7 creative marketing ideas to spice up your content marketing

If you ate the same handful of healthy foods every day, you’d probably survive, but you’d probably also want something different. The same goes for content marketing.

As marketers, we typically survive on a steady diet of white papers, articles, case studies, and blog posts. Although the information varies, it always uses the same tried and true format. If you feel like you’re stuck in a content rut, try one of these more unusual content marketing formats to add some spice to your marketing efforts.

1.Interview. Take off your salesman hat, then put on your journalist hat and schedule an interview. Whether it’s with a subject matter expert from your company or a thought leader in your industry, an interview is one of the easiest ways to add variety to your content marketing. Interviews can be recorded in video or audio format, transcribed and edited for quick reading, or even conducted via live webcast or teleseminar.

2. Infographics. Infographics are becoming an increasingly compelling way to visually tell even complicated stories. A copywriter can help you combine your existing white papers and webinars for interesting infographic ideas, and then work with a graphic designer to bring those ideas to life.

3. Playbook. A “playbook” is an interesting version of an electronic book. While many ebooks simply share information, a playbook is a comprehensive “how to” guide that takes customers and prospects step-by-step through a process and puts them on the path to success.

4. Online press release. Traditionally, companies have saved press releases for the “big news,” such as new hires and major awards. However, the advent of online press release distribution services has changed all that, and today you can submit a search engine optimized press release for just about anything. Take a look at “The New Rules of Marketing and Public Relations” by David Meerman Scott for more details on this strategy.

5. Video. Gone are the days of cost-prohibitive videos, and that’s a good thing for marketers. A $100 handheld digital camera, inexpensive video editing software, and access to YouTube is all it takes to start video marketing.

6. Teleseminar. Sure, webinars are the “gold standard,” but for small and medium-sized businesses, a teleseminar can be much less intimidating and easier to run — a phone is all it takes. Instead of using fancy webinar software, simply email an agenda or slideshow to attend before the conference call begins.

7. Online survey research. Take advantage of free tools like Zoomerang or Survey Monkey to survey your customers and gain valuable insights. Then collect your survey results and distribute them to customers and prospects.