Content management systems were first made to manage content on the web. While websites are still the primary content drivers for businesses today, they aren’t the only content types that add value to customers.

Businesses across multiple verticals need to diversify their content strategies to include various content types that can help drive customer engagement. This includes materials like instruction manuals, user guides, and other content assets that inform and engage customers at various points of their journey.

In this blog, we’ll explore these other types of value-added content, explain how they improve the customer experience, and assess the tools businesses need to leverage to use these content materials to their advantage.

Types of Value-Added Content (And Why Customers Love Them)

Any content that enhances the customer experience offers additional benefits and goes beyond basic expectations can be considered value-added content.

Modern businesses point to their website as a key driver of customer interactions and sales. While it represents the clearest representation of valuable content, businesses should also consider content that provides additional engagement and enhances customer interactions.

For example, car manufacturers that want to drive conversions shouldn’t stop at just the website. Instead, they need to create vehicle manuals, sales pamphlets, sales training materials, and other assets that serve both external and internal audiences.

Other types of value-added content outside of the website that businesses should consider include:

• Instruction Manuals and User Guides: Manuals and guides help customers effectively use and troubleshoot products without needing to contact customer support. They add value by empowering users with self-service tools, which can be available in physical and digital formats.
• Structured Forms & Templates: Structured forms and templates organize information clearly and consistently, enabling customers and employees to complete tasks more efficiently. They add value by reducing complexity and ensuring that important details are not overlooked.
• Training Materials for Staff: By investing in comprehensive training content, companies ensure their employees are well-prepared, improving the quality of service customers receive.
• Interactive Tutorials and Webinars: These resources help users learn independently and foster deeper connections with the brand through interactive and personalized learning experiences.
• FAQs and Help Articles: FAQs compiled based on real user inquiries address common challenges and questions, improving the customer experience by offering quick and accessible solutions.

How Multiple Content Types Enhance the Customer Experience

Organizations that can create and distribute multichannel content are able to provide an enhanced customer experience.

Meeting User Expectations

Today’s customers expect to find the information they need in their desired format. Businesses that offer multiple content formats can meet those expectations. For example, a fashion brand might offer a digital catalog that makes it easy to sort and search its product inventory. However, it could also pair with a printed catalog to appeal to customers who prefer a physical option.

Fostering Customer Engagement and Loyalty

Catering to customers by providing value-added content in multiple formats can help drive engagement. For instance, a car manufacturer that offers comprehensive user guides that include maintenance schedules, operational instructions, and safety information can generate more loyal customers.

These customers know that they can rely on that car brand for a sound driving experience and useful content that adds value to their digital experience and can improve the in-car experience even more.

Driving Brand Perception and Trust

Well-crafted content across different types showcases a brand’s expertise and establishes authority and trustworthiness. This content should feature consistent messaging regardless of the medium where it’s delivered to help maintain that trust.

For example, an ecommerce brand could provide live demonstrations or interactive displays in physical stores that can build trust and demonstrate transparency about the product capabilities and quality. However, those demonstrations should match the content and messaging found on the brand website and other content materials.

Orchestrating and Managing Value-Added Content

Businesses must select the right tools to create and manage content that is not created primarily for the web. These tools should offer the following characteristics innately or through integration:

• Content Creation and Authoring: Content authors need user-friendly authoring interfaces to create and edit multiple content types easily.
• Content Structuring and Metadata Management: While content creation is critical for any content management tool when it comes to managing content types like knowledge bases, user guides, and similar assets, tools must support structured content and have robust metadata capabilities as they help categorize and organize data effectively. Additionally, if the tool provides content in a modular, reusable way, components can be assembled and reassembled in different contexts.
• Collaboration and Content Governance: Content management tools should support proper content governance and collaboration. This includes offering permission settings so administrators can control which departments and users can view, edit, or publish content. Version control capabilities for tracking changes and performing content audits are also beneficial.
• Searchability: Search capabilities enable users to find content quickly using keywords, tags, and advanced queries.
• Translation & Localization: Tools with translation and localization support enable content to be easily translated and localized based on an audience’s linguistic and cultural preferences.
• Personalization & Contextualization: Personalization capabilities ensure that teams can adjust based on user behavior, preferences, demographics, and other factors.
• Feedback Loops: Stakeholders need ways for content to be reviewed and approved within the tool, as well as to incorporate feedback loops.
• Channel-Agnostic Presentation: Content should be able to be published to multiple channels, including mobile phones, tablets, and kiosks so that customers can consume content in the way that fits them.
• API-Driven Functionality: Tools should have robust APIs allowing seamless content delivery across multiple channels and easily integrating with other systems.

How a CCMS Supports Modern Content Requirements

The ideal content management solution to meet these modern content requirements and enable businesses to provide value-added content is a component content management system (CCMS).

A CCMS offers the functionality to support content outside of the web experience. It helps to create, manage, and optimize structured content. This tool is perfect for organizations that need to produce various documents and publications, including technical manuals and user guides.

With a CCMS, organizations can realize a number of benefits:

Content Reusability: Content teams can create content once and reuse it multiple times. This efficiency is made possible by structured content, which serves as a single source of truth, allowing components to be utilized in various places.

Better Discoverability: A CCMS and structured content enhances searchability and improves content discoverability. This efficiency reduces the time users spend searching for information.

Increased Productivity: Using a CCMS and structured content can boost the productivity of content teams and minimize the creation of duplicate content. Rather than starting from scratch each time, teams can easily review existing content to identify opportunities for repurposing and adapting it for different channels. Additionally, reusing content can significantly shorten the times required for content approval and translation.

These are only some of the benefits that businesses can realize with the help of a CCMS. Ultimately, this robust tool can help organizations create consistent content across multiple channels and content types, adding value to the user experience and helping keep loyal customers engaged.

Go Beyond the Web Experience

Businesses that want to provide a variety of content experiences, including going beyond the web experience, need the right support. Content Bloom is an enterprise digital consultancy and a team of content management experts. We can assist enterprises in catering to various content needs, from planning and orchestration to strategy and CMS implementation.

From CCMSs to headless CMSs and additional content marketing tools, we have the expertise to help businesses meet their content management tool requirements.

Interested in learning more about CCMSs and structured content? Read our blog: The Benefits of CCMS, Structured Content, and DITA.