20 Content Formats and When to Use Them

Looking for a way to completely shake up your brand’s communications? One great place to start is your content. Do you find that you’re often recycling the same content formats over and over again, and then struggling to find fresh and unique ideas? If you do, you’re definitely not alone. This way of planning content can make it difficult to find fresh perspectives, but it definitely isn’t always easy to think of new formats to try in amongst the rest of your busy day. If this sounds like you - keep on reading for 40 content format ideas you can get started with straight away, as well as examples of great times to use them.

1. Social media posts

The faithful social media post - an absolute staple of most content calendars. Make sure to be reaching your audience where they are - focusing on the quality of your content on the platforms where your prospective clients are browsing. 

This content format is relative whether you’re a brand new business, or a long-standing enterprise. Read more about how to design effective social media posts here.

2. Leaflets

A traditional marketing method, leaflets still have power in the modern day. Depending on your target audience, consider where they are most likely to access their content and search for products like yours. 

Leaflets are really great for providing a snapshot of information that educates a reader in one digestible piece of content. It’s also a great way to show-off your visual identity in the branding and design work of the leaflet.  

3. Business Cards

Do you have a business card? If you’re a frequent attendee at any networking events, or you’re regularly visiting prospective clients, it’s a good idea to have a well-designed business card. Emails run the risk of being lost or undelivered, whereas handing out a business card guarantees the prospect has received all the information they need right there during the conversation. 

4. Free courses

What better way to showcase your teams talent than to run a free educational course for prospective clients? Include just a handful of the quality tips your team have about your specialist subject, and you’ll be building brand authority whilst attracting clients that are likely to become problem-aware and look for a service like yours in the future. 

For example if you’re a marketing agency, you might consider a ‘crash-course on social media metrics and what they mean.’ This attracts businesses that are looking for help with their social media marketing but aren’t yet at the stage of looking to hand over the work, however you’ll be increasing the chance that when they do, you’ll be the business they go to. 

5. E-books

E-books are still a really fantastic way of communicating a lot of content in a digestible way. If you do choose to gate your ebook content, meaning the user can only read it in exchange for some details like their name, email or job role - it can limit the reach of your content but give you some really valuable insights to follow-up depending on the targeting of your content. Some might choose to leave their e-book ungated so as to encourage reach and ensure that their contact database remains as qualified as possible.

6. Newsletters

Email newsletters are one of the best ways to generate an audience of engaged prospects. You might choose a niche subject that relates to your target audience or a more broad subject to attract a wider demographic - either way, the focus should be on the quality of the content you’re offering.

7. TV adverts

TV adverts are usually on the expensive side, so they’re a great content format to introduce later down the line when your other channels are producing a good, regular ROI.

8. Youtube Videos

Youtube videos can be a completely invaluable source of exposure for your brand. Start building your audience by posting regular videos to your  channel. Your videos could include things like behind-the-scenes footage of your team at work, staff night outs, product demos and snippets from your webinar. 

9. Carousel posts

Carousel posts are used on almost all social platforms and can really help to improve your storytelling and boost engagement. Include messaging and visuals that run across each slide to improve the flow of the content. 

10. Blogs

A blog not only helps you to showcase your team’s knowledge, it’s a way to inform your audience about new company wide announcements and product updates. Make sure to keep your blog updated with a good mix of content types.

11. Posters

Posters are a go-to for advertising events and announcements your audience should know. You could get out into the community and play around witt poster placement as part of your wider brand strategy - like the below example from Pinterest’s ‘Don’t don’t yourself’ campaign…

INSERT PINTEREST IMAGES

12. Flyers

A flyer is useful for spreading the word about your product or service in a more traditional way. You’ll need to canvas or look for local businesses to place your flyer, or keep them on display in a stand in your office. Depending on your target demographic, traditional marketing methods can be invaluable - you’ll just need to consider how best your audience consumes content.

13. Merchandise

Merchandise is regularly used an extra source of revenue for B2C businesses, but could you ger creative with how you use it for yours? Merchandise could be used as a free gift for clients, or you could even create merchandise for internal use that contributes to an even greater onboarding process for new employees.

Here’s some examples of creative merchandise examples for those in the B2B space… 

• SEMrush merchandise range
• Hotjar merchandise range

14.Webinars

Use webinars to discuss hot topics and subjects that relate to customers in various stages of your content funnel. For example, webinars could cover everything from intro content that covers quick fixes and tips that relate to the problem you solve, all the way to webinars that discuss in depth how to get the best out of your tool.

15. Testimonials

Word–of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. Whilst you can encourage referrals through things like affiliate programs, simple recommendations from existing clients are potentially the most effective way to attract new clients. So, when you get a piece of positive feedback, make sure to share it! Other than traditional review collecting platforms like reviews.io, or trustpilot, make sure to ask customers if you can share feedback left in untraditional formats like via email, as comments on social media or in direct messages.

16. Q&A’s

Build brand authority by showcasing your talent whilst also helping customers overcome pain points with a Q&A. Host Q&A’s that deal with everything from common objections to using your service all the way to more broad subjects that your team specialise in. Q&A’s can be hosted live on social media, or you could ask for questions from your audience and answer them in the form of a blog, a newsletter or a youtube video. 

17. Surveys

Conduct surveys to get data that can help you make valuable business decisions and that can power your other content. Surveys can be done professionally through tools like YouGov, which give your survey an added authentication which can build more trust. You could also conduct surveys within your customer base. 

18. Quizzes

Run quizzes to create interactive content that boosts engagement! You could run fun quizzes or more educational quizzes to give your audience even more value. 

19. Checklists

Checklists are often used in an image format as a resource that your audience can use. They’re great to run as content you can encourage your audience to ‘save for later’ and return to ever-green content that helps them with a problem or a project. 

20. Listicles

Listicles are blogs just like this one! They split out lengthy content into digestible chunks, making it easy for the reader to pick out the information they need and skip over the rest. 

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