In this article:

1. How content rules the world of marketing
2. Why businesses should expand their content strategy
3. Which content formats are there?
4. The versatility of content using the example of digital signage
5. Important questions for a goal oriented content strategy
6. The best content marketing tools
7. Our final advice
8. Conclusion 

The most important facts about content formats summarized:

• There are a wide variety of content formats that combine their strengths
• Which content formats companies use best depends on the target audience
• Special marketing tools help to implement the content strategy

How content rules the world of marketing

Different trends dominate marketing depending on time and the circumstances. For a long time, print advertising was considered the best marketing method and every company took advantage of beautifully designed posters and flyers. This trend then was followed by TV commercials as the best advertising medium. Especially on TV shows with high audience ratings, businesses wanted to place their commercials to get more attention. Then there are the timeless advertising methods, such as word-of-mouth or trade fairs. However, during the times of the corona crisis, a rethink took place and trade shows in particular were not possible for about two years or could only be implemented under strict conditions. For a few years now, a new trend has been emerging as a result of digitalization, namely content marketing and because of the pandemic, more companies than ever before are relying on the strengths of dynamic online content.

No matter if social media or websites, businesses provide their platforms with content on a daily basis and use different kinds of content formats. Classic marketing methods such as trade fairs and print still belong to their portfolio but in the past years the trend developed in a different as well as clear direction. Blog articles, videos, designs, podcasts – good content has many faces and we will show you how you present content to your target audience.

Why businesses should expand their content strategy

A good content strategy has developed into a relevant competition factor in the past years. Companies with a strong online presence, be it through blog articles, podcasts or videos, benefit the most from the advantages of digital marketing. One of these advantages is the desired first page of google and other search engines. For many years it is known that google prefers websites which regularly post new and high quality content. But this rule doesn’t only apply to search engines, even the algorithms of platforms like YouTube prefer channels which regularly publish long and high quality videos. Content isn’t only about regularity, but especially about quality. 

The right strategy ensures versatility when using different content formats

The steadily growing competition makes it kinda hard to establish a business in the digital world. Only about ten years ago there wasn’t any competition on keywords / google search terms and advertising content through paid ads (e. g. facebook) was much cheaper. But that belongs to the past because what matters in 2023 is a good strategy, variety, unique selling propositions and regularity. Businesses are in the position to provide their target audience with innovative content and not only to rely on proven strengths.

Moreover, content is the motor for automated marketing processes. Newsletter subscriptions or bookings for online courses always require content in the first step to build reach and to gain your target audience’s attention. Lead generation without the right content is impossible.

Which content formats are there?

Claims of the target audience are growing and businesses are in the position to think about innovative ideas to not provide generic content. The different content formats ensure variety to win over the attention of the target audience and to expand the online performance of your business.

Visual content

Nothing sticks in the minds of the target group as well as images or videos. They communicate emotions and the learning effect of informative content is bigger than with texts. The biggest advantage is that pictures are almost always used in combination with  different content formats or are at least useful – only through visualization social media posts unfold their effect, when reading blog articles the target group is provided with viewing material and even boring statistics get a nice optical makeover. The disadvantage of pictures is that content, which requires explanation, can’t be displayed. This is why we recommend a combination of text and pictures to combine the strengths of both content formats.

Videos come with a completely different disadvantage: The effort. Appealing videos require a good set-up, high quality equipment, safety in front of the camera and a final editing.

Advantages of visual content

• User friendly
• High learning effect
• Emotionalizing

Disadvantages of visual content

• Not barrier free
• Displaying complex content almost not possible in picture format
• Videos are very time consuming

Blog articles and text

When reading about the term “content” most people think of blog articles. That’s no surprise, because especially texts improve performance of a website, thus ensuring a good google ranking. That’s actually the reason why many businesses hire copywriters or even create jobs for that. Blogs are known for being the strongest medium to expand reach because the integration of the right keywords increases visitor numbers on websites and businesses win more customers through that.

An often overlooked advantage of texts is the accessibility of videos and pictures – web builders like wordpress come with the function to enter an alternative text as picture description which is read out in the event of charging difficulties or in the event of impaired vision.

Disadvantages appear with very extensive blog articles with poor content structure. Although search engines like to see informative blogs with good SEO, usability often gets lost when the table of contents is missing or there is no option left to go directly to the desired section. One example for that are websites with cooking recipes: Many bloggers expand recipes to holistic articles but don’t add a table of contents. Readers have to find the recipe by themselves and have to read through the complete text. This increases dissatisfaction with the blog, which in the worst case increases the bounce rate and worsens SEO performance.

Advantages of blog articles and text

• Informative
• Barrier free
• Detailed presentation of complex content is possible

Disadvantages of blog articles and text

• Not emotionalizing without pictures or videos
• Bad navigation when table of contents is missing

Podcast

In comparison to the other content formats, podcasts were added relatively late, but are still part of the marketing portfolio of many businesses. At first, we want to clear up with a prejudice: Podcasts aren’t only good for storytelling or for freetime-stories because they communicate important information and knowledge on a very personal level. The speaker appears to be reachable for the target audience and through interviews listeners gain additional insights and hear different perspectives to a specific topic.

Podcasts are captivating and communicate knowledge in an almost entertaining way but for business growth they are less appropriate. There are exceptions as well but in most cases, a podcast isn’t part of a content strategy because listeners only rarely go from a podcast to the website and take advantage of a company’s offer.

Advantages of podcasts

• Listeners build up a personal connection
• Podcasts are entertaining
• High learning effect
• Longevity of content

Disadvantages of podcasts

• Bad for conversions
• High reach primarily in entertainment niches

Social media posts (engagement posts)

Social media combines the content formats text, pictures, videos and audio. On the different channels there is one separate content format which promises additional attention, namely so called engagement posts. The goal of these posts is to win the attention of your target audience through interaction. The social media channel instagram, for instance, makes it possible to ask surveys or to let subscribers participate in quizzes. Engagement posts signalize the target audience that you are interested in hearing their opinion. Other than that, you increase the engagement rate which has a positive impact on the social media performance and you get further insights into the wishes and desires of your target audience.

Advantages of social media engagement posts

• Target audiences recognize that their wishes are considered
• Good basis for market research
• Provides for variety and more interaction

Disadvantages of social media engagement posts

• Your target audience might recognizes that you only use engagement posts to collect more information about their user behavior

The different advantages of content formats

You shouldn’t start producing content right away, you should rather first think about which target audience you speak to. Blog articles, videos and freebies all work for most businesses but the desired goals are different. Blogs build reach in the first step, freebies on the other hand are for people who have already been in touch with businesses.

With the other content formats, you have to carefully weigh up to what extent they are worthwhile. Live events or webinars are primarily for B2B customers and podcasts are more interesting for a younger audience which place high value on variety in content.

The versatility of content using the example of digital signage

How dynamic and varied content is, can be shown on the example of digital signage. The technology of digital billboards ensures the display of different content formats, no matter if it’s audio, video, picture or text. Applications differ and depending on the target audience, there are different opportunities. Restaurants show contents of a menu, clothing stores advertise their products and administration offices provide their staff with information. What matters at the end is the target audience – therefore, it’s less about which content format a business uses, but which persons they target with it.

Important questions for a goal oriented content strategy

• Who is my target audience?
• Is the goal of my company to expand reach or to generate leads?
• Which content format normally works for my niche?
• Which personnel do I need for the implementation?
• With which costs do I have to calculate?
• Which content marketing tools are used
• How big is my team and what are its strengths?
• What are current trends and how can I consider them for my strategy?
• Does my content strategy consider eventualities and possible changes in trends?
• How often do we post new content?

The best content marketing tools

To provide your target audience with good content, the right marketing tools are necessary. The palette reaches from design tools to applications for keyword research. The diversity of applications is growing and promises businesses the opportunity to execute their plans in content marketing. Following, we have listed the best marketing tools and how they can help you to execute your marketing strategy.

Overview of the best content marketing tools:

• Canva
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• Ahrefs
• Audacity
• Later
• Vegas Pro
• Asana
• Google Drive

Canva: The design tool for everyone

Most design tools require specific knowledge and pose a great challenge, especially for beginners. The developers of the service Canva had an innovative idea: To transmit the concept of a website builder to the creation and design of content. Canva doesn’t require installation and you don’t have to create designs out of nowhere – instead, the application works directly through the website and there are thousands of design templates available for inspiration.

The best thing about the tool: Canva is user friendly and intuitive. Designs for social media posts are provided in the right format and can be shared directly through canva.

Adobe illustrator and photoshop: The design tools for pros

Canva is known as a solution for everyone who doesn’t design a lot. The modular format expands regularly, but finds its limit when creating certain content (e.g. logos). The programs of Adobe still count as the biggest challenge for designers and give a lot of space for creativity. Photoshop is mainly used for picture editing, illustrator for logos and vector graphics. At first, these applications require some practice, but once you are trusted with the programs of Adobe, you will create stunning and unmatchable designs.

Ahrefs: Keyword research made easy

Experienced texters know that nowadays it’s not enough to choose a topic and work on its content, because it is the keywords which matter the most. Ahrefs is a good solution for that because it’s a user-friendly and professional tool for keyword research. During research you are suggested many different keywords and W-questions, furthermore the tool offers the opportunity to analyze websites and their integrated keywords and to compare the performance of your own website with the one of your competitors.

Audacity: Editing audio files uncomplicated and for free

Podcasts inspire people – they communicate emotions, are accessible from everywhere and listeners can expect exciting content about specific topics. There are many programs to edit audio files but one of them has particularly proved itself: Audacity. The application is for free and ensures fast as well as uncomplicated editing of audio files. And don’t you dare to think that a free-to-use program can’t be good – Audacity provides you with all needed functions, no matter if it’s changing volume or reducing background noises. The only weakness lies in editing the details of an audio file (e.g. frequency settings or sound features). Those who don’t want to miss that out rather use a chargeable software such as Adobe audition.

Later: Plan your content

A good editorial plan is especially helpful for businesses with a long term and extensive content strategy. To ensure that you don’t lose the overview, a planning tool such as Later is recommended. The application allows precisely timed planning and sends reminders, so that you won’t forget to upload a post on social media channels. The biggest advantage is automation because with a membership you’re provided with the advantage to upload social media posts without having to do it by yourself.

Vegas Pro: Videos with style and quality

Among free-to-use software for video editing there is not a lot you can choose from. The well known Windows Player isn’t part of the integrated programs on microsoft computers anymore and doesn’t provide any mentionable editing functions for videos. With Vegas Pro it’s a different story. At first, the tool might cause you some troubles because of all the different things you can do. However, once you get familiar with the program, you don’t want to use a different one to edit your videos.

Asana: Organize your team

Complex content strategies involve many different parties – you need someone for design, social media texts, blogs, SEO and websites. To make sure that there are no overlaps, centralized organization through a project management tool such as Asana helps you. The main advantage is that all involved parties can easily communicate with each other, have access to all to-dos and get a precise overview of all the deadlines to meet. For a team of two or three, tools like Asana aren’t really helpful but for bigger projects it’s almost a must.

Google Drive: Save your data uncomplicated

Cloud storages such as Google Drive make working in a team easier. Before the times of cloud services, the parties involved in a project had to send the content to each other and save it on their end device. When there were problems with the device, content was gone as the worst case scenario. Thanks to cloud services like Google Drive this isn’t a problem anymore because the content is stored in an area freely accessible to all involved parties and can be accessed from everywhere.

Our final advice: Consider the details

Creating content and using the right format is not everything. To produce good content, you need an eye for details – the wrong picture format leads to a loss in quality and if you choose the wrong color channel in photoshop, you show your social media audience group a faded picture. We recommend you to double check your content before you publish it. Not only optical mistakes cause problems, grammar mistakes or maximal lengths of videos might cause trouble as well. It is best to deal with the requirements in advance and finally check everything again.

Conclusion

Without content you limit your chances of performing successful marketing. Through social media and the variety of websites, users get in touch with different types of content everyday, which wins over their attention and delivers added value. Businesses are in the position to provide new and innovative content, also to save a better position in search engines such as google and bing. But even in different areas, digital signage for instance, different types of high quality content are the key to win over your target audience.

Contact us

In this article:

1. What is advertising media?
2. How do I choose the right advertising media
3. Design tipps
4. Usage in a targeted manner
5. Our final advice
6. Conclusion
7. FAQ

The most important information summarized

• The choice and design of advertising media depend on your target audience.
• The combination of analog and digital advertising methods is purposeful.
• Take customer needs into account when communicating.

What is advertising media?

In connection with the term, one encounters the most diverse definitions and opinions. For many it’s the ballpoint pen or USB stick with a company’s logo, but here we talk about advertising articles or promotion products. “Advertising media” is a general term which describes all actions to convey an advertising message. Promotion products also fall under this category but other actions are also part of this.

Overview of the most known advertising media:

• Promotion products such as ballpoint pens or flyers
• Ads (digital or print)
• Posters
• Digital signage
• Banners
• TV spots
• Content (Blog, podcasts)

How do I choose the right advertising media?

The decision depends on many different factors. During the selection of possibilities it’s not that easy to choose the right method but even more important is a good strategy to avoid bad investments.

The target audience is the most important factor

In marketing, the focus on one’s own target group is the core criterion for choosing the right advertising media. For example, it doesn’t make sense to choose promotion products such as ballpoint pens when potential clients primarily use digital media and barely have personal contact to a business. On the other hand, crafts, for example, take advantage of promotion products because clients show up at the location.

Through digital ads the opportunity of communicating messages in different ways is given. Use this diversity and speak to all of your interested parties and clients. In the end, a company has many different target groups and you should reach out to all of them as well as considering their different needs. Don’t forget: The benefit does not depend on a product or service but on the needs of the customers.

But it’s not only about choosing the right medium but also how you speak to your target group. Young people wish for different advertising than someone who is in his fifties and that should be clear when communicating with your target audience. Younger people are more likely to consider how innovative or timeless the advantages of a product are communicated, older people on the other hand care more about safety and price.

However, there are also communication channels through which all target groups are addressed. One example for this is digital signage – the greater flexibility allows content to be targeted precisely at different groups of people and this is not just done by manual means, because by using artificial intelligence, sensors can recognize the person in front of the digital screen and target advertising. This flexibility gives companies greater leeway in strategy development and the budget is also used more purposefully as a result.

The marketing strategy determines the objectives

A strategy determines the framework and sets the direction. Research, identification of customer needs, setting of deadlines and analyses are the foundation for choosing the best advertising media. If the goal is “customer loyalty”, promotional products are a proven way of expressing appreciation to customers. However, if the focus is on acquiring new customers, promotional items are not helpful; instead, advertisements with discount promotions or giveaways are.

The strategy also defines the timing of the advertising. Many companies finance their ideas via crowdfunding campaigns with a predefined goal and deadline. Here it would be fatal to focus exclusively on the goal but not inform anyone about the timing so that the investment is also made within the deadline.

Ideally, choose advertising materials that fit both strategically and in terms of timing. It doesn’t make sense to hand out flyers for a company anniversary two days beforehand, but it’s just as useless to run ads promoting an anniversary in Munich but addressing a target group from Berlin.

The budget question

Companies have a specific budget for their marketing and that is to consider because the target group depends on that. Some businesses create a few thousand euros of marketing costs each month and they use the advantages of outsourcing. This approach is barely recommendable for freelancers or small start ups. They don’t have the opportunities to reach as many businesses as possible with their limited budget.

The available budget determines the type and scope of advertising media as well as the pursued goal. Little businesses with a 1000 € marketing budget per month rather focus on one goal (e. g. expanding reach), big companies with more than 10.000 € marketing budget on the other hand have the possibility to execute a full marketing strategy with lead generation.

Just take a look at your target group again – if you, for example, sell luxury products, your customers will expect more than a pen or a lighter. In determining the available budget not only your business is involved but also your target group and their wishes.

Design Tipps

To communicate the emotions associated with advertising, using visual elements is necessary. But a nice presentation isn’t enough to use the strengths of advertising.

Consider your corporate identity

Uniformity is essential for the identification of a company and the recognition value for the target group. Don’t use random colors during the designing process but remain true to the corporate identity created. The colors of a promotion product don’t necessarily have to match with the colors of a website, but depending on format and media the colors should be alike. If you represent your website and your logo in a combination of black and green for example, it’s not good to design digital ads in, for instance, yellow.

An unified look also means to use key elements. The logo, or at least the lettering, must be on advertising media to create recognition value. Likewise, the unique selling proposition or a slogan does well to stand out decisively from competitors. Visual elements (placing pictures, form elements etc.) are welcome to differ in order to offer variety but don’t deviate too much from your color scheme.

Corporate identity: The fundament to create a brand with recognition value | Source: canva.com

Communicate a positive feeling

Besides a strong message, advertising is defined by a good strategy. What matters the most is how clients view your advertising. Use your strategy to awaken positive feelings of hope or excitement. Depending on your target group, you can use humor too. In order to strengthen the good impression we suggest to use positive formulations of sentences – nobody likes to read negative words such as “problem”, but rather positive alternatives like “challenge”. You are not necessarily aware of such little details but they have an influence on the overall impression.

If possible, use advertising media to speak to the senses of your target audience. A ballpoint pen should feel comfortable in the hands and create a “wow-effect” when looking at it. The reason why videos work so well as advertising media is because they speak to the human senses and visualizing helps to understand a message much better. Use these advantages for your business.

In terms of visualization, nothing can beat digital billboards. In general, digital advertising is visually more appealing than print media because in the process of creation designers have more possibilities and displaying content on a screen is supported by effects which can’t be used for print media.

Article → What are use cases? Definition and examples

Check for completeness

In the first step, the purpose of advertising media is to support marketing. But strong messages and promises alone won’t help your target group when important information is missing. Take care that your contact data is deposited and that important information regarding prices, references or spectrum of services is not missing.

Also, don’t go into detail too much and focus on key information. The goal is to deliver important information as short and “straight to the point” as possible because the span of attention is short.
Here again, the advantages of digital advertising become apparent: For example, digital advertising screens can be set in such a way that the content played out changes by itself after a few seconds. This constant change of advertising messages keeps the viewer’s curiosity alive and makes addressing the target group more flexible.

Tailor content to the target group

Your target group is the key factor, the same applies to the design of advertising materials. There is no such thing as a consistent formula, instead the needs of your clients matter. Some place more value on safety, to others good conditions are more important. Exactly this is to consider when delivering an advertising message. Admittedly, it’s harder with promotion products such as lighters or ballpoint pens but it’s easier with advertising brochures to design content in a targeted manner.

What’s also important is to differ between B2B and B2C customers / clients. In B2C marketing, the main focus is to communicate emotions and customers expect lower prices. In B2B marketing on the other hand, innovation and objective facts / data which support the selling of a product or good primarily matter.

Make your target group understand: “You need to do this to contact us” – we’re referring to the Call-To-Action, that is, to perform an action. Many website owners regularly optimize their texts but still aren’t successful. The reason is not necessarily the bad findability or because something is wrong with the texts. Often it’s because the Call-To-Action is missing. Many businesses oversee that interests and customers want to be taken by the hand. The User experience is one of the most important criteria for successful usage of advertising media and especially through the progress of digitalization it becomes more relevant.

Consider the visual details

As already mentioned, visuals aren’t everything but under the line they are still important. Brochures don’t look good when pictures are pixelated or spacing from text to edge isn’t enough. Likewise, print mistakes, which are often caused by an incorrectly set color channel of a program, aren’t good either. Pictures are ideally in the vector format (to make sure they are not pixelated), the writing big enough and the spacing unified. You should also consider choosing the right format so that there are no difficulties in terms of size when printing.

Store your promotion products the right way

Promotion products such as brochures quickly accumulate dust, even more important is the right storage. Do not store promotional items openly in the basement or in damp areas, this will damage them and make them less attractive or even affect their function (e. g. lighters).

The targeted use

When it comes to certain promotional items, there are a few little things to consider that many overlook at first glance. It is not helpful to produce a large quantity of promotional items or blindly play out advertisements, because depending on the target group, there are various special features to consider.

The occasion matters

Especially in the B2B sector meetings and events are a common thing. To convince their business partners, you better give it all you got and use luxurious advertising materials. It’s better to invest a little bit more money to provide good quality. But don’t only consider the price, but also personal preferences and wishes of business partners.

Don’t be intrusive

Many people see advertising as intrusive or bothering. Respect the wishes of all of your customers and that some of them are just not interested in advertisement. That actually gives you the possibility to plan better for the future and to figure out who is actually interested in your advertising and who is not.

Our final advice

Take a look at your competitors and consider your experience. News regarding current trends does not always tell you the best methods for choosing advertising media because your own market research is still the most reliable source for information. Taking a look at your competitors promotes creativity and inspires for new ways to do things. Don’t copy content of other businesses but question their procedure during creation of advertising media to expand and improve your own strategy.

Conclusion

The right choice of advertising media is based on three factors: The wishes of the target group, the right use and a good design to arouse emotions. If you act without a strategy, you end up investing a lot of money and getting no results – so beforehand, always make an analysis that takes into account the wishes of the target audience and forecast the result.

FAQ

At the end of the article we answer frequently asked questions about promotional items.

Contact us