When do you use a certain type of content?

More and more we wonder what type of content matches the target group and our own strategy best. When do you make a video and when an article or blog?

A few years ago, I worked for a director who was very visually oriented and I remember I didn’t notice this at first. I was used to submitting my marketing or project plans in a Word document and discuss. After a few times I noticed my director had a problem with it. He really had to concentrate to read it and discuss.

Not a man of text but a man of pictures

I really noticed when one day I wanted to work on a communication plan and decided to draw it. My kids were still small, the coloring pencils were on the table. With large squares, arrows and many colors – it beats a PowerPoint presentation – I drew my communication plan. When I hung it on the wall in the boardroom, it was approved after only a glance and the director was enthusiastic.

That same year I was doing a course in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). NLP assumes that communication is meaningful when somebody responds. This assumption presumes that it is the sender’s task to make the message significant and give it content so that he gets the desired response. What I got out of it is that every person reacts differently to information and some are more visually oriented and others more auditory or textual. So, my director was not ‘the man of text’ like I always presented to him but ‘the man of pictures’!

I used this insight in marketing and I have accepted more and more that people within your target group are different – some are visually oriented, others are not. Especially by working with buyer personas you understand that there are more keys to success in the target group’s world. Some have little time and others do not. People who read in the evenings and people who prefer to watch videos.

Whitepaper or video?

Many marketers have got used to make one type of content in their organization. You get the hang of making whitepapers and you stick to it. Or you make videos for client testimonials. Hardly ever you consider doing both. It will improve when you use content recycling. Starting point is that when producing content you immediately think of how you can execute this in a few different ways.

I have explained the ‘Rule of 5’ before. A rule where you think of 5 ways to execute in the design phase of your content. For instance, think of a whitepaper that you show in a series of articles first. Then a complete document with a video interview with the author and maybe an infographic or illustration if it suits the subject.

Which content? A non-discussion

Like this, the whole discussion about whether to make a text or video disappears. Actually, you make sure you do everything and then you have the least risk of missing people in your target group. In fact, you can’t put everyone in the same category: you can’t say that a typical IT manager only likes to read. Some IT managers are visual and others textual or auditory.

My advice is to always explore 5 different ways to make content. Then you are sure to reach your target group. Obviously, you have to keep track of the buying process of your target group. In which phase of the process he/she consumes which content.

Furthermore, remember busy people do not want to read a 30-page text and that others do or don’t want to consume content in the evening. Especially people with little time have to be served the right way otherwise you lose them. Work out whom your target group is and what they like to read, hear or see.

And realize at all times that within your target group there will be visual as well as textual people. Please find below a funny info doodle with various content ideas: