Content comes in many different forms, such as video, text, images, etc. It is not these types of content this article will be about but more about the different types of content regardless of form.
content marketing
Content marketing, or Content Marketing as it is often translated, is the strategy of producing content to build trust with potential customers. In short, it is about demonstrating and offering knowledge in your own area of expertise and then creating the trust needed to initiate a buying process with a potential customer.
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Different uses of content
If you are going to create content, it is important to decide before you start creating your content what purpose the content will serve. There are many different reasons for producing content. It is possible to produce sales content, SEO content, engaging content and much more.
Content for SEO
Producing content for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is different from other content and should not be seen as just any other content. Primarily blog posts or landing pages are used to produce SEO content but video and images can also be effective for SEO. When writing SEO content, you often start with a keyword or search term that you want to rank high for and write your content based on that. Sometimes it can feel like SEO content isn't as advanced or in-depth as salesy or engaging content but it serves its purpose. SEO content is there to drive traffic to your website by best appearing in search engines and what drives the most content are answers to basic questions that your potential customers and other visitors have. That's why it's a good idea to start by answering the most basic questions that customers, for example, have when you start writing SEO content. However, it should be mentioned that about 15% of all searches in Google are brand new searches that have never been searched for before. For this reason, you should not only focus on the types of searches that you can see through SEO tools have a lot of searches but also to write really good content that you know your potential customers will appreciate and value.
Engaging content
Although your SEO content is great, you need to supplement it with some more in-depth content for those who are interested in it. This is engaging content. When writing engaging content, the most important thing is that it's really insightful and interesting to your target audience. Cases, surveys, reports, etc. are perfect for this purpose. More analytical and debated content are also good types of content to engage visitors and build trust in what you do. Sometimes engaging content is misinterpreted as being advanced content but this doesn't have to be the case. It can be in-depth, but good content should always be accessible to its audience and very rarely is the audience as deeply knowledgeable as you are. It's common for tech-heavy companies to quickly go deep into technical terminology and advanced content because they think their target audience is as knowledgeable as they are, but that's very rarely the case in our experience.

Direct converting content
Once you've brought in visitors through SEO content, built trust through engaging content, it's time to convert your visitors. Converting content can be direct converting content such as an invitation to a webinar, a guide that someone needs to download or similar. Creating direct converting content, like engaging content, often requires more depth than SEO content but needs to focus on what is value-adding. To get someone to fill out a form and provide contact information, you need to give something of value back. The tip when creating direct converting content is that you can share more information than you think and perhaps dare. Especially for service businesses, sharing how you perform certain billable tasks is sensitive. But in most cases, the reason why someone buys in services is not because they can't learn models but because they need help applying and especially performing analysis and implementation. Those who want to learn themselves will do so whether it comes from you or someone else and will probably not become your client regardless.
Indirect converting content
There is content that helps visitors to convert and we call this indirectly converting content. One of the very best indirect conversion content is a video or text that clearly explains what happens after a visitor has filled in a form. Because many people today are worried about getting too many emails in their inbox, a large proportion of visitors hesitate before filling in a form. This behaviour can easily be changed by showing exactly what will happen after someone has filled in a form. Answer the questions how often you will get back to them by email, if you will call, etc. It will increase your conversion rate.

Selling content
Selling through content has become less and less popular over the years but it still has a purpose. Selling content doesn't have to mean that the only thing being communicated is "BUY FROM US" because it has certainly become much more difficult to use this as most buyers don't want to be sold to. Instead, selling content is about encouraging the visitor to take the next step and enticing them with something that will get a potential customer to take that step. It could be something as simple as a boastful case where you can demonstrate successful results and entice with the fact that you can achieve the same result with the potential customer. The key is to keep it in balance. Help the potential customer to buy.
Summary
There are many different uses for the content you produce. The important thing is that before you start producing your content, you decide what kind of content you are going to produce so that it fulfils its purpose.Here are some examples of different uses for content that have been reviewed above:SEO content - The purpose is to rank high in search engines and drive traffic to your website. It is often generic and focused on a keyword or search term.Engaging content - The aim is to build trust and get the visitor to take the next step in the buying journey. It's a little more in-depth but not advanced writing.Direct converting content - The aim is to get a visitor to give up contact details so you can process the lead. The focus needs to be on value creation and knowledge sharing that can't be countered.Indirect converting content - The aim is to help convert a visitor into a lead. Often this involves explaining what it means to convert.Selling content - The aim is to sell and strike a balance between overt selling and building a desire to become a customer.Want help producing content for any of the above purposes?Click on the link to see our content packages