The power of video as a training resource is well-established. A blend of visual and audio instruction makes video the perfect medium through which to convey otherwise dense or complex information.
Message retention rates are also higher through video — 95% of a video’s message is retained by viewers, compared to just 10% when that same information is delivered via text.
The popularity of online learning through video has only risen since the pandemic began. A number of notable training platforms have made their resources free to use for the duration of the lockdown.
Coursera, for instance, has launched several new free online courses, while Ahrefs has made its Blogging for Business course entirely free for users as well.
With this in mind, we’ve selected some of the best (free) content marketing training videos available online. For the most part, they’re short and sweet, perfect for a little WFH lunchtime revision.
Training With Brian Dean — The Ultimate Content Marketing Strategy for 2020
Length: 14 minutes 49 seconds
Brian Dean runs through the step-by-step process of creating an effective content strategy, identifying some key tips to help you craft content that actually resonates with audiences. No fluff, no filler — just actionable advice that you can go away and implement, from keyword research to UX.
Dean’s strategy is backed by data too — he used the same process to get over two million visitors to his own website.
This video is the perfect starting point for beginners looking to understand the basics of content marketing strategies, but it also provides a useful refresher for established content marketers.
Perdoo — The Difference Between Metrics, KPIs & Key Results
Length: 7 minutes 20 seconds
This video from Perdoor is the perfect primer to help you understand the key differences between metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and key results.
Measuring the success of your marketing is crucial if you want to see real results from your campaign. Understand the data, and you understand how to fine-tune your strategy.
This means capturing and measuring the metrics, KPIs, and key results of your campaign. But these terms are not interchangeable, and understanding them is essential to understanding how your campaign is performing.
This video breaks these terms down into easy-to-understand terms, using examples to help illustrate where they fit into your overall strategy. By the end of the video, you’ll understand the key differences between each term and where each one fits into your campaign overall.
Jason Whaling — Content Marketing Sales Funnel Blueprint
Length: 19 minutes 52 seconds
Knowing what type of content works best at each stage of the sales funnel is vital for driving conversions for your business.
Content is an important part of your sales funnel. It is what informs your customer’s decisions and keeps them moving down the funnel towards conversion.
But different types of content work best for different stages of the funnel. Jason’s video clearly and concisely explains how your funnel works, identifying specific types of content that convince and engage the customer to move them further down the funnel.
This video is simple, to-the-point, and accessible. Whether you’re a sales funnel beginner or you need a quick refresher, this video is an excellent starting point.
Training With Miles Beckler — 5 Research Hacks To Find Unlimited Ideas For Content Marketing.
Length: 15 minutes 50 seconds
The key to a successful content strategy is creating content that resonates with your audience. If your target market doesn’t engage with your content, then it’s redundant.
Miles Beckler breaks down five simple hacks to help you regularly and consistently come up with unique content ideas that are guaranteed to land with your audience.
Beckler highlights the value of crowd-based platforms, niche websites, and targeted search parameters for quickly and easily identifying ideas with value. From Quora to SERPs, his tips are accessible but effective, helping you hit on fresh content ideas that your audience will care about.
Sarah Moore — 10 Types of Content Marketing To Stop Your Customer Scrolling!
Length: 17 minutes 50 seconds
The best content strategies are diverse and engaging, and it is this that stops your customers from scrolling past on social.
Sarah Moore runs through four different overarching types of content — written, audio, visual, video — and explains the benefits of each in terms of your overall content strategy.
But beyond using the right type of content, it’s also important to present it in such a way that it engages your audience. Moore goes on to highlight 10 different content ideas, from brand videos and how-tos to white papers and slide decks.
She clearly outlines the value of each, how they can fit into your marketing strategy and, crucially, why they are so effective and capturing customer attention.
As with Beckler’s video above, the crux of Moore’s approach is to tailor your content in such a way that it stops your audience from scrolling on social. In short, if you want to stop the scroll, you need a diverse content strategy.
Jake Lawrence — How To Build a Content Calendar
Length: 14 minutes 55 seconds
A clear, cohesive calendar is a crucial element of any content strategy. It helps you identify what types of content are in the pipeline, where and when they should be published for maximum reach, and where they fit in relation to your campaign objectives.
In this video, Jack Lawrence breaks down the what, how, and why of content calendars. He identifies how different types of content relate to different stages of the sales pipeline, as well as looking at various tools to help you stay on top of your calendar management.
But crucially, Lawrence explains how to create a content marketing calendar that drives traffic to your website and increases sales. It is a concise, clear, and objective-led strategy that will help your marketing strategy achieve its goals.
Melinda Kitto — How To Write A Headline That Stops The Scroll
Length: 10 minutes 10 seconds
Your headlines are a crucial element of your content. It is what captures audience attention and stops them from scrolling past, highlighting its relevance and value to your otherwise apathetic audience.
Melinda Kitto is an expert copywriter and, consequently, she understands the value of a good headline. In this video, she explains why they matter and how to write ones that resonate with your audience.
There are no vague statements or fluffy tips here — Kitto’s tips are concise, actionable, and backed by years of experience. While headlines form only a small part of your content, they play a big role, and this video will be instrumental in helping you hone yours.
Brendan Hufford — Search Intent: More Powerful Than Keyword Research?
Length: 11 minutes 27 seconds
Search intent is a valuable means of evaluating ideas and strategies for your content marketing
Search intent isn’t a new idea — the idea was pitched by Andrei Broder in 2002. He argued that there are three types of search intent:
- Informational
- Navigational
- Transactional
This idea has been developed by a number of SEO professionals, with the terms expanding to hit other intent types, such as commercial.
But Brendan Hufford explains this is too simplistic. He believes that this mode of thinking won’t help you create content that matches the intent behind your target audience’s search queries.
Hufford breaks down a multi-level approach to search intent, laying out how you can use it to create SEO content that gets seen in the SERPs. His approach is unique but revealing, guaranteed to enhance your content’s value in 2020.
Training With Rand Fishkin — Designing a Page’s Content Flow to Maximize SEO Opportunity
Length: 8 minutes 32 seconds
Your content’s onsite formatting plays a key, functional role in your content and website’s SEO.
We’re big fans of Moz and its co-founder, Rand Fishkin. Moz offers loads of great tools that can be used for content marketing and Rand has lots of advice you can use in your campaigns.
In this video, Fishkin explains how you should map your content flow to get the best chance of ranking in search engines. There are plenty of simple, actionable tips here, but the overarching message is to simply address the intents and needs of the searcher. Identify these, and then build your content structure around this.
Fishkin’s video is clear and concise, increasing your content’s SEO value manifold.
Andrea Zoellner — Copywriting for Better UX
Length: 36 minutes 33 seconds
Idea: UX copywriting helps keep your audience from bouncing off the page
This video might be a little longer than your normal lunch break — it creeps over 36 minutes.
However, it’s well worth your time in it as it’ll help you produce content that looks and navigates how your audience wants it to.
The reason UX copywriting is so important is that it makes your content digestible for your audience. We’ve seen lots of content that has great ideas, but its UX makes it both difficult to read and find what you want.
Putting Andrea Zoellner’s tips into practice will help you keep your audience on-page, cutting your bounce rate and boosting your conversion rate.
The videos listed here will help make you a better content marketer, one whose content is eye-catching, engaging, educational, and easy to digest. But most importantly, it’ll help you craft content marketing campaigns that are relevant, measurable, and goal-driven.
