Content Marketing - Braveheart Digital Marketing

Customer Journey Content

How to Choose the Right Content Types for Every Stage of Your Customer Journey Content Strategy

Is your content actually working for your business? If you’re like most small business owners and marketing leaders, you’ve probably invested in various content types—from blogs to case studies—but may be unsure which formats work best at different stages of your customer journey.

Recent data from NP Digital reveals exactly how different content types perform across the marketing funnel. Let’s break down what this means for your content strategy and marketing budget.

The Marketing Funnel: A Quick Refresher

Before diving into specific content types, let’s remember the three main stages of the marketing funnel:

Top of Funnel: Casting a Wide Net with Awareness Content

What Works Best: Our data shows that three content types dominate the awareness stage:

Why This Matters for Your Business: These formats work well for awareness because they’re easily digestible and shareable. If you’re a small business looking to increase brand visibility, these content types give you the most bang for your buck at the awareness stage.

Quick Tip: Start with a blog if you’re resource-constrained. It’s typically the most cost-effective to produce and can serve as source material for both podcasts and infographics later.

Middle of Funnel: Nurturing Interest During Consideration

What Works Best: Our data shows that three content types dominate the consideration stage:

Making It Work for You: This is where you begin educating your audience about solutions. For small businesses, short videos and images can be particularly effective as they don’t require the same resource investment as long-form videos but still drive engagement.

Pro Tip: Use your smartphone to create short, authentic videos explaining your products or services. Today’s audiences often prefer genuine content over high-production value.

Bottom of Funnel: Converting Interest into Action

Your Closing Content: The data shows three powerhouse formats for the decision stage:

Strategic Implementation: For small businesses, case studies should be your priority at this stage. They’re relatively straightforward to create—simply document your success stories with existing clients. They also show the highest effectiveness for driving decisions.

Building Your Customer Journey Content Strategy: A Practical Approach

Creating an effective customer journey content strategy doesn’t mean you need to tackle everything at once. Instead, think of it as building layers of value for your audience, starting with foundational content and expanding thoughtfully as your resources and expertise grow.

Begin with establishing your core content foundation. This means developing a consistent and sustainable blog posting schedule that addresses your audience’s key pain points and questions. Your blog serves as your content hub, providing valuable material that can be repurposed across other formats. Alongside your blog, start collecting and documenting customer success stories. These testimonials and results will become invaluable case studies that help convert prospects into customers.

As your initial content efforts gain traction, look for opportunities to expand your reach strategically. Consider which channels your audience engages with most and align your next content investments accordingly. For example, if your analytics show that your audience frequently shares visual content, you might prioritize turning your blog insights into engaging infographics. Or if you’re in a complex B2B space, you might focus on developing detailed white papers that help prospects understand your unique value proposition.

The key to sustainable growth is measuring your content’s impact. Set up systems to track how different content types contribute to your business goals. Monitor website traffic patterns to understand awareness growth, watch how email signup rates correlate with different content pieces, and track which types of content most frequently appear in your sales team’s successful conversion discussions. Use these insights to refine your strategy and make data-driven decisions about where to invest your content creation resources.

Remember that your content strategy should be flexible enough to evolve with your business and your audience’s needs. Regularly review your analytics, gather feedback from your sales team, and stay attuned to how your audience engages with different content types. This ongoing assessment helps ensure your content strategy remains aligned with your business objectives while delivering meaningful value to your target audience.

At Braveheart, a digital marketing agency based in Manchester NH, we specialize in creating strategic content plans that align with each stage of the customer journey. We understand that small businesses and marketing leaders need content that not only attracts but also nurtures and converts. Whether you’re just starting to build your brand or looking to refine your approach, our team can help you create a targeted content strategy that drives real results.

Braveheart Digital Marketing is an award-winning marketing agency based in Manchester NH. We specialize in SEO, PPC and Social Media.

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Content Amplification: How to get more people to read your content

Marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuk once said in his Ask Gary Vee Podcast that many businesses are only one impactful piece of content away from substantial success. This isn’t just about creating more content—it’s about creating the right content. Yet, many businesses miss this opportunity because they default to safe, generic topics. They avoid taking creative risks and, in doing so, fail to connect with their audience on a meaningful level.

For small business owners, it’s crucial to assess your content strategy. Is it filled with relatable stories and insights, or is it just a compilation of product descriptions? The reality is, audiences are drawn to content that feels personal and authentic. Data and statistics are necessary, but when isolated, they rarely leave an impression. To break through the noise, your content needs to resonate emotionally

The Cost of Skipping the Story

Many small business owners make the mistake of publishing content that mimics an instruction manual—informative, but lifeless. While there is value in providing detailed, factual information, it alone will not engage your audience or drive significant results.

For example, a business owner I spoke to recently was proud of their blog archive, which contained hundreds of product-focused articles. Despite the volume, their engagement metrics told a different story. The content failed to spark interest or shareability because it lacked one vital component: storytelling.

Integrating Storytelling for Maximum Impact

Early in my career, my writing strategy shifted after an editor consistently challenged me with two questions: “Why does this matter to the reader?” and “Why should they care?” This feedback led me to reframe my content approach. Instead of just writing about SEO and inbound marketing strategies in the abstract, I started sharing the real-life experiences behind those strategies.

One standout result came from a post titled “My $95,000 Linking Mistake.” It outlined a costly oversight that not only engaged readers but sparked meaningful conversations. The relatable nature of the post—detailing an error and the lessons learned—resonated with readers because it felt human and genuine. Analytics confirmed that this shift worked: the post had significantly higher engagement and time-on-page metrics than my other articles.

Effective Storytelling Tips for Small Business Owners

1. Focus on Your Audience’s Needs: Your readers are looking for solutions to their problems. Structure your content to help them, not to pitch them a product. Providing value builds trust and loyalty.

2. Inject Personal Experience: A story, whether about your company’s growth or a challenge you overcame, makes your content memorable. Sharing an experience that’s relatable turns your insights into actionable advice.

3. Create Enticing Headlines: A compelling title can make all the difference. Headlines like “What I Learned from a Major SEO Blunder” or “5 Client Wins That Transformed Our Strategy” capture attention and set the stage for storytelling.

4. Balance Emotion and Facts: While data-driven points lend credibility, the emotional context makes your content engaging. For instance, pair data on conversion rate increases with a client’s feedback about how it impacted their business.

5. Ask “Why” and “How”: Before publishing, review your draft to ensure it answers, “Why does this matter to the reader?” and “How will it solve their problem?” This mindset keeps your content relevant and results-oriented.

The Impact of Story-Driven Content

A relatable story can differentiate your content from competitors and create lasting impressions. Authentic storytelling fosters trust, engagement, and shares. For small business owners looking to elevate their digital presence, infusing stories into your content can significantly boost your reach and strengthen audience loyalty.

Next Steps for Amplifying Your Content Strategy

If your current content strategy feels uninspired or fails to drive results, consider rethinking your approach. At Braveheart Digital Marketing, we understand the importance of connecting with your audience through powerful, well-crafted content. Our team can guide you in building a strategy that intertwines storytelling, data, and practical insights, all aligned with your business objectives. Engage, relate, and grow. Your content has the potential to be more than just informative—it can be transformative.

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Have We Seen the End of SEO Copywriting?

It’s an interesting question. Is SEO copywriting dead? It’s something my wife and I discussed over the weekend. Type in “SEO copywriting” in Google, and Google’s Featured Snippet will state that

SEO copywriting refers to the art of writing copy that ranks well in search. SEO copywriting is relatively easy to do (if you have some experience), and it’s an excellent way to gain valuable web traffic without spending thousands of dollars on paid advertising.”

The key phrase from the Google Snippet is “ranks well in search.” Originally, the focus of SEO copywriting content was to rank well in Google by inserting a keyword X times on a page in specific locations – headline, first sentence, first paragraph, etc. Rankings acted as the metric used for measuring the effectiveness of SEO copywriting. But what the Google’s selected Snippet refrains from associating with SEO copywriting is a very important factor to a business’s success: the customer! We have moved beyond one keyword per page of content. A single page can now rank for over 100 terms. Instead of keywords, we focus on themes. While rankings used to be the metric of choice, clients today want that content to convert into leads, sales, and revenue. As a result, the best content are narratives—customer-centric stories that show a common and relatable problem and offer solutions to that problem. As the Featured Snippet relates, SEO copywriting is company-centric, speaking about features and benefits that matched consumer’s searches without relating to the customer on a personal level.

Is SEO copywriting dead?

Yes. I think that content development has evolved away from writing for search engine rankings to writing to connect with your audience.

This new approach is represented by companies like Contently who use these sorts of headlines to connect with their target audience.

Customers want stories, and marketing companies are finally recognizing that. What do you think? Is SEO copywriting dead?

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6 Common Content Marketing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Content marketing can be a game-changer for businesses. By producing and distributing engaging, valuable content, businesses can reach new audiences, build trust and credibility, and drive leads and sales. However, content marketing is not without its challenges. In fact, many businesses make common mistakes that prevent them from achieving success with their content marketing efforts. Here are 6 of the most common content marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.

Content Marketing Mistakes #1: Not Defining Your Target Audience

The first mistake businesses make is not defining their target audience. Without a clear understanding of who your target audience is, it will be difficult to create content that resonates with them. To avoid this mistake, take the time to define your target audience using demographic information such as age, gender, location, and interests. Once you have a clear understanding of who your target audience is, you can create content that is tailored to their needs and wants.

A 2021 DemandGen study revealed 62% of those making B2B purchase decisions said they relied more on practical content like case studies and visual content, such as webinars, to guide their buying decisions and citing a higher emphasis on the trustworthiness of the source.

DemandGen Tweet

Content Marketing Mistakes #2: Not Having a Strategy

The second mistake businesses make is not having a content marketing strategy. A content marketing strategy provides direction and helps ensure that your content is aligned with your business goals. Without a strategy, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details and lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve. To avoid this mistake, take the time to develop a content marketing strategy before you start creating content. Include things like your business goals, target audience, and distribution channels in your strategy. This will help keep you focused and on track as you create content.

A B2B Content Marketing Study conducted by CMI found 40% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy; 33% have a strategy, but it’s not documented, and 27% have no strategy whatsoever.

CMI Tweet

Content Marketing Mistakes #3:Failing to Align Your Content with Your Business Goals

Another common mistake businesses make is failing to align their content with their business goals. All too often, businesses produce content for the sake of producing content without stopping to consider how that content will help them achieve their stated goals. Before you hit publish on your next blog post or social media update, take a step back and ask yourself how that piece of content will help you achieve your business goals. If you can’t answer that question, it’s likely that the piece of content isn’t worth publishing in the first place.

79% of companies use content marketing to generate quality leads.

CMI Tweet

Content Marketing Mistakes #4: Not Incorporating SEO

Another common mistake businesses make is failing to incorporate SEO into their content marketing strategy. In order for your content to be found by your target audience, it needs to be properly optimized for search engines. That means incorporating relevant keywords throughout your content, as well as ensuring that your titles, meta descriptions, and alt text are all optimized. If you’re not sure where to start with SEO, our team at Metric Marketing can help!

56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it’s an effective tactic, and 10% say it generates the greatest ROI (return on investment).

Hubspot blog research Tweet

Content Marketing Mistakes #5: Not Promoting Your Content

The fifth mistake businesses make is not promoting their content enough. Just because you’ve published a blog post or created a video doesn’t mean people will automatically see it—you need to promote your content if you want people to see it. There are a number of ways to promote your content, including social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and PR. To avoid this mistake, be sure to promote your content across multiple channels so it has a chance to reach your target audience.

80% of B2B marketers who use paid distribution use paid social media advertising

Tweet

Content Marketing Mistakes #6: Not Measuring Results

The sixth mistake businesses make is not measuring the results of their content marketing efforts. Measuring results is essential for understanding what’s working and what’s not working. Without data, it’s impossible to tell if your content marketing efforts are successful. To avoid this mistake, set up tracking for your content so you can measure things like page views, bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rate. This data will help you understand what’s working and what’s not so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

Over 60% of marketers measure the success of their content marketing strategy through sales.

Hubspot State of Marketing Report, 2021 Tweet

There you have it—six common content marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. By following these content marketing tips,you can avoid wasting time and resources on content that doesn’t work and set yourself up for success.

If you’re looking for a content marketing agency that can help you achieve your business goals, contact Braveheart Digital Marketing today. We’ll be happy to discuss your content needs and provide a content strategy that aligns with your overall business goals.

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How to create link-worthy content | 8 ways to make content linkable

All good websites contain great content. Those with high quality content can attract links naturally.

Quality content + Quality backlinks = Traffic.

However, 90% to 99% of websites are not getting any organic traffic. For good results you must provide relevant links to the website.

Earning backlinks is the most effective way to improve your website. Using data from over 2,000 campaigns and dozens of Fortune 500 companies, these are eight ways that we feel you can develop link worthy content.

How can I create link-worthy content?

The use of backlinks can improve your SEO efforts. Not only will these tools increase your website’s visibility, it will increase your website traffic. But gaining backlinks from other websites may prove difficult. It’s harder for websites to generate backlinks to highly authoritative websites. This occurs because link building can take some time to complete manually. How can I fix my issue? Content with useful links (for users / sites) that provide valuable info.

For years, link building companies were never concerned about the quality of the page they were trying to get a link to. Instead of quality, the focus was strictly on the quantity of backlinks, mainly acquired through an automated process.

Types of link building tactics that no longer work include generic directories and SEO directories. Article links, especially article blasts where you can push an article in and there’s no editorial review. Guest content, depending on the editorial practices and Press releases. Search engines like Google penalized links coming from press release websites years ago.

Comment links, reciprocal links, article spinners and private link networks don’t offer high quality links.

Quick definition pause.

What is backlink content?

A backlink is the link between two website. ‘

What is link building content?

Link building simply relates to gaining a link from other sites. All businesses need to develop links for their websites.

Several years ago Rand Fishkin was on recent Whiteboard Friday where he identified three targeted link building tactics. I believe that today these three tactics still work. They are:

For two of the three tactics creating link worthy content plays a critical role in the success of any campaign focused on building high quality backlinks.

The only channel where you can get away with a website or blog post that has generic product descriptions, photos, and low quality writing is paid amplification. Or in other words. Paid advertising.

So before hiring a link builder take a look at your existing content and ask yourself “is this content link worthy?” If the answer is no, then your next step should be to hire someone to develop that sort of content.

5 types of Link-Worthy Content to Boost Your BackLinks

The creation of links is difficult. This is the reality. When it comes to building links to your site, it needs constant improvement. There are neither start nor finish dates.

1. Create Evergreen Content

News content has a short shelf life. You might be better off focusing on topics that are more evergreen and will be of interest to your target audience for years to come.

Think of evergreen content as a resource that remains useful and relevant long after it’s published. It rarely changes and is always in-demand with your target audiences (and searchers).

This could be:

2. Start a Podcast

There has been a resurgence in Podcasting over the last 18 months. While it seems that everyone has a podcast, there are only 3.6MM podcasts on Spotify globally, meaning that is still time for you to build a brand via podcasting

A podcast will naturally attract links because every time you interview a guest, they will likely link to your page. This in turn will help you attract relevant links from other industry sites and blog.

If you use a meeting tool like Zoom, you can record the podcast interviews, which can be turned into video content, that can also help you attract links from other sites.

3. Create a Resource Center

In addition to publishing and promoting your content, you have to organize it in a way that will make sense for your target audience as well as new visitors. A content resource center might be the perfect solution for you.

Creating content like guides, case studies, webinars, whitepapers, and checklists is a lot of work. Many website owners would rather link to this type of quality content rather than invest the time creating their own long form content.

4. Expert Roundup

Similar to podcasts, expert roundups are a great way to get links from well-known people in your industry. For example, the Content Marketing Institute produces blog content like the “50 Best Social Media Tools From 50 Most Influential Marketers Online” which is awesome content that is link-worthy (851 backlinks!).

The post features a squad of well-known marketers, using quotes from the marketers.

Why?

Instead of the author having to gather all the content himself, he used quotes from these thought-leaders to generate buzz with their name. Naturally, these marketers will share and link back to this article.

5. Add Visual Content

Research has shown that presentations that are accompanied by visual aids have been proven 43 percent more effective. And that of the information that is processed by the brain, 90 percent of it is visual!

Therefore, it not only makes sense, but it’s vital for you to use link worthy content that generates a form of intuitive mental and emotional resonance with your target audience.

Six types of visual content that you can add that will make it more link worthy are:

When properly executed, visual content also gets you more links and your readers will share it more among their peers, which is basically free advertisement for you!

How do I start with link-wise content?

The Art Of Storytelling Through Data

In this episode of Five Questions with… I am talking with JLA Analytics founder Julie Alig about the art of storytelling with data in business and how to present complex stories with data. This is part two of the interview. You can find the first episode on Visual Storytelling With Data here.

How do you come up with the question that you're going to tell the story around?

Definitely in a conversation, it’s a back-and-forth with the customer. That’s the way I do it. That’s the way I’ve found the strongest results come out.

I might be the person in the room who has the most experience with research methodology, with statistical tools, this, that, the other. I’m not the subject matter experts of what my clients are. In my mind, any good research project – kind of like this – needs to be a collaboration between the subject matter expert and the people with the tools and expertise.

Working with my clients, I really like to have that kind of conversation or communication continue, and if anything I like to over-communicate, because I want to make sure that I’m going in the right direction. I think I responded to one of your posts on LinkedIn and said something like,”Let your client, or their questions, be your North Star.”

That needs to be what I’m focused on. That’s where I find the best results with my clients.

Four Tips To Successful Storytelling

I sit in all these meetings, I get Powerpointed to death, with slides with a gazillion data points on them. We spoke about taking this data, understanding the North Star, answering the questions, pulling it together so you can tell a story with it, but now you have to deliver it.

What’s your tips and tricks for boiling that down, putting it onto paper so that people in the room can understand it and so when it gets passed around outside the room they can still follow the story.

That’s the question isn’t it? That’s the 64 million dollar question!

I think that’s where a lot of your skill and expertise come into play. You really have to distill down all the findings into something very short and small. I forget who but there was a British author who said,

"I would've written a shorter letter if I had the time."

1. You have to be concise and get right to the point.

I would say the tip is: A – keep going back to those original questions and make sure that you’re still focused on those. B – I really get a lot out of visuals.

2. Communicate so much with visuals

I was just on a call with a colleague last week, and she was talking about a process, and I whipped out my journal and drew a little picture, and held it up for her, and she was like,”that’s exactly it!” She got it.

So I think we’ve all been in those situations. The danger though is that you’re going to load up too many ideas and too many concepts into one poor little graphic or image. I really like using maybe a couple of visuals to tell a story, and in a storyboard kind of manner.

3. Stick to the basics, and throw everything else in the appendix.

That’s kind of what I used when I was writing my dissertation in grad school. All those great supporting analyses, stick ’em in the appendix.

I love that storyboard analogy. It’s like these are the ones you can always pop out and say, “Okay are we gonna use these images in this order? Is it telling the story that we want?” Instead of “well there’s a slide, and now there’s another slide…”

4. That you and your client or customer are on the same page.

So, especially from that first slide, statement of the problem, statement of the question, and what you’re going to do with it.

Why Longer Content Is Smarter Content

According to a recent report from SEM Rush long form content (3000+ words) get 3x more traffic, 4x more shares, and 3.5x more backlinks than articles of average length (901-1200 words).

In a study of over 700,000 articles, the research shows that shorter articles (300-900 words) are 4.5X more likely NOT to be shared that long form content of 3000+ words.

Content Length: Impact On Performance

Key Takeaway:

In comparison with articles of average length (901-1200 words), long form content (more than 3000 words) has:

Shared Articles By Length

What is remarkable about this study is that 88% of articles over 3,000 words get share. While a shorter article (under 600 words) is shared less than half the time.

The data proves the hypothesis that people are more driven and engaged by blog posts containing more information. These studies have also shown that long form consistently outperforms short-form when it comes to shares:

The most frequent objection we hear when we recommend to clients that their content marketing strategy needs to include more long form content is that nobody will read it. The data shows that a well written long-form article will not only be read, but it will be shared also.

Should I Never Write A Short Form Post?

These findings don’t mean you should avoid using short-form content at all. We want to make a crucial caveat here — content length should vary depending on the user’s intention in the first place and, secondly, on the type of content.

We would never make a blanket statement that you should never write short-form content. The following content topics may work well (and even better) as short-form content:

Subjects that can’t meet the word count of long-form content, which is 1200 to 2000 words or more, should also get the short-form treatment. If you come across these topics, reassess their potential value to your company and your target audience.

FAQs about long-form vs. short-form content

What is long form content?

Long form content describes content with a 1200- to 2000-word count. This kind of content offers users more value because it takes an in-depth look at a topic, answering a user’s initial question and then their follow-up questions.

What is short-form content?

Short-form content describes content with less than 1000 words. This kind of content offers users a brief overview of a topic by answering their initial question and sometimes directing them to content that answers related questions.

What is the difference between long-form and short-form content?

The simplest way to explain long form vs short form work is this: Long form is longer and requires critical thinking; short form is short and can be skimmed or scanned.

Visual Storytelling With Data

In this episode of Five Questions with… I sit down with JLA Analytics founder Julie Alig to talk about visual storytelling with data. This is part one of a two-part interview.

Can you tell the audience a little bit about your background Julie?

At heart, I’m basically a storyteller. As I look back I’ve really always been interested in stories. It was in grad school that I really got interested a lot more in data, using data and marrying that with stories to be able to really have an impact. I went to the University of Chicago, I got my doctorate in Political Science, I did a lot of work in quantitative methods, survey research, that sort of thing.

What I really wanted to do was be able to understand how to use data, and how to use it in a very honest, methodologically rigorous way, so that people could really feel what the story is in it, and beyond that to figure out, “what do we do with that? Where do we go next?”

And so that’s what my company does. We work with clients that have a lot of data and don’t know what story it’s telling, and who need someone with the tools and the expertise to come in and work with them to figure out what’s going on and plot a course for going forward.

Common basis of understanding

With COVID-19 there’s just so much data that’s out there. I think Andrew Cuomo has done a really good job of visual storytelling with data by condensing it down into understandable parts.

Most data analysts do not do this. When you have a complex dataset, what are some of the tips and tactics that analysts can use to sort of take that and tell a story around it that people understand.

With a complex data set, you can answer a whole lot of questions, and you can do a lot of really fun stuff. I think we’re all pretty aware of all the powerful machine-learning algorithms out there, a lot of these very, very complex statistical analyses. I find, honestly, that if you can’t tell a story, even if it’s a complex story, if you can’t tell it in a very simple way then what good is it?

You might have all of this data, you might have these really cool hierarchical clustering algorithms or whatever you call them – logistic regression of whatever – but if you can’t get down to and answer that question that your customer or client has then what good is it?

I think that’s where thinking of this in terms of visually telling a story with data helps me, and I think it helps other people to think about breaking that down. The first thing you need to do as a practitioner when you start having a conversation about a really complex topic is to make sure you find a common basis of understanding with your audience, with our client.

If you don’t have that common basis, that foundation from the get-go, you’ve lost them. It doesn’t matter how great your R2 is or this, that, the other. It’s over their head and you’ve lost them, and what good is it then?

So I really try to stay true to what the original questions were, and really think about how someone is going to use the data. We all fall under these traps of going off on tangents or going down rabbit holes. For me, analysis is really iterative.

Coming back to the questions, answering a few more questions, coming up with a few more findings, and then going back and iterating. Almost like a palimpsest.

Presenting too much information

What I find a lot of times is that analysts we work with or have seen elsewhere, they’re so focused on showing that they’re the smartest in the room that they just go really deep. They lose everybody, because yes they are the smartest one, because they own the data, but you have to be able to – as you say – bring that up to that story point at the top that says, “these are the terms that we can all understand, and this is the story part that’s around that.”

That’s powerful when it works, it’s a really tough meeting when it doesn’t, when you go too far with that.

Yes And full disclosure, I’ve been doing this for 20, 25 years, I was a young analyst way back in the day! There is something really cool about when you’re able to find something that allows you to dig and dig and dig, and come up with something. You get excited about it and you want to share it!

I’m sure I’ve been guilty of that in the past, but you need to come back to,”Okay, so what? What are we gonna do with this? Does it really answer the question?”

And if it doesn’t, okay, let’s stick a pin in it, stick it over here in the parking lot and get back to the question at hand: how can we really help the client or the customer to make a difference?

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