Content Marketing Doesn’t Stop with Article Writing

The term content marketing is often confused with the term article marketing or article writing. After all, article writing is part of content marketing and one of the most commonly used methods of content marketing. However, if you are focusing on article writing as your sole method of content generation, it is time for a quick refresher on the various methods of content marketing.

When you allocate resources (time and money) towards a content marketing campaign, make sure to spread the wealth. After all, website traffic is generated from other types of content marketing as well. Spreading your resources into several methods will help saturate the marketing and reach potential customers.

In addition to your article writing, here are five content marketing methods that you can easily add to your marketing campaigns.

Charts and graphs:

I am always looking for charts and graphs to include in my articles. When I find them, they always require an attribution from the creator. This means that I not only mention the source of where I obtained it, but often link to the website hosting it. Just think…if you created charts and graphs that others needed for their content, you would get attribution and backlinks without having to do the work. Sites such as Pinterest and Flickr can host the charts and graphs for you; or, simply upload them to your website and properly mark them for use under a Creative Commons license that requires attribution.

This image has absolutely nothing to do with this post. It is simply serving as an example of how creating a graph that is used by others requires attribution. If you click on the image, you will also see that it links to where the image originates. Photo courtesy of The Daily English Show on Flickr.

Case studies:

Case studies are a great way to spread your knowledge and increase traffic for your site. Case studies do not need to be as in-depth as medical studies published in medical journals, but should be interesting and useful to others in your industry. Host the study on your website and you will be able to reap the benefits of attribution and backlinks. Search Engine Watch recently posted an article about how to write effective SEO case studies that can give you a jump start to creating your own.

Email newsletters:

Yes, email is back. Now that people are using mobile for search more than desktops, your email is more likely to be seen by the end user. The main reason is that people’s email is automatically fed to their smartphones as opposed to having to sit down at their desktop computer, log in, and then read them. Email has become instantaneous and now more effective than ever. If you subscribe to AllBusiness Experts (quick note – I am a contributor to the site), you will find tons of articles that talk about how to create successful email marketing campaigns.

Polls and quizzes:

Meet the new content marketing generator. Polls and quizzes are now big as far as content marketing is concerned. If you don’t think so, ask BuzzFeed founders why the site has an Alexa ranking of under 100. Another good site is Playbuzz which allows you to generate your own polls and quizzes that can then be uploaded to social media with the hopes of it going viral.

Here is an example of a basic infographic on marketing. You can see how it tells a story with fewer words than an article. Image courtesy of Cool Insights on Flickr.

Infographics:

Infographics are a content marketer’s dream. They allow a message to be delivered to an audience in a simple one page collage of pictures and headlines that get right to the point. People love infographics as they tell a visually story without having to read an entire article. They are perfect additions to your article writing. You can also allow others to use them which will generate a backlink to your content.