9 Types of Unique Content for Marketing (+Examples)

As search algorithms continue to develop and content marketers do their best to enhance their online presence, it can be quite difficult to know what types of content you should be creating.

You may understand the importance of writing quality blog posts and having engaging product pages, but is there anything you can do to up your game?

How can you stand out among your competitors and convert as many of your leads as possible?

9 Content Types To Build Into Your Strategy

Let’s look at nine types of content you need to incorporate into your content marketing strategy:

An Honest Brand Story

The first type of content you should invest in is a brand story. This is what you will put on your About page, showing your customers or clients who you are, what you stand for, and why they should do business with you.

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can help you form more meaningful relationships with your audience.

When telling the story of your brand, make sure to choose a voice that matches your personality.

If you try to be something you are not, your audience will notice something is off, even if they won’t be able to explain what.

Smash.vc does a great job sharing their story on their homepage. They tell you all about the brand, how and why it was established, and what their goals are.

They use the voice and style they use across all of their channels — one that is easy to understand and relate to.

A voice that shows you they are a bunch of laid-back professionals who care about more than just the bottom line.

Source: smash.vc

A Simple Pricing Page

If you are a SaaS company or any other kind of subscription-based service, you will also need to create a very clear, simple pricing page.

You don’t want to overwhelm your audience with too much information.

They need to be able to tell at a glance what each pricing tier includes, how much it will cost, and whether there is an annual plan. Basically, be sure it will answer any questions they may have.

You can use your Features pages to share more information. The pricing page should be all about the dollars.

Flamingo has a great example. Their pricing page gives you the plain facts: this is how much it costs, and this is what is included in the service.

They have also done a great job of overcoming some common conversion obstacles by answering the most common customer questions.

This will reduce the amount of customer service queries, while demonstrating how much they care about their clients.

Source: helloflamingo.com

A Comprehensive (But Short) Product Description

If you sell products, you will need to put some thought into writing great product descriptions.

Ideally, you want to keep them as short as possible. No one wants to read a long product description, even if the product is highly complex.

They want to be given the basic information in bite-sized sentences, and then shown a compelling reason to choose the product.

Focus on the benefits here, and not just the features. Explain why a particular product is the right choice for each specific customer.

iLoveParcels has done a good job with their parcel box product description.

They give you all the key facts above the fold and then provide a detailed table with all the most important information.

You can easily tell if this is the right size and model for your needs.

The “three reasons to purchase a parcel box” tells you what you can expect from the purchase and serves as a nice conversion incentive.

Source: iloveparcels.com

User-Generated Content

User-generated content should also definitely make it into your content strategy.

Not only will it lend you an extra dose of credibility, but UGC will also help you showcase your products or services through the eyes of your customers.

This will help you tell more comprehensive stories and demonstrate more value.

The form of UGC you choose will depend on the nature of your brand. Customer photos are a great way to enhance customer reviews, for instance.

Check out how Honest Baby Clothing has done it. Their bodysuits, for example, come with plenty of cute photos of babies.

They show the product better than any brand-shot images can, and they also speak to the satisfaction of shoppers. 

Source: honestbabyclothing.com

You can also use testimonials in the form of customer videos, always making sure you ask for permission to use someone else’s content.

Incorporate it in your email marketing campaigns and social media presence, where even more people will be exposed to it.

A One-Of-a-Kind Case Study

Another content type you should consider using is the case study.

It’s a great way to demonstrate expertise and showcase tangible results, significantly boosting your conversion rates.

What kind of case study you can create is highly dependent on the nature of your business.

Ideally, you want to use the skills and expertise available to you that sets you apart from your competition.

Ahrefs is great at doing this. Their case studies always show how powerful their solution is, and they cleverly promote their product without sounding too sales-y.

If you run a service-based brand, write case studies that show what you have been able to achieve for your clients.

Keep them anonymous if you have to. In any case, show the before and after, and describe in detail what your process was, what challenges you had to overcome, and what made this particular client different from others.

An In-Depth Guide

Let’s look at some blog post types you should also consider adding to your strategy. First, the in-depth guide.

This is a content format that is well-suited to covering evergreen topics that can rank well over time. These are the types of materials that you can use as pillars for topical clusters.

Choose a topic that is highly relevant to both your audience and your brand.

Since it needs to be a long piece of content, look for a broader topic rather than something that answers a specific question.

While you’re at it, write down all the smaller topics that you will also cover in other posts. Think ahead and build a clear internal linking plan in the process.

Here is a good example of this kind of post. This guide on golf cart lift kits covers a topic that is very relevant for the brand. It also gives them an opportunity to show their expertise and experience.

And to top all of that, the topic explains something a lot of golf cart users and shoppers may not understand, so it provides plenty of value.

Make sure to regularly update your guides and include any new information that may not have been available at the time of writing.

An FAQ-Style Post

The other type of post you need to cover in a topical cluster is what we’ll call an FAQ-style post. This is a piece of content that answers specific questions directly.

Let’s look at an example to show you what we mean. This post by the Confused Nester tells you how long a refrigerator needs to get cold.

It has one main question and is supported by a bunch of related questions, something a reader might want to know once their main query has been answered.

In order to find the questions you want to answer, go to Google’s People Also Ask section. It’s full of search terms that are related to your key query. What’s more, these are terms which are typed into Google by real people seeking answers.

You can also check out what the most popular and topic-ranking posts have already covered on the subject.

Make sure to populate your blog with related posts of this kind.

The better you are able to demonstrate topical authority, the better your clusters will perform.

A Long-Form Listicle

Listicle posts are often easy to write but can prove to be very shareable and useful, especially if you land on a great topic.

Almost any subject matter can be covered in listicle format. All you need to do is find the right approach.

Step-by-step guides can be considered listicles, but you can also write a review post in this format.

For example, you can do a post on the X biggest myths in your industry. Or on the X mistakes people make when choosing a product you sell.

You can create a list of products you recommend to someone who already owns one of your items.

Here’s a good example of a listicle for you to check out. This post on the best Amazon PPC agencies helps readers choose a company to work with and tells you what you need to be looking for in one.

It’s valuable but easy to read, as it does not overwhelm you with too much information.

A Comparison Post

Finally, you should also consider writing a comparison post. The goal of this type of content is to help your readers make a decision and choose between two or more similar products or services.

When writing this type of post, make sure to be completely objective. This is especially important if you’re mentioning the competition or if you’re including yourself in the comparison.

Customers won’t want to hear you bragging about yourself or putting your competitors down. Tell it like it is, and let your readers make their own informed choice.

Here’s a good example from DreamGrow. Their post on Unbounce vs. Leadpages goes into all the relevant details about the two options, from the different features and options they offer to their pricing and downsides.

It’s written in an easy-to-understand language and format, so readers can quickly gather all the relevant information and choose between the two.

Wrapping Up

Before you start producing any of these content types, take a minute to analyze which one would make the most impact on your audience.

Start with the format that would appeal to them most, and slowly work your way through the rest of this list over time.