Smart content marketers know that great content strikes a balance between fresh and original and tried-and-true. In other words, be creative, but don’t reinvent the wheel every time. Content marketing templates help with this. They provide a solid framework that allows marketers to focus on their unique brand message and value proposition.
There are tons of resources available online but, like anything else, not all templates are created equal.
We decided to scour what’s out there and create one big, centralized guide containing all of the best content marketing templates in one place. Blogs, emails, calendars, you name it — whatever it is you’re creating, you can use this post as a central resource for all your template needs.
Quick Takeaways
- Companies with blogs earn significantly higher web traffic. Common types of blog posts include list posts, guides, and pillar posts.
- Content calendars help companies stay more accountable, organized, and strategy focused.
- On average, people receive more than 100 emails per day. Marketing emails must stand out in order to be effective.
- Infographics are the most shared type of visual content. They make complex information more engaging and digestible.
Content Marketing Templates: The Ultimate Collection
Blog Articles
Here are some quick stats for any reader (we hope it’s not you) who still doesn’t think blogs are important:
- Companies who blog get 97% more links to their website
- Websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages
- In the United States, people spend 3X more time reading blogs than emails
- More than three-quarters of all internet users read blogs
The takeaway: your company needs a blog. But — it needs a blog that uses good templates to set it up for success. Before we dive in here, you might want to check out our more complete guide to setting up your company blog. If you’re building a new blog or revamping your current one, this guide is worth reading.
Here, we’ll cover templates for different types of blog articles. Some of the most commonly used types of blog post templates are:
The List Post
If you’ve ever read a Buzzfeed article, you know list posts (or listicles). They’re one of the most popular types of blog posts thanks to their punchy, easy-to-read format. List posts are often used to share quick tips and tools that address certain problems, but they can really cover just about any topic.
Here’s a visual template from Ahrefs:
Guides: Beginner’s, Step-by-Step, or How-To
Brands use guideposts to walk their audience through a process or solution that requires a lot of information and instruction. They’re heavily aligned with current consumer behavior (when people need information, they turn to the internet) and allow brands to provide direct value to their audience by helping them accomplish something. Guides are also a good way to show industry expertise.
The Pillar Post
Pillar posts are evergreen posts that serve as content hubs on your blog. They broadly cover core topics and link to other content on your site, directing readers to more specific information when needed. Pillar posts allow brands to showcase their expertise and establish the topics and information on which they have authority.
Here’s an easy-to-follow pillar post template from SEMrush:
Sources for Blog Post Templates
- 4 Simple Blog Post Templates (and When to Use Them)
- 5 Blog Post Templates to Help You Write Great Content
- 7 Proven Blog Post Templates (that Work Like a Charm)
Content Calendars
A content calendar is a documented schedule of all of your content with due dates. It covers the planning, scheduling, and organizing processes for your content marketing strategy.
Maintaining a content calendar can feel like adding extra work to your already busy schedule, and it’s true — content calendars require an ongoing time commitment. Consider this, though: while more than 90% of companies currently use content marketing, only 35% feel that their efforts are actually successful.
The difference often lies in whether companies are simply publishing content or doing so as part of a larger, intentional strategy. Content calendars provide the bigger picture needed to create a great strategy and stay focused on it over time.
There are several benefits to maintaining a content calendar that you’ll notice right away:
- Keeps you organized and accountable – When you plan ahead with a content calendar, you’ll be more accountable to the content plan because you’ve outlined it ahead of time.
- Gives you a better grasp on your content – Your content calendar gives you a bird’s eye view of your content. Rather than always focusing on the next post, you’ll gain a holistic understanding of your content themes and trends over time.
- Helps you identify opportunities – Content calendars can help you identify opportunities to collaborate and source content ideas from other team members and happenings at your company.
- Leads to better content (and better results) – Over time, your content is going to get better as you plan it more intentionally. Better content means better engagement, and more engagement means higher marketing ROI.
We think these content calendar templates are all effective options to help you get started:
MIG’s Content Planning Template
We created this template to use in content marketing workshops. It’s simple but comprehensive, and it can be used for all content marketing efforts.
Hootsuite Social Media Calendar
Managing social media content is a large and complex undertaking in itself within any content marketing plan. Multiple platforms, frequent posting, varying formats — it can often require its own calendar separate from the one used for other content efforts.
Hootsuite is considered one of the top tools to use for social media scheduling, and they provide a useful template that can help get you started.
Hubspot Content Calendar Template
HubSpot has many templates you can download and customize as needed. For example, the one pictured below can be color-coded and used as the printed version of your calendar.
Coschedule Annual Content Calendar Template
CoSchedule’s content calendar template is useful because it includes sections for general content, social media, and email marketing. If you’re working with a team, it’s a great tool for managing all of the moving parts of your strategy.
Content Calendar Template Resources
- MIG: How to Make a Content Calendar You’ll Actually Use (Templates Included)
- Hubspot: How to Create an Editorial Calendar (Examples + Templates)
- Hootsuite: How to Create a Social Media Calendar: Tips and Templates
Marketing Emails
Email marketing is one of the most effective communication channels for staying connected to your customer base. The challenge is that it’s also extremely saturated — today, more than 80% of brands use email marketing as a primary communication tool. The average person receives nearly 100 emails daily and leaves more than a third of them unread.
Templates are extremely helpful for email marketers because they eliminate the tedious work required to start writing from scratch and allow you to stay focused on the content elements your emails need in order to stand out, like strong brand messaging and great copy that reflects your brand personality.
Here are templates you can use for some of the most commonly used types of marketing emails:
Welcome Emails
Welcome emails are one the most effective types of marketing emails. They have a 91% open rate on average and 5x the click-through rate of a regular email marketing campaign. Welcome emails are also your opportunity to make a great first impression, sharing the kinds of awesome content your subscribers can expect to receive from your brand.
Here’s an example template from HubSpot:
Newsletters
Newsletters are an effective way to consistently stay in touch with your customer base and include a lot of information in one place. It’s important, though, since newsletters are sent periodically, that your design is engaging, and your content stays fresh.
Mailerlite provides tons of email templates you can choose from (including the one below) and if you have less than 1,000 subscribers, you can access their platform for free (other plans are also very affordable).
Dedicated Promotion Emails
Brands need to send dedicated promotion emails about many different sales, initiatives, and announcements. This guide by Vero is a treasure trove of high-quality examples (like the one below from Ebay) you can use for inspiration.
Abandoned Cart Emails
Up to 75% of online shoppers intend to go back to their abandoned carts later and make a purchase. Abandoned cart emails are reminders sent to customers to prompt them to go back and complete their transaction. These emails have a 4.64% conversion rate, which is more than 4X the rate of regular promotion emails. In other words: not sending abandoned cart emails is a missed opportunity for ecommerce brands.
This guide provides three ready-to-use template examples, including the one below from Google:
Email Marketing Template Resources:
- The ROI-driven Guide to Content for Email Marketing
- 10 Examples of Welcome Emails to Inspire Your Own Strategy
- Promotional Emails: 33 Examples, Ideas, and Best Practices
- Mailerlite Email Newsletter Templates
- Top 3 Ready-to-Use Abandoned Cart Email Templates
Infographics
Visual content in general is key to creating engaging, shareable content. Today, infographics are the most shared type of visual content of all — shared 3X more than any other type. One great example of this is our infographic of the perfect blog post.
Infographics give content marketers the oft-needed ability to take a lot of information and make it engaging, approachable, and easy to digest. They’re great for sharing information like step-by-step instructions or numbers and statistics that can get lost or boring in text-only pieces.
Infographics may take some extra time to plan and design, but their marketing ROI makes them well worth the effort. Once created, infographics are easily shareable resources that continue to engage users long after their initial creation.
Venngage provides a gold mine of templates for the main types of infographics:
- Process – Walk step-by-step through a process to explain it
- Flowchart – Bring workflows to life visually
- Data Visualization – Help people understand data visually. Often included as part of larger infographics
- Informational – Educate people on a specific concept or topic
Process Infographic
Flowchart Infographic
Data Visualizations
Informational Infographics
Infographic Template Resources
- 28 Process Infographic Templates and Visualization Tips
- 20 Flowchart Templates, Design Tips and Examples
- How to Use Data Visualization in Your Infographics
- Informational Infographic Templates
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