Five Ways to Get Creative with Content Marketing

If you think content marketing is limited to submitting articles to directories and starting your own business blog, then it's time to start thinking outside the box. While those are both great ways to get started with your plans, there is so much more to content marketing than article writing and blogging. To make the most of your content, consider these five creative ways to go about content marketing.

One: Be a Little Crazy

Make comparisons you wouldn't normally make. What can you learn about marketing from five year olds? What did your cat teach you about running a business? Get creative and find out. You may think this sounds a bit gimmicky, but it's okay to get a little out there as long as you still include valuable information.

Two: Get offline

Nowadays everyone thinks of content strategy as being an online tool. However, offline content marketing is still a valid tool for getting more sales from existing customers and targeting potential new ones. Send a quarterly or monthly newsletter both online and in the mail to offer useful tips and information to customers. If you're looking to attract a new business, send direct mail to get their attention. If you are in retail, you should even consider keeping a print catalog to match your online one. The key is to use offline content to supplement and increase the effectiveness of your online content.

Three: Create Information Products

Content marketing isn't always limited to promoting the products and services you already offer; it can also be helpful when creating informative products, such as eBooks and special reports. Content in this form is especially useful, as it can be give consumers new incentives or assist in selling a new product. This not only increases your positioning as an expert in your industry, but it also allows you to create a more passive income stream.

Have no clue how to write an eBook? You can hire content writers to take care of that for you. Once you've got a plan in place for what you'd like to say then you can begin to browse for writers in a writing marketplace. Just remember to check the writer or marketplace's credentials carefully so you know you're hiring the best writer for the job.

Four: Guest Blog on Other Sites

A little guest blogging never hurt anyone, especially if you're interested in freelance writing. This will not only get you valuable links back to your site, but will also increase your exposure to your target audience. By increasing the traffic to your blog, guest blogging will also increase sales and conversions. Not confident in your writing abilities? You can hire bloggers to help.

Five: Give Readers Some Incentive

You have a lot to offer your customers, so it's important to use good content to promote contests, specials, and other promotions. For example, you could give away an information product like a webinar or whitepaper to the first fifty people who "like" you on Facebook. You could also try to give away free products or services to those who comment on your blog.

The most important thing to remember when developing your content strategy is to keep at it. Nothing will happen overnight, and no matter how creative your work, you'll need to produce new content on a consistent basis in order to see results.