You know what they say: content is king. It’s also an excellent way to reach today’s consumers. Good content strategies are diverse; today’s marketers typically market to three audience segments at any given time. 

Learn more about diversifying your content strategy, including potential channels to explore and inspiration for great content, right here. 

1. Know Your Audience

While you’ll have a sense of the audience you’re targeting, it’s important to understand (regardless of which industry) that they absorb and respond to content in unique ways. For instance, while written content is still popular, 84% of people have been swayed by a brand’s video content. Multiple content types and channels are an essential consideration.

Moreover, content consumers have different goals; some may have a clear idea of what they want to achieve with a purchase, while others are still figuring out their needs. Your content needs to embrace all of this in order to be truly diverse.

2. Understand Your Existing Content

You should have a good sense of what’s working for your business—what’s driving traffic or conversions, as well as evergreen content. If you’re having success with older content types, don’t feel like you need to abandon them. Blog posts, like this one on free email marketing providers, are an excellent way to share information with people in a format that is traditional and reliable. They’re highly flexible, allow for high word counts, and offer backlinks to older content.

The in-depth white paper is also still effective. While it’s time-consuming and requires real expertise, it’s a solid way to show your authority, especially if you need to strengthen the perception of a startup. 

3. Embrace New Content Types

Don’t be afraid to look at other content formats; Podcasts have been steadily increasing in popularity thanks to their convenience and availability. In 2020, 37% of Americans aged 12 and over had listened to one. That’s over 100 million people in the U.S. alone. 

You can either create one yourself within a certain niche or tap into a podcast’s existing audience by sponsoring it. The podcast needs to deliver real value to listeners, though; that means your sales messages can’t be overly intrusive. If you have to prioritize certain content types, have a go at comparing content avenues to make an informed choice.

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Another option you can pursue is video content. You might want to invite experts in your niche to discuss a problem on video, for example. This is another way of demonstrating your expertise whilst presenting it in a more accessible format. It’s also a great way to create strong workplace bonds if you get colleagues involved.

4. Come to Grips With Today’s Platforms

A business’s own website is still valuable for content, and it’s definitely a good idea to have a main channel of distribution. But other channels help you put diverse content types to good use.

If you have solid blogging experience, you might want to put content on a platform like LinkedIn. This is well-suited for long-form written content and enjoys a receptive business audience. Conversely, video content (depending on length and subject matter) might do better on YouTube or Instagram, in part thanks to a younger audience. 

Remember to embrace current ways of producing content suitable for your chosen platform. Today’s blogs use images, numbered lists, and other strategies to make content more appealing; this article on managing remote teams is a great example.

While it’s worth using multiple channels, each one requires investment to be effective. A channel that doesn’t get much content is more of a hindrance than a help, so focus on those you can put to good use.

5. Repurpose Content

It’s often a good idea to repurpose existing material content instead of creating new content. This helps you save time and reach a wider demographic.

For example, you could turn a blog post on your website into a video, which you can then share on your YouTube channel. This, in turn, could be broken up into smaller snippets for use on social media. Similarly, if you hosted an online event, you could use the audio to create a podcast for broader distribution. 

Of course, you will need to consider how you present the information in each format. Say you want to turn a blog post into a video. What will the video look like? Will it be live-action, or is animation a better fit for the topic? You might also require to work with original content authors, which modern cloud communications platforms facilitate magically.

Repurposing content isn’t a silver bullet for your content strategy. You need to have a clear sense of the content’s purpose (such as explaining the features of a product) and preserve some value across the transition—even if the specific value of your content changes. You also need to apply analytics to your content and see if it’s gaining you traffic or conversions.

6. Examine the Sales Funnel 

The sales funnel offers a roadmap for diverse content creation. People at different stages of the sales journey have different goals and respond well to varying content types as a result. Consider which part of the sales funnel you’re targeting; this will guide you towards the most suitable content types. It’s also worth looking at ways to increase top-of-funnel conversion rates besides conventional content production. 

People at the top of the sales funnel have a problem they need to solve. They’re not married to any particular product or service, so establish yourself as a possible solution. How-to guides can draw in these users, as can infographics, checklists, and video tutorials. This article on calls in queue might target top-of-funnel users, for example.

People in the middle of the sales funnel are homing in on a particular solution. Therefore, you need to show these people how you can provide it. There are many different content options here; how-to guides are still ideal, but product overviews, case studies, and webinars are other excellent choices. You might also want to compare different product offerings, like this guide to picking the right small business phone system.

By the time people reach the bottom of the sales funnel, they’re looking to make a purchase. This is where you need to provide insights into the benefits of your product. Product overviews, customer reviews, and success stories are your best bets for getting those conversions. 

7. Don’t Forget User-Generated Content

Just as customer nurturing campaigns provide a useful service for customers, User-Generated Content (UGC) gives your business a valued resource. It’s an excellent option for small budgets; it costs very little (if anything) to maintain, and it inspires trust in your audience. 

While price is the first consideration for shoppers, ratings and reviews are a close second. 89% of consumers see reviews as an essential resource when buying something. That’s why it’s often ideal to feature reviews on your site and direct traffic towards them. 

Of course, reviews aren’t the only way for you to engage with customers. If you’re on an image-friendly platform like Twitter or Instagram, encourage people to share relevant images with a branded hashtag. Contests and giveaways can also build brand loyalty and spread positive word-of-mouth amongst your audience.

At the same time, remember that user-generated content has caveats. By its very nature, UGC is unpredictable; you can’t be sure what people will say about your business before you put it into action. You must respond quickly to potential public criticism and attribute any content that you use. It’s also unsuitable for certain industries like healthcare, which could raise compliance issues. 

However, if you can balance user-generated content with its downsides, you can give your business a significant boost in reputation.

Embrace Diversification

With regards to diversification, it’s all about finding the right balance. Less of a tightrope and more of a bicycle, if you fail, you can always brush yourself off and try again. By measuring and tracking each element of your content strategy diversification, you can rest assured that you are giving your content team – and audience – the best possible content across multiple channels and in the most suitable format. 

While indeed content may be king, variety is the spice of life, as they say.

Author Bio

Jessica Day is the Senior Director for Marketing Strategy at Dialpad, a modern business communications platform with call center recording—turning conversations into opportunities. Jessica is an expert in collaborating with multifunctional teams to execute and optimize marketing efforts, for both company and client campaigns. Here is her LinkedIn.