By Darren Gilbert

“I’m a firm believer that content should be goal-driven. By this, I mean that what you create should be driven by what you want to achieve,” writes Hannah Smith who works on Distilled’s content strategy team. With that in mind, here are three different types of content that you should consider.

Videos

Videos are a great way to engage with an audience. One of the reasons is because people are visually-driven. This means that you’re likely to draw more people in with a great video than with a article. So how do you create a great video so that people will watch it? Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics explains.

He writes, “There’s a world of variety within videos. I could write a whole separate post on different types of videos. No matter what type it is, however, a good video communicates a message in a succinct and memorable way.”

However, the cost does need to be kept in mind. Patel continues: “Making a good video is not cheap. You can start small, of course, but contracting a video specialist or a camera crew can cost quite a bit.”

Infographics

Infographics are a great way to illustrate complex information in a user-friendly way. As mentioned above, people are visually-driven so using infographics is a great way to present information. At the same time, as Pamela Vaughan, who manages the optimisation and growth of HubSpot's blog points out, not just any data will do. Instead, its about focusing on a topic that is important to your audience.

At the same time, infographics are not just restricted to one subject. “They can be used for just about any subject that you've got numbers or info to back up, they're eye-catchingly colorful and jazz up any blog post or landing page, and like concept visualizations, they also lend themselves well to social sharing,” writes Allyson Galle, a contributor to HubSpot.

Of course, this means that they are everywhere so it may be difficult to stand out. Again, Vaughan has a solution: “Do some research, and try to select a topic that has never before been presented in infographic form.”

Podcasts

There are a number of benefits for including podcasts. As Learning Times points out on their website, these benefits range from cutting costs to being convenient and easy to consume. At the same time, they make information personal.

“In a podcast, the content is communicated directly to you, the listener, either verbally or through video. That’s a much more intimate way of getting information than reading it from an e-mail or document.”

For Rich Brooks, president of flyte new media, there is another great benefit: “They’re a great way to build a passionate audience for your product or service.” Isn’t that what you want? To be able to build such an audience can do wonders for your company or brand.

What are your thoughts? Do you know of any other types of content that we should know about? Tell us below.