Boost Your Content Marketing With Professional Graphic Design

Content marketing is one of the most trusted and effective strategies to convert prospects to customers or users. Many brands and businesses apply this because it allows them to reach their audiences on different platforms or channels. 

As this marketing strategy gets more traction, more content marketing design ideas pop up. This enables marketers to become more creative in tapping more audiences, eventually converting them as customers.

In this article, I list down 15 content marketing ideas you can apply for your business and how design is essential for this strategy.

1. Social Media Posts

Social media posts are one of the most popular content marketing design ideas because you can engage and interact with your target audience through the platform. Many businesses would use social media this way, to learn who their audience is and improve how to connect with them over time.

Check out this example from Headspace. The calming cloud design is on-brand because of the illustration and colors. The copy also provides relief for the followers, which is what Headspace does for its users.

2. Promotional Content

Promotional content is another way you can attract audiences to your social media page or website. It’s part of any effective content marketing strategy because this gets people excited over discounts or freebies. This will motivate people to visit your site and check out your products and selections.

Here’s an example of promotional content from Pepsi and Grubhub. As per the design, you can see that the color of Pepsi stands out the most, but you can still see bits of Grubhub’s color as well. The blue in the design will strengthen retention and have them order a can of Pepsi.

3. Banner Ads

Banner ads are another way you can promote your content. 

According to BannerSnack, banner ads can become content marketing design ideas too because it can pique a customer’s interest. This way, they get drawn to an idea, your product or service, and click to see more. Also, since some banner ads appear outside the website, the ad should be in an environment relevant to it. It’s how you can address some pain points your potential customers face.

Take a look at what Four Leaf created for Shell. You can see that Shell’s yellow is prominent in any banner ad size. Plus, it will draw in some interested candidates to apply for Shell to work with them. They also added the human element too, so some people may identify with the person and learn more about the position.

4. Infographics

Infographics have become one of the most popular content types in the last few years. Its purpose is to inform or entertain readers first. However, infographics have shown that it can widen a brand’s reach if it is designed well. Plus, infographics can even increase website traffic.

For instance, if a brand shares a high-quality infographic design with accurate information, more people will share it. That’s how it’s become of the most used content marketing design ideas.

Check out this example from resume.io. As you can see, they list down nine productivity mistakes people do. The infographic design is excellent because some colors and illustrations allow people to view the infographic as a whole instead of scanning it.

At the end of the infographic, resume.io doesn’t forget to add their website so people can visit it once they’ve seen the whole infographic.

You can view the full infographic here.

5. Ebooks

Typically, businesses or brands would repurpose their content. It’s how they can either elaborate further on a topic or present in a different manner so their audiences can digest information better. That’s the case for ebooks.

According to the CIO, ebooks can establish your authority as an expert on the topic as part of your content marketing strategy. At the same time, you can get more leads through that way too.

However, ebooks shouldn’t have to be just blocks of text containing information. To attract customers to download or share your ebooks, you need to design it well, just like this example from Hubspot and Help Scout.

Instead of using text or photos, they added some illustrations and icons to make it more engaging to read. Plus, it’s not all black and white either, since it also integrates the brand colors of Hubspot and Help Scout in the ebook.

6. Presentations

As an alternative to ebooks, presentations are also one thing you can use for your content marketing design ideas. Presentations can serve as summaries of ebooks, company overview, or educational resources.

Of course, your presentation should have a compelling design that will keep your audience’s focus on your slides. This way, they can download your presentation, come back to it, and who knows they might go to your website for more sources or information.

Here’s an example from Office Vibe. They made the presentation into a mini-course about the Secrets of a Good Team. Throughout the whole presentation, everything is colored, making it easy to move to the next slide. Plus, the text is minimal per slide, so it’s easy to follow as well. The use of illustrations or photos also makes it look lively.

7. Blog Post Images

One of the core content types of content marketing is blog posts. Blogging has its advantages. Besides having more content and getting heightened visibility, INC says, it can increase your reputation and conversion rates.

However, you should take your blog posts one step further by adding images. Optimonster finds that 32% of marketers integrate visuals in any content. This will allow them to view and read your content more. It may even lead them to do something.

Check out this blog post from CoSchedule. As you can see, they have images to break the text for readability purposes. But they also provide three original images, one header, one body image, and one conversion image. 

The header image is very engaging because of the use of illustration and visual hierarchy. Your eyes will dart to the main text. The body image provides more support for the text. This can be retentive because of the colors. Finally, the conversion image shows contrast, so your eyes would go to the CTA button.

8. Email Newsletters

Email newsletters have become one of the widely used content marketing strategies. Campaign Monitor says that email newsletters strengthen customer loyalty. Some subscribers may even forward emails to their friends, colleagues, or family members to spread the word about products or services.

Some software applications offer content marketing design tools for emails. That’s why it’s much easier to create and design email newsletters. This allows them to reach more people and have them learn more about their company and products or services.

Check out this example from Harry’s. They integrate their products on the design, so subscribers have an idea of what they offer and its benefits. It uses a zig-zag pattern, allowing the eyes to move until the end of the newsletter.

9. Social Proof

Not many know it, but social proof can also play a key role in content marketing. Hubspot says social proof comes in different forms:

• Expert Approval
• Recommendation
• Social Media Shares
• Testimonials

They add that if an interested prospect sees positive reviews, 50% of them would go to your website and check out what you’re offering. This not only increases website traffic but also overall awareness of your company and product or services.

Look at how Toggl posted Social Proof on Facebook and direct customers to their website. They didn’t use just a photo of Ada Enechi, a software user. 

They added some elements to the background and highlighted the most important part of her review. Plus, if you click on the link, you’ll go to their page and find more illustrations showing how the software works. This way, more people can consider subscribing to their software and perhaps convert as their customer or user.

10. Case Studies

Case studies are another underrated form of content. Case studies offer more social proof since it elaborates on the process of what happened with a client and the results. This way, more customers or users get an insight on how you produce results for your customers or clients. It’s a content marketing strategy because they can read more about the case study and view you as a credible source or authority.

Case studies shouldn’t be too lengthy or wordy. You can get straight to the point, like this example from LevelEleven and Staples.

In the design, LevelEleven emphasized numbers by using their brand colors. It’s a plus since they want to make sure they’re consistent. Plus, they included social proof in their case study, which is a bonus to show that the client was satisfied with the results.

11. Landing Pages

Landing pages play a huge role in a brand or a business’s marketing campaign. According to Disruptive Advertising, it enables businesses to capture more leads and further brand awareness through email, chats, or an event.

If done correctly, landing pages can become one of your best content marketing design ideas. Since you want people to know more about your company and what you offer, a landing page is a great way to introduce people about it. Plus, if you’re capturing leads through the landing page, you can further your content marketing approach through emailing. This way, you can send updates about new products or blog posts and other information.

For instance, here’s the Let’s XD landing page. This landing page is perfect for beginners and those with prior experience or knowledge about UI/UX. 

Unlike other landing pages that ask you for your email or lead you to their product page, you can type what you want to learn. From there, it redirects you to related blog pages. Plus, the illustration and the overall theme is appropriate for those wishing to learn more about the software.

12. Flyers

Flyers are one of the many overlooked content marketing design ideas. They do serve more of a sales purpose, but flyers share information with the company’s users or customers. It can engage customers to check out the event, the promo, offerings, and so much more. This allows them to move from the awareness stage to the consideration stage.

You can see that they’ve included what Pulse Printing can service to its customers. It’s also a bonus to see sample work in the flyers too. That way, people know what they produce.

13. Brochures

You can use brochures for your content marketing strategy. Brochures may contain more information than a flyer, and you can showcase your products or services. All the more people would take an interest in your items and visit your website or learn about what you’re offering. That’s why brochures are still a thing, and it’s something worth considering.

Traditional brochures are printed, but you can go for something digital to save up on printing costs. Check out this one from the National Archives. Toast Design provided two designs for the museum. Both are well-designed brochures. They emphasize the figures related to the museum and the paintings featured there as well. It’s easy to scan, too, because of the headers.

14. Templates

Templates can become part of your marketing strategy provided they’re shareable or printable or both. Most templates offered by businesses are to practice your skills or for professional use. 

For The Body Shop’s case, they kept up with the trend of templates circulating on Instagram. They created templates that allowed customers or followers to fill-up some personal information. Anyone interested in the template could go to The Body Shop Instagram account and take a screenshot of it. The design uses their colors, and it includes The Body Shop logo for immediate recognition.

It’s one of the best content marketing ideas out there because it increases awareness of The Body Shop. As for those who caught sight of the template posted by their friends or people they follow, they can visit The Body Shop’s account to see more stories and posts they created.

15. Podcasts

Podcasts have become a popular medium to discuss everyday topics, interview experts, and advertising businesses. All of these reasons can be connected to content marketing. You can discuss topics related to your business, experts in the industry, and advertise your company in another podcast.

If perhaps you decide to have a podcast, take a look at how Slack created their podcast artwork. The artwork integrates their branding that way so people can still recognize them even through a podcast. The design is also straightforward and knows that it’s for podcast purposes.

You don’t have to resort to DIY content marketing design tools to create the examples above. You should have high-quality and professional designs for your content marketing efforts.