More often than not, switching things up is a positive. There are two main types of angles: an informational and personal opinion.
Transitioning between the two is a good way to create a wide range of quality work. Whether developing and/or maintaining a fluid or systematic transition, offering a solid mix of approaches will provide different perspectives and separate takeaways.
Rooted in fact, informational content imparts knowledge. Think tips, tutorials, and lessons. More light and loose, pieces based on personal opinions express thoughts and feelings. Think social commentary.
Within each category is a list of ways to approach the angle. Along with changing the type of angle, explore a number of different approaches, formats, and tones. Before choosing a direction, check that it aligns with your brand or blog (and its message).
The Informational Angle
Picking up a tip or learning a lesson can come in many forms. For a breakdown of the informational angle and all the ways you can point out the facts, read on.
Make a List
More than articles, listicles are still very popular. Short and simple, they’re easy to read and get right to the point. Noted as subtitles (please see above), finding basic takeaways involves more skimming and less searching. When it comes to marketing, the most common listicles include making checklists and introducing overall marketing goals and strategies.
With takes and tools constantly evolving in the digital world, staying on top of tech is number one. Based on priority, keeping track of things to do will improve organizational skills and ensure the meeting of all deadlines. As two top requirements for building a successful career, your boss will thank you.
Teach a Lesson
Expanding on listicles, staying on top of tech involves constant learning. As a go-to source for tips and tutoring, communication is key. Whether a small business owner or a member of an agency-based marketing team, those in the industry want to make the most of their time.
Focusing on a teachable moment, this type of angle provides beginner tips, a how-to guide, or an in-depth look. In many cases, solving a problem promotes repeat readers. To keep your audience, take the time to make a video tutorial. Featuring a face for the facts and offering a visual experience will build a stronger connection and target different styles of learning.
In the News
Create content to inform readers. From the latest launches to evolving trends and social influencers, pull together need-to-know news in one hot spot. Look to strike a balance between a casual and conversational tone for on-the-go learning and a more formal tone for sit-down analysis.
With a 24-hour news cycle and a connected public, individuals are inundated with headlines and subtitles. A steady flow of notifications and threads via social media offers users access to countless news sources every day. Stand out and stay current to make a strong delivery.
Profile or Panel
Talk to the experts. Whether writing a profile or putting together a panel, keep in mind two things: your message and your audience. It’s important that the person (or panel) selected represents your brand or blog and connects with your readers. Share an insider look at the work and life experience of the industry and/or community leaders.
Start by selecting to either write a profile or put together a panel. Next, create a list of questions and set up an interview or bring together a diverse group of people to participate in an interesting discussion. Maybe an advice column or a Q&A series, the latter approach has the potential to take on an interactive format.
The Personal Opinion Angle
Similar to taking baby steps in terms of sharing the same page, before switching from your favorite type of angle shake things up by changing your approach. The step-by-step process will foster routine change.
With no research required, an average social media post is the perfect example of creating content based on personal opinion. The main difference: posts are limited to a certain number of characters. Check out the following ways to share what’s on your mind.
Write a Review
We all want to know what works and what doesn’t – sometimes without spending the time to find out for ourselves. While writing a review is heavily subjective, it’s a popular method for decision-making.
Elaborate on a personal experience or explain reasons to make a purchase, try a strategy, or build a partnership. Don’t be afraid to be honest or break down the good, the bad, and the ugly. By doing so, you’ll earn the trust of your readers. In addition to writing a review, make recommendations for both the personal and professional space.
Offer Your Opinion
Bring attention to an area of interest by providing social commentary and supporting your point of view. Depending on the status and social following, the opinion of some is more respected than others. To establish credibility, cover-worthy topics and create compelling content. To attract readers beyond the first few sentences, keep in mind the difference between a personal opinion and what is considered to be a popular opinion.
Don’t feel pressure to blend the two. Those looking to broaden their scope don’t want to read a summary of their own point of view.
Get Your Rant On
A little controversy never hurt anybody. As a matter of fact, we thrive on it. Offer your opinion and then some. Just remember, to be respected, stay respectful.
Stick to the point – because there better be a point – and address the topic in a smart and clever way. Follow the rules of ranting: press pause on posting, no personal attacks and don’t rant just to rant. Trade the practice of free speech for the art of writing.
Ways to Communicate
There’s no use in creating content if no one is reading it. In addition to exploring types of angles and approaches, communicate with your readers in new ways to expand reach, and never be afraid to use the content you have in many different formats.
When it comes to content, think beyond the page and outside of the box. With phones at our fingertips, apps, social media channels, and community-based online boards serve as the best way to connect with your audience and increase views. A quick list of other options: start a podcast, live stream via Facebook or LinkedIn, explore Instagram stories, create a Pinterest board, start a conversation on Twitter, play with TikTok, listen in on Clubhouse, or just launch a hashtag into the world!
Whatever the length, a few words, paragraphs, or pages, the concept of content has changed over the last decade. It’s crossed lines of communication and established non-traditional formats. Whether reaching out to readers and/or viewers to teach them how to build a marketing strategy, answer a question or share an opinion, explore all of the ways to craft an angle and channels for communication.
The Best Content Marketing Courses in 2023
- SiegeLearn
SiegeLearn is the content marketing course that will teach you the SEO, content marketing, and link-building strategies used by the Siege Media team to drive results for some of the biggest brands in the world today (and tomorrow).
Instructors Ross Hudgens, Caroline Gilbert, and Vince Nero—all titans of the content marketing industry in their own regard—unveil the methods they’ve used to achieve repeatable and sustainable growth for hundreds of clients over the last decade.
That’s a lot of expertise and experience in one “room.”
SiegeLearn covers everything from ideation to execution of various content types, best practices for outreach to ranking and optimization strategies, and more. This course will set you up to succeed in content marketing for yourself, your site, or your clients.
- SEO That Works by Brian Dean
SEO That Works by Brian Dean is one of my favorite beginner to intermediate courses on the *content* side of SEO.
In this course, Brian covers fascinating frameworks such as the “linkreators” (the people who can give you links), why they are often your core audience for content, and how to inject certain features into your content to make it more shareable and linkable.
If you’re looking for a crash course in efficient and effective blogging, this is it. There may be no one better suited to teach high-leverage SEO than Brian, who gets probably hundreds of thousands to millions of visitors a month with a couple of dozen blog posts.
What I like about this course is it’s focused (really covers SEO from the content side deeply, instead of trying to cover technical SEO and advanced keyword research too). I also like that it’s engaging and easy for the beginner to follow along with. Brian is great at developing frameworks and names to easily explain complex ideas (e.g. Skyscraper Technique).
- Traffic Think Tank
Traffic Think Tank is a combination of a private community and courses and training on SEO and content marketing.
One thing I’ve learned in my years working in digital marketing: none of the exciting conversations happen on blogs, on stage, or in courses.
They happen at the conference bar.
This is true across fields. So joining a community means you’re much likelier to get unfiltered feedback, cutting-edge tactics, and raw and honest discussions.
That alone is worth the price of admission. Then you get access to all of the existing training materials from some of the biggest names in SEO, as well as ad hoc webinars and interviews. This is a great program.
- CXL Institute’s Link Building Course
Link building is a massive component of SEO and is entirely underrated in the content marketing world.
Many companies that teach content marketing do so from the vantage point of a) starting very early b) having a large content creation budget and c) having a super high domain authority.
Most companies don’t have those benefits.
Most companies, rather, are dealing with limited resources and low or middling domain authority. This means they can’t functionally just produce content at a high pace and hope it ranks. They have to do some link-building, both manual and organic.
- HubSpot Academy’s Inbound Marketing Certificate
Hubspot Academy is often the gateway drug for marketers entering their careers. It’s user-friendly, ubiquitous, and teaches the foundations well.
The foundations include things like buyer personas, social media marketing, social media management, content marketing formats (such as webinars, podcasts, blog posts, etc.), and measuring your results from content marketing.
- Grow & Convert’s Top Content Marketer
Grow & Convert’s Top Content Marketer program is a comprehensive content marketing course as well as a curated expert community with bonus materials.
The course itself is in-depth, covering content strategy (with case studies from my different types of business and business models), content production, promotion, and conversion optimization.
The cool thing is the community, though. It includes an ongoing discussion and the ability to get your questions answered, but also live bonus Q&As with marketing celebrities like Dave Gerhardt and Brian Dean.
- Blogging for Business by Ahrefs
I’m an Ahrefs fanboy, and I love the way they do marketing and content.
Of course, anything they put, I trust as being high quality. This course is no different.
Though it’s definitely a beginner course, I like how they frame their lessons.
It’s all about predictable growth, not just spikes of traffic or fluffy stuff like building BS buyer personas. Another cool thing is it shows you how to do everything using Ahrefs itself (well unless you use a competitor to Ahrefs like SEMRush).
Content Marketing Courses to Avoid
There are *tons* of courses online. Here’s a well-known secret: most of them are not very good.
Many content marketing courses will skirt around the actual meat of what makes content marketing important, namely the business value it can generate.
They treat content marketing as something inherently valuable as an end, rather than a means to grow your company. This is fine, I supposed, but I’d not call it “content marketing,” I’d call it “writing for a hobby.”
Again, totally fine if that’s your aim. But if you want to drive conversions, I’d stay away from high level programs that teach things like how to get social shares, how to write “compelling content” (one of the most meaningless phrases ever created), and especially anything that takes more than a few minutes to describe personas.
While I’m not going to list every bad course, I don’t want to disappoint you, so I’ll list a few that I’d avoid if you care about your time:
- UC Davis and CopyBlogger’s Course: “The Strategy of Content Marketing.”
- Most Udemy Courses on content marketing
- Google’s Digital Garage Certification
- Content Marketing University
It’s not that these courses are entirely without value, it’s just that there are much better, meatier options. Avoid the high-level thought leadership, rah-rah, “content marketing is great!” type courses, and filter towards those that teach tangible skills and have an eye towards ROI.
Additionally, don’t overvalue certificates. Nobody cares about them. They may provide marginal benefits when first starting your career, but you can take the HubSpot one in like 2 hours and just add it to your LinkedIn. Never pay for a program simply because of the certificate. Go for the tangible skills and results orientation instead.
Your best bet? Take a course or two to get the fundamentals down, and then start *doing things*. You can take courses all day and never outcompete the one in the arena actually writing content. You’ll learn as you go. Of course, it helps to have guidance.
But never forget why you’re doing content marketing: to get results.
