

With that in mind, it’s wise to aim for around three to four main pillars for a brand. Build each one out with care and maintain it as a central content cluster to boost your brand’s authority and emphasize what makes you unique.

How Long Should a Pillar Page Be?

If you look at content pillar examples, you’ll find that they’re generally long. Really long. How long? Most pillars run at least a few thousand words in length.

Some marketers will recommend a content pillar strategy example with pillar pages that go well past the 10,000-word words. But the truth is, that’s excessive. Realistically, aiming for around 3,000 words per pillar is a good goal.

Focus on briefly covering all of the main topics related to each theme within that 3,000-word resource. From there, you can create shorter sub-pillars (usually around 2,000 words) and blog articles (1,000 words or less) that reinforce and elaborate on your original pillar’s message.

How Do You Determine Your Content Pillars?

If you’re uncertain how to choose your content pillars, here are a few steps to help your team narrow your choices:

If you find that you’re struggling to boil your focus down to a specific number of themes, even with these steps, you may want to find a content marketing agency to help. Working with an experienced third-party content partner early in the development and planning process can ensure that you invest in the best themes for your branded content library from the start.

As you come up with each topic, these become the central 3,000-word pillars for each cluster of content you create. Once you have them set in stone, you can conduct keyword research to flesh out related topics you should cover. Plan out a content calendar, too, and integrate everything with your social media strategy and other content-related efforts.

Determining the Right Pillar Topics For Your Brand

As you size up your content marketing goals, remember to keep pillar pages in mind. From on-site content strategy to social media marketing, the synergy pillar content creates can supercharge your efforts every time you create content. It can keep that content focused on what matters most as you seek to show consumers why your brand is special and can provide uniquely effective solutions to their problems.

Everyone says content is king — but what does that regal reign look like in real life? The answer is tricky. 

While content may remain a critical part of the marketing toolkit, it is in a constant state of evolution. Let’s consider what content marketing looks like a quarter into the 21st century, along with a few examples.

Why Content Marketing Is Important

Content marketing is a powerful way to build a brand. Marketers can use a thoughtful content marketing strategy to build credibility through third-party mentions. They can use it to provide self-help content that streamlines customer service. A fleshed-out content strategy also creates a starting point for strong SEO.

Above all, a strong library of content can build your industry authority. Google’s new E-E-A-T content standards are amplifying the need for content that is built on:

Google's E-E-A-T guidelines outlining how to create effective content marketing examples

E-E-A-T sets a high bar for quality content. It means only the best pieces of content with unique industry insights and helpful information will be considered helpful to consumers and, therefore, rank in the SERPs.

What Are Content Marketing Examples?

Okay, content marketing is important. But what does it look like? The answer is a lot of things.

There are many elements of content marketing. This can make envisioning the content marketing process a bit challenging. Here are a few content marketing examples to help picture this all-important strategy in action.

Blog Posts

A blog post is one of the most iconic examples of written content. These are on-site pieces of text-based information that can also include images, infographics, and even embedded videos. 

A blog post can cover anything from a piece of industry news to a deep dive by an SME (subject matter expert) on your staff. This valuable content is created to attract customers (more on organic traffic further down), in order to demonstrate your industry authority and increase brand awareness.

Social Media Posts

Social media content is another classic example of digital content marketing. This form of visual content is off-site and lives on a third-party social media platform. 

A social post could be a short tweet on X (Formerly Twitter). It could be a picture of your products “in action” on Instagram. It could even be a piece of video content from an influencer on TikTok or YouTube. 

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful content marketing example you can use across your sales funnel. You can set up drip campaigns that provide a slow and steady set of automated emails for new subscribers. You can also use emails to send bottom-funnel sales pitches and CTAs to your target audience.  

Most of this list consists of primarily B2C marketing examples. However, email is a powerful tool that works just as well for B2B content marketing interactions.

Podcasting

Podcasts are fun and relevant forms of engaging content that are becoming more important in larger content strategies. Marketers use them to communicate information in a relaxing and relatable way.

Podcasts can be very short — some are only a few minutes. However, they are often used as long-form content. A podcast could consist of a CEO providing updates to customers or a roundtable discussion (which is excellent for demonstrating industry authority). You can even turn a webinar into a podcast.

What Is an Example of an Organic Strategy?

While there are many examples of content marketing, organic content marketing primarily takes place on your website. A pillar page is a great example of an organic strategy in action. 

A pillar page template usually follows a format that consists of: 

For an organic strategy to work, you should create great content in a scheduled timeline (i.e., don’t take years to make a single pillar). You should also invest in internally linking every piece to the original pillar, sub-pillar, and other relevant areas of your website.

The Importance of Content Synergy

There are many different types of content marketing, and it can manifest in countless ways. However, just because you have options doesn’t mean you can build your content strategy flippantly. 

Effective content marketing can’t happen in a vacuum. It has to be part of a larger growth marketing strategy and vision. Growth marketing focuses on your customer at all times and uses data and analysis to track progress over time. 

Content marketing factors into a good growth marketing plan alongside other key pillars, like digital PR and SEO. When you combine these — like using SEO keywords in your content or linking to an on-site “how to” in a PR guest post — you can create synergistic results that build your authority, credibility, and visibility.

Using Content Marketing to Crush Your Marketing Goals

A successful content marketing campaign is an invaluable part of a growth marketing campaign. Content creation together things like search engine optimization and digital PR. It also provides quality content for customers to use as they work their way through your sales funnel or return in search of self-help customer support.

Content marketing is important — but it also requires focus and strategy. Use the marketing strategy examples above to discover which forms of content marketing are best for your brand and its audience. If you need help as you go along, consider recruiting a good content marketing agency to help guide the process.

A good content marketing strategy has a lot of moving parts. Marketers use these strategies to bring together various forms of content and use them to help reach marketing KPIs as well as larger growth marketing goals.

SEO and content marketing can answer a variety of digital marketing needs. These span the gamut from building brand awareness to educating consumers to lead generation and so on.  

Regardless of the specific form it takes or the purpose it serves, in most cases, for content to be effective, it must convince a consumer to take action. When content aims to do that, it becomes conversion content.

What Is Conversion Content?

In marketing, a “conversion” takes place when you convince a consumer to take a desired action. A good content conversion example is clicking through an email link. This is a form of traffic conversion meaning it leads to traffic for your site.

Other forms of conversion could be clicking on a link in the SERPS or sharing a social media post. Often, conversions on your website take place in relation to things like signing up for a newsletter, asking for a demo, or even making a purchase. 

Creating content that converts — i.e., conversion content — is a powerful way to use your content strategy. As you create content like a blog post or podcast episode, you always want to provide value for the reader. 

However, as you help answer reader needs and address their pain points, you can also naturally encourage them to take certain actions (like those listed above). When you can create effective content that resonates with your target audience and convinces them to take action, it becomes high-converting content.

How Do I Create Content That Converts?

So, how do you create high-converting content for your site or marketing strategy? The simple answer is that it depends on each situation. The current needs, resources, audience, and many other factors will dictate the kind of CTAs you want to include in your content.

That said, there are questions that can help you narrow your options and ensure that you optimize each piece of content to convert. Here are some questions you can use as a conversion content filter:

1. Does your content focus on being helpful?

This is ground zero for content in 2024 and beyond. Google’s latest updates (including their Helpful Content Updates and E-E-A-T content guidelines) have put the bulk of the focus on how content helps its users.

What is the value proposition of each piece of content that you create? How does it help its intended audience?

2. Are you trying to be a solution?

Along with educating and providing information, you need your content to demonstrate your authority. A good brand aims to be a thought leader and a pioneer in their industry. 

If your ambition is to be at the forefront of thought in your niche, how is your content fulfilling that promise?

3. Do you know your audience?

Your content doesn’t help you if it prompts the wrong people to take action. To avoid that from happening, always stay up to date on your market research.

 What does your target audience care about? What are their pain points, issues, and the search terms that they’re using to address them? Use these to direct the content that you create and the CTAs that it contains.

4. Are you thinking through the funnel?

Creating content should never be an activity that happens in a vacuum. It should be part of a larger conversion funnel. 

Always ask where in the funnel a piece of great content belongs. How does it help guide a user through the buyer journey, encouraging them with the right kind of top, middle, and low-funnel information needed to take the next step?

5. Are you revealing (most of) your hand early?

Converting content shouldn’t be cloaked in mystery. You aren’t playing games with your audience. You’re helping them.

The best way to do this and incorporate a CTA is to reveal most of your hand early. Provide enough information to satisfy the user’s initial inquiry. Then elaborate on that and demonstrate your deeper knowledge. Use this process to guide them to a greater revelation (and a correlating call to action) further down the page.

6. Are you being direct and intriguing?

You usually want to be specific, especially with CTA copy. Don’t be vague or use confusing, unexplained jargon. Instead, utilize simple words, clear phrases, and images and visual content when possible.

It’s a good idea to write for younger audiences. You can use a tool like Hemingway to see what grade level you’re writing for. Aim for 8th grade or lower — that will allow 85% of adults to read your text without trouble.

7. Are you asking questions?

The Socratic method (teachers asking questions to students to help them learn) is a powerful way to educate. This prompts responses and primes a reader for action.

Use questions throughout your content, and don’t forget to use “you” language. Speak to the reader. Show them that you understand.

8. Are you tracking your content?

If you want your content to perform, you need to show up in the SERPs, encourage the clicks, and otherwise get consumers to act.

To understand that this is happening, you need to see the data. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics that track each lead and conversion to ensure that your content is performing. If it isn’t over a period of several months, make tweaks to improve it.

Google analytics screenshot showing what data to pay attention to in order to create content that converts

Creating Content That Converts

Learning how to create content that converts takes time. Start by mastering the process of creating high-quality content that targets readers first and ranking in a search engine second.

From there, use the questions above to consider how your content fits into your larger content strategy. What CTAs should it have? What actions do you want to encourage your readers to take? If you need help answering these questions, consider partnering with a content marketing agency

Those are the questions that will turn good content into valuable content that doesn’t just perform well. It converts.

Digital marketing is a vast and complex field of business. From paid ads to search engine optimization, emails to social media, there are many ways marketers can use the digital world to promote a business.

Most of these channels utilize content in one form or another. In fact, marketers love to throw around the term “content marketing” as a part of their larger marketing strategies. 

But what exactly is content? What is its purpose in marketing? How does content marketing strategy really factor into your marketing efforts? 

Let’s consider the purpose of content as a marketing tool and the number one biggest objective that all content marketing should seek to achieve.

What Is the Purpose of Content?

The term “content,” when it’s used in marketing, references a wide range of varying types of content. Different content platforms and formats include a blog post, sales pages, social media, email marketing, demos, videos, and podcasts. 

This wide range means the purpose of content tends to vary depending on how it manifests. A blog post, for instance, can educate consumers while attracting organic traffic and generating leads. An email can nurture those leads and encourage sales. A podcast can build brand awareness and establish authority.

As a whole, content functions as a key part of a marketer’s toolkit. It represents the medium through which they channel various forms of information and messages to consumers. When you create content with this in mind, it takes on a bigger role than simply presenting information. Purposeful content functions as part of a larger content marketing strategy.

What Is the Main Objective of Content Marketing?

With so many forms and uses, it’s easy to wonder what the primary content marketing objectives are when you use content to promote a business. While there are many important factors, though, one stands out above all the rest: providing value to consumers. 

Content varies in complexity, from basic top-funnel topics meant to build brand awareness to complex mid- and low-level pieces designed to nurture leads and close sales. Throughout this process, though, the need to be genuinely helpful and provide real value for your target audience remains a top priority. 

Google has made this abundantly clear in recent years. The brand’s Helpful Content system and updated E-E-A-T content quality standards emphasize the need for every piece of content to provide clear, clean, and accurate value for its intended audience.

Google's E-E-A-T guidelines detailing how to create content the supports the main objective of content marketing

Secondary Content Marketing Objectives

Content development should always start with and center on creating content that provides value to the reader. The need for high-quality content is ground zero in the content marketing process. 

However, it isn’t the only purpose that content serves. Good content that educates, informs, and satisfies users creates the infrastructure within which you can achieve other marketing goals.  

For example, a holistic blog post can also build brand visibility if well-optimized for SEO. This helps your brand stand out in the Google search engine SERPs. 

Content marketing can also build an audience through email sign-ups. Self-help content can provide quality customer service solutions that encourage customer retention and loyalty.

What Is Your Content Marketing Objective?

Knowing that content marketing focuses on readers first and everything else second is important to keep in mind as a general rule. But how does it apply to your specific marketing needs? How do you decide what your content marketing goals and KPIs are? 

This is an important question to answer, as it functions as a central part of your content marketing strategy. This strategy should weave together each marketing goal with the resources, plans, and platforms that you have available to create content. Obviously, you need to identify those goals if you’re going to do this effectively. 

The best way to clarify your objectives is to start with your larger marketing goals. What are you trying to accomplish with your content right now? Are you focused on lead generation? Brand awareness? Building authority? Generating revenue? To help you build an effective strategy that helps accomplish these goals, consider hiring a content marketing agency. They can be the experts you may need to help crush your goals.  

Once you’ve identified this, consider how you can create effective content with the proper optimization and CTAs to achieve those objectives. As you do so, make sure you are still creating value for your reader with every piece and at every step.

Creating Effective Content Marketing Strategies

It’s difficult to create an effective content marketing strategy without an end goal. Too often, content is created haphazardly or for one-off occasions without a content strategy in mind. 

If you want every piece of content to perform at peak quality, though, you need to identify your content marketing goals and stay focused on them as you go along. This starts with the number one objective of always creating real value for your reader.

As you satisfy this requirement, consider what other goals you’re trying to achieve. Do you want to improve organic traffic? Build your email list? Close sales?  

These secondary KPIs are always easier to achieve when you have the main objective of value creation in mind from the start. 

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