The 22 (or more) Types of Content That Product Marketers Create

(Updated blog post count 10/23/2023)

I mentioned something in passing in Bredemarket’s recent go-to-market post that I think needs a little more highlighting. So here is a deeper dive into the 22 types of content that product marketers create. (Well, at least 22. I’m probably missing some.)

And by the way, I have created all 22 of these types of content, from blog posts and battlecards to smartphone application content and scientific book chapters. And I can create it for you.

“But John,” you’re saying, “Don’t you know anything? Content is created by content marketers!”

Read on.

The NON difference between product marketing and content marketing

If you consult with the experts, they will tell you that there is a distinct division between product marketing and content marketing, and that they are two entirely separate disciplines.

Why is it that so many business-to-business (B2B) marketers confuse product marketing with content marketing?

Because it requires a lot of discipline. That’s why.

B2B marketers who get it right understand the difference between these two fundamentally different types of marketing, what their purposes are and how to use them correctly.

From https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/08/27/is-your-business-confusing-product-marketing-and-content-marketing/?sh=2edf86f51d88

There certainly is a difference—if you work in a firm that enforces strict definitions and separation between the two.

Some firms (especially startups) don’t have the luxury to enforce such definitions. They don’t have separate teams to create awareness content, consideration content, and conversion content. They have one team (or perhaps one person) to create all that content PLUS other stuff that I’ll discuss later.

For example, during my most recent stint as a product marketing employee at a startup, the firm had no official content marketers, so the product marketers had to create a lot of non-product related content. So we product marketers were the de facto content marketers for the company too. (Sadly, we didn’t get two salaries for filling two roles.)

Why did the product marketers end up as content marketers? It turns out that it makes sense—after all, people who write about your product in the lower funnel stages can also write about your product in the upper funnel stages, and also can certainly write about OTHER things, such as company descriptions, speaker submissions, and speaker biographies.

Creating external content and internal content

And when you find a “you can pry my keyboard out of my cold dead hands” person, you’ll naturally want to get them to write other things.

As a result, I’ve written a ton of stuff over my last 29 years in identity/biometrics. It didn’t take a great leap for me to self-identify as the identity content marketing expert and the biometric content marketing expert (and other expert definitions; I’m an expert in creating expert titles).

I’ve compiled a summary of the types of content that I’ve created over the years, not only for Bredemarket’s clients, but also for my employers at Incode Technologies, IDEMIA, MorphoTrak, Motorola, and Printrak.

Not all of these were created when I was in a formal product marketing role, but depending upon your product or service, you may need any of these content types to support the marketing of your product/service.

It’s helpful to divide the list into two parts: the external (customer-facing) content, and the internal (company-only) content.

10 types of external content I have created

External content is what most people think of when they talk about product marketing or content marketing. After all, this is the visible stuff that the prospects see, and which can move them toward a purchase (conversion). The numbers after some content types indicate the quantities of pieces of collateral that I have created.

• Articles
• Blog Posts (500+, including this one)
• Briefs/Data/Literature Sheets
• Case Studies (12+)
• Proposals (100+)
• Scientific Book Chapters
• Smartphone Application Content
• Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, Twitter)
• Web Page Content
• White Papers and E-Books

Here’s an video showing some of the external content that I have created for Bredemarket.

9 types of internal content I have created

While external content is sexy, internal content is extremely important, since it’s what equips the people inside a firm to promote your product or service. The numbers after some content types indicate the quantities of pieces of collateral that I have created.

• Battlecards (80+)
• Competitive Analyses
• Event/Conference/Trade Show Demonstration Scripts
• Plans
• Playbooks
• Proposal Templates
• Quality Improvement Documents
• Requirements
• Strategic Analyses

And here are 3 more types

Some content can either be external or internal. Again, numbers indicate the quantities of pieces of collateral I have created.

• Email Newsletters (200+)
• FAQs
• Presentations

Content I can create for you

Does your firm need help creating one of these types of content?

Maybe two?

Maybe 22?

I can create content full-time for you

If your firm needs to create a lot of content types for your products, then consider hiring me as your full-time Senior Product Marketing Manager. My LinkedIn profile is here, documenting my 29 years of experience in identity/biometric technology as a product marketer, a strategist, and in other roles.

Or I can consult for you

But if your firm needs a more limited amount of content and can’t employ me on a full-time basis, then you can contract with me through my consulting firm Bredemarket. For example, I could write a single 400-600 word blog post or short article for you.

Or 2 blog posts/articles.

Or 22 blog posts/articles. (The more the merrier.)

Do you need these services?

Authorize Bredemarket, Ontario California’s content marketing expert, to help your firm produce words that return results.

• Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
• Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket.
• Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.
• Subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/hdHIaT.

And yes, I know this post had two separate calls to action. What do you expect from a guy who thinks product marketers are content marketers?

And here’s one for the Swifties. No, it’s not “Taylor’s version.” But we all know that she is the only person who can reconcile differences between so-called standards bodies, since any standard Swift champions will become the de facto standard.