What is Your Content Style?

It may be a little known secret that there are different types of content style That can help you achieve different objectives and hit different markets. Which one are you using?

There are three main types:

• Call to action
• Branding awareness
• Educational

Each type differs in its goal, messaging and sometimes even target audience. However, it is ok to use two types in one piece of content as long as you know where one stops and the next begins as understanding which type you are using helps you stay on topic and ensures your goal is crystal clear to your audience. For an example, many blogs start out as an educational post then convert to call to action such a post that is educating a reader on how to build a birdhouse then at the end of the post, the writer invites the reader to call them to learn their latest promotions on birdhouse accessories which is a call to action.

Call to Action
Call to action messaging can work within any businesses marketing plan and are excellent for lead generations or cross promotions between marketing platforms. A perfect example of a call to action type is The Brick. Every piece of marketing they do is to get you to visit their store. There is never an educational or brand awareness component to their messages.

A few steps to consider with call to action:

• You must first identify a need the reader has (Ex: The Brick is bringing out your need for new furniture at low prices so you can easily replace that dingy sofa.)
• Incentives are a great idea (Ex: The Brick offers TVs, cameras and additional discounts when you purchase a combination of furniture)
• Keep your instructions distinct and easy to follow so the reader knows exactly what you want them to do (Ex: The Brick – When you buy the couch and loveseat, you get a free TV. Simple – you buy the couch and loveseat.)
• Urgency helps (Ex: The Brick promotes limited time deals such as weekend promotions.)
• Ensure your call to action is apparent at the very end (Ex: At the end of every commercial, The Brick repeat the promotion and say, only at The Brick)

Brand Awareness
This is version of content is used on nearly every platform from the Coke commercials you see at Christmas time to the images you see floating around on social media with a logo strategically placed on it.

A perfect example is www.thebirthingsite.com (TBS) which is an online community I manage that orientated around birth, pregnancy and parenting. When we were first started, we had 200 followers on Facebook and no marketing budget to work with. We created a series of images that captured the spirit of TBS, placed our logo and URL on it. The images were of intimate moments between mothers and babies, happy families, empowered women giving birth, etc. as our branding values were empowerment, education and love. We then posted them to our social media accounts. These images were shared by our followers and went viral. In the end, we grew our following by the thousands to over 42,000 and grew our brand awareness so people knew what TBS stood for.

Educational/Information
Many blogs are educational or informational based messaging as it helps the writer/website demonstrate their expertise on a given topic. A prime example of educational posts are do-it-yourself posts because often these are specifically instructions to help the audience complete a task or educate them on how to do something. Another example is the very blog you are reading. I am educating you on types of content marketing so you can understand the difference and implement it in your own content strategy.