Content marketing helps businesses and organizations reach their audiences organically. It can be overwhelming to know where to start or what types of content will create the most value in your marketing strategy. This is where the content marketing pyramid comes in and helps make those choices easier.

First, what is content marketing?

Content marketing is the strategic approach companies take to create and distribute valuable and relevant content to attract and retain customers to reach profitable actions.

What are the different types of content marketing?

To understand which type of content to create, a hierarchical tool that businesses can use is the content pyramid. The content pyramid is a way to organize all types of content that you could create based on the following axis: high effort & rare vs low effort and often.

Content Pyramid Levels

Content Marketing Pyramid
  • At the peak of the pyramid are thought leadership pieces. This can be in the form of e-books or white-papers. This is at the highest point of “high effort and rare."
  • Second Level: Long-form blog posts, where content is often educational in nature but not as comprehensive as an ebook. A compounding content strategy can be to compile multiple long form posts to help create the foundation for a future ebook or white-paper.
  • Third Level: Infographics and low-effort webinars  This middle layer is intended to be a source of engagement and can be a strong lead into your level one.
  • Fourth Level: Foundation, short form blogs. Meant to create conversation and can be curated or customized based on the subject.
  • Foundation: Social Media and curated content. Think of this element as the lowest hanging fruit to reach the broadest possible audience and can be easily generated. These pieces are often a mix between custom & curated, and are adjusted based on real time analytics and feedback on an often-daily basis.

To sum it all up

The content pyramid assists businesses in organizing the content you want to create based on a set criteria for high effort pieces or low effort content.