14 Best Content Marketing Ideas to Adopt Now

Table Of Contents

• What Is Content Marketing? 
• How Does Content Marketing Work? 
• Why Is Content Marketing Important in 2022? 
• What Does a Content Marketing Strategy Mean?
• 14 Creative Content Marketing Ideas 
• Key Takeaways
• Conclusion 
• FAQs

Content marketing is ever-evolving. Marketing trends that were in vogue in 2020 will not necessarily appeal to your audience in 2022. Hence, if you want to keep your business up and running, you need to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the marketing landscape. It also implies that you need to keep your content creation game strong.

However, coming up with fresh and creative ideas that appeal to consumers’ interests can be exhausting. But you don’t need to worry, for we have you covered. We have compiled a list of the best content marketing ideas that you can use this year. But before we dig into them, let’s first explore the anatomy of a content marketing plan.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing refers to a marketing approach that businesses adopt to promote their products and services. It involves consistently and meticulously researching, planning, creating and dispensing consumer-centric content to attract more footfall and boost business growth.

The scope of content marketing is far greater than just pitching the products and services of a business. When marketers devise a content marketing strategy—they usually do so while keeping long-term goals, such as building a healthy and long-lasting relationship with customers and ensuring customer loyalty to their brand and acquiring a new audience—in mind.

Take, for example, Microsoft’s Story Labs. It is a storytelling platform that publishes stories of various Microsoft properties, either as videos, long articles or interviews. It is a genius marketing move by Microsoft. It employs storytelling to strike an emotional chord within the readers, while surreptitiously showcasing various products and services of the tech giant. The goal is to appeal to the humane side of the readers and create a lasting impression on them.

How Does Content Marketing Work?

Content marketing leverages the relationship consumers share with their internet-connected devices, particularly smartphones and personal computers.

Companies first conduct extensive research on consumer habits, market trends, and relevant keywords/keyphrases. They then devise creative content marketing ideas to match the demands of their target consumers and distribute them via various marketing formats, such as blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, search engine ads (paid), etc. Doing so entails designing marketing content such that it is optimized for the web, is relatable and precise, contains the right keywords, and has a good quality score.

Now all that’s left for brands is to let their target audience consume their content, turn them into leads, and ultimately, conversions.

Why Is Content Marketing Important in 2022?

In the era of the internet, content marketing is at the helm of all marketing strategies. According to HubSpot, 82% of online marketers were using content marketing routinely in 2021. And as more and more businesses shift their operations online, the number of digital marketers opting for content marketing as a marketing strategy is slated to grow even more in 2022.

The importance of content marketing has grown over the past few years , mainly because of increasing consumer dependence on the internet. It is now one of the major marketing types that all digital marketers are trying to perfect. Every firm is in a race to create unique content marketing ideas to grab consumers’ attention.

But why this race for creating amazingly unique and useful content? Well, firstly because the consumers have gotten smart. Gone are the days when advertising was only about delivering entertaining content. Today, consumers focus more on what benefits buying a company’s products can bring to them. And that is why content marketing is important for companies: it helps them relay the values they are offering with their products and services to their customers.

Content marketing has a lot more benefits that make it supremely important for businesses in 2022. If done right, it brings to businesses the following benefits.

• Increased brand awareness
• Increased website traffic 
• Quality leads
• Improved rankings in search results
• Better customer retention
• Loyal customers
• Trusty brand image

What Does a Content Marketing Strategy Mean?

So far, we have seen why businesses need content marketing in their marketing portfolio. In this section, you will learn how to choose a content marketing strategy and content marketing ideas that will drive your business’s growth upwards. But first, let us give you information on content marketing strategies.

The first step to mastering the art of content marketing is to have a blueprint of how you are going to woo your customers using the content you have at hand. And that’s where a content marketing strategy comes in.

When you have developed the content that you think addresses the requirements and pain points of your customers, the next step is to decide how to distribute it, so that it reaches its destination, i.e., your target audience. Hence, a content marketing strategy decides how you choose to dispense your consumer-centric content. The goal of a good content marketing strategy is to lure consumers towards your brand’s products and services by reaching out to them in a natural, organic manner. 

“Content strategy” is another term that many people use interchangeably with “content marketing strategy”. Now, you may think that the latter is just an expanded form of the former, but that’s a great misconception. A content strategy decides what content to create, whereas a content marketing strategy directs how you market that content. In this respect, it won’t be wrong to say that a content marketing strategy is a subset of content strategy.

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Choosing a content strategy that fits your business ideals is cumbersome. There are so many factors, such as marketing budget, market research data, the scale of your business, etc., that influence the adoption of a specific content marketing strategy. So how do you go about it?

Before you decide on a strategy, ask yourself why your business needs one. Maybe you have just started a business and brand awareness is your primary aim. Or maybe you want more traffic to your business’ website . Whatever your reasons are, when you get a firm answer to the “why” question, keep in mind that what you have defined is a “business goal”. Simply stated, it’s what you want a content marketing strategy to do for your business.

Once you know why your business needs a content marketing strategy, the next step is to decide on a specific consumer demographic. You need to clearly define the groups in the general populace that your products or services are aimed at. For example, you run a deep-cleaning service in your city. Then your targets would be the working professionals and senior citizens who do not have the time or energy or both to clean their homes.

The last step is to combine all the knowledge regarding the needs of your business and consumers. When you truly understand your business and consumer demographic, it becomes much easier to decide on a flexible marketing strategy. Also, make sure to keep some room for error and revision. After all, no strategy is perfect. Hence, if you decide that your content marketing strategy is not delivering as you envisioned it to, don’t hesitate to revisit it and make the necessary alterations.

14 Creative Content Marketing Ideas

2022 is another year in which content will be the primary driver of growth for many businesses. The more a business can offer value to its customers through content, the higher the traffic its website will experience. Whether you are new to content marketing or have been working in this field for a long time, you must understand the worth of unique content marketing ideas. 

However, coming up with good marketing ideas that are engaging can easily become a chore, one that can exhaust your creative faculties. We can lend you a hand in coming up with great content. Mentioned below is a list of some of the best content marketing ideas that you can leverage to build a strong content marketing game.

1. Establish authority within your industry

You have to gain expertise in your industry and use that knowledge to drive customers towards you. Take, for example, BigCommerce. It is an e-commerce platform that provides SAAS services to e-commerce firms.

Apart from its stellar arsenal of services, the blog section on the BigCommerce website is a goldmine of valuable information. It consists of thousands of insightful blogs on a plethora of e-commerce topics, making it a destination for hordes of amateur and established businesses to learn a thing or two in said field. In short, when it comes to anything e-commerce, BigCommerce is the authority that people look up to. And we want your business to be the same.

The key lies in marketing content that doesn’t just advertise your products. If you observe a trendy topic in your industry, try to write and publish some valuable information on it. You can also choose to publish weekly newsletters pertaining to the trends and events in your industry. The goal is to establish trust for your brand within consumers.

2. Leverage the power of focused landing pages

The purpose of content marketing is to cater to the consumer’s needs. And what better way to do so than to create dedicated landing pages. A landing page is a standalone web page built with the purpose of capturing leads.

Landing pages are a powerful tool to increase return on investment (ROI). however, just any landing page won’t work. You want your landing page to be highly responsive and interactive, and you want it to provide an enticing offer that is tough to deny.

To do so, first, decide on the layout of a landing page and what product/service you will advertise using it. Keep the design less text-heavy and bank more on the visuals. A killer call-to-action would be cherry on the cake. Let’s take the example of Shopify’s landing page. The interface is minimalistic and persuasively tells users about Shopify’s top-notch e-commerce service.

3. Learn the art of customer segmentation

If you believe that one type of content will appeal to all individuals, you are on the wrong track. We would like to emphasize the value of personalized content. 

Consumers will buy only what they can relate to. You cannot advertise a feature-rich smartphone to people who are above 60, as most of them just want a device with which they can handle their day-to-day tasks.

Hence, before you start marketing your content, make a list of all the consumer groups that you are going to target. The basis of your segregation criteria can be age, profession, geography, etc. Once done, you need to personalize and optimize the content based on whom it is meant for.

Let’s examine a case in which your business serves multiple geographical locations. If one of the locations is experiencing torrential rainfall, you can use it to recommend raincoats, umbrellas, dehumidifiers, etc., to your audience in that location. Of course, customer segregation is not this simple, but it gives you an idea of how to approach it.

4. Create content that woos millennials and Gen Z

According to Statista, more than a third of the entire world’s population is active on the internet. This includes people with ages between 24 and 34. At the second spot are the millennials, ranging from age 35 to 44.

So it is highly likely that these age groups also make a large percentage of your customer base. And you need to include this information when you are thinking of good content marketing ideas.

To ensure that your content marketing efforts pay off, deliver content that caters to these two age groups. Conduct extensive research on their wants and needs, chalk out their pain points, and use the exact words that they want to see in your ads.

A popular example of this marketing idea is how companies are flocking towards memes as a means of connecting with their audience on a deeper level. In the past decade, memes have become a strong cultural force on the internet, and it is only reasonable for businesses to leverage them to sell their products.

5. Leverage the power of user-generated content

It is one thing when a business advertises its products as the best and another when consumers swear by them. User-generated content is a powerful way to get the word out that your products and services deliver on their promise. Users are more likely to trust other users. 

A good way to market user-generated content is to use your brand’s social media profiles to advertise the experiences of various users with your products. You can highlight product reviews, testimonials, and ask users to post their videos with your products. 

The “Shot on iPhone” campaign run by Apple is a popular example of how companies leverage user-generated content profitably. Apple ran this campaign as a response to the flailing trust of iPhone users in its camera capabilities. Via this campaign, Apple highlighted the undiscovered potential of the iPhone camera. As part of the campaign, Apple started posting stellar photos and videos that its customers captured using their iPhones. 

6. Narrate your brand’s story using social media

Marketing is not just about selling a product. Sometimes letting consumers know what great lengths a brand is going to for them is also a great content marketing idea.

When it comes to narrating a story, you can talk about how you came up with a product’s design or how you built your brand from scratch. Throwing in some core values of your business and the goals that you want to achieve also works. However, make sure you don’t exaggerate it and absolutely not sell false facts.

Once you have an idea of how to build a narrative around your brand, you need to decide on a channel that you will use to distribute your story. And trust us, social media platforms are a great way to get your story out to the masses.

Let’s take the case of a fairly new feature of Instagram called “Reels”. Reels are basically a longer version of their already popular “Story” feature, albeit in video format.

An Instagram Reel, unlike an average marketing video, is different because, first of all, it looks and feels more personal. Since you shoot a Reel using your phone, you are incorporating the “intimacy” factor in your videos. Countless businesses are using Reels today to step up their social media game, and want you to jump on the same bandwagon.

7. Use infographics and instructional videos

Today’s consumers are short on time. They need valuable information in a few seconds or a minute. And if you can’t convince them to buy your products within this short time-span, they will move on to some other brand. This is why using infographics and instructional videos along with textual content can do wonders for your business.

Apart from educating your audience about your brand and its product/services, these visual elements are also more likely to be shared on social media platforms, thereby increasing your brand’s reach.

8. Ask for feedback from readers and consumers

The best way to learn what users want from a piece of content is to ask them directly. When your audience suggests what they expect from your brand or what they dislike about your products, you can take this criticism in a positive way by building on their expectations.

Consumer feedback (not reviews) is highly beneficial to spot the intricate mistakes in your marketing strategy that your team might have overlooked.

Take the example of GSC Game World, a game creator based in Kyiv, Ukraine. GSC is the creator of the “S.T.A.L.K.E.R” games franchise. It’s been 15 years since the launch of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R game, and it is still a highly popular trilogy in 2022. 

Last year, GSC confirmed that it was releasing a new game titled S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart Of Chernobyl. GSC has been consistently posting updates regarding the game’s development on its website and Twitter handle.

In one of the updates, GSC announced that it will incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFT) into the game to facilitate in-game transactions. However, fans did not take this announcement in good taste. GSC, afraid of losing customers, rolled back the announcement, telling the fans that it values what its audience has to say. 

9. Perform A/B tests to gather more opinions

An A/B test is a controlled experiment in which you arbitrarily represent two or more options to individuals. You then ask their opinion on each option and gather that data to conclude which option is most favourable.

A/B testing is not new, but with advancements in content marketing trends, its implications are growing far and wide. You must have seen people on social media platforms such as LinkedIn post two images of a UI design and ask their followers to decide which one looks best. You must have also participated in such events and cast your vote in the form of an emoji or symbol. This is an instance of A/B testing.

A/B testing is a genius marketing tactic, as it helps you understand what the consumer wants and also helps increase customer engagement. When consumers see that they are a part of a business’ content designing process, they feel special. When you release the user-recommended content, its bounce rates may reduce as well.  

10. Take up a content marketing course

To get content marketing right is to constantly learn its ropes, whether you do it through observation or trial-and-error. However, adding one or two legitimate content marketing courses to your learning curve never hurts.

Online content marketing courses such as the ones provided by LinkedIn help you plan and organize your content better. They also help you understand the market, specifically your niche, and enable you to create content that is high-quality and engaging. Moreover, having knowledge about how content marketing works can help you come up with some creative content marketing ideas that will actually deliver.

If you are still reserved about opting for a course, let us resolve your inner conflicts with some stats. KPMG International, a professional services firm, says that 90% of companies use e-learning to hone their services.

11. Abide by facts and data

There are times when you may be tempted to believe that if a content marketing strategy is great in your eyes, your audience will perceive it in the same manner. At such times, remember to first run a fact-check and see whether your strategy will bring in good results.

It also implies that you should not take everything mentioned on the web at face value. Check for yourself and then decide whether you want to proceed with a specific marketing strategy.

12. Prioritize your ideals

We know content marketing strategies are all about the consumer. However, this doesn’t mean you should lose sight of your business’ integral values.

Take some time to understand why you started a business and what you want to offer to the consumers. Do not get swayed by only what customers want. Also, when you understand your core values, you can synchronize them with your marketing content and earn more benefits, while staying original.

13. Examine the competition

Doing a competitive analysis is a strong move that will help you understand how your competitors are excelling at their craft. Also, data gathered from the analysis will come in handy a lot when you are developing your own marketing strategy.

14. Never lose sight of innovation

Marketing trends are born because some company somewhere decided that it was fed up with the existing marketing norms and tried to change them.

Hence, along with keeping up with contemporary marketing trends, devote some time to creating unique content marketing ideas that deviate from the norm. Who knows when you might be the one to start a new trend.

Key Takeaways

• Content marketing in 2022 will be more interactive and personalized.
• The consumer is the center of focus in every content marketing strategy.
• The content to be marketed should be explicit in nature and offer usefulness to the consumer.
• Devise content marketing strategies with long-term goals, such as forging a symbiotic relationship with consumers.
• Create content that readers can relate to organically.
• Recognize the unique needs of your business. Don’t take a generic approach to content marketing.

Conclusion

To excel at content marketing, you need to keep in mind three words: precision, value, and engagement. Of course, not every marketing strategy is successful and you might have to try several times to find a strategy that is the right fit for your company. So keep hustling and don’t forget to follow one or more of the best content marketing ideas mentioned above.

FAQs