Let's begin with the basics. Content marketing is one of the most effective lead generation strategies for B2C, B2B and nonprofits today.
Why content marketing?
The 2 key objectives of content marketing include:
- Improve brand awareness
- Drive traffic to your website
Remember your content is the bones of your brand and the language that speaks to your customers…. What does your content say about you?
What does content marketing look like in 2018?
Churning out content without purpose just won't work any longer. The expectations of prospects have become much more sophisticated. It’s time to adopt new behaviours and drop bad habits that result in poor quality content that is more filler than anything else.
Brands that are achieving the most success with content and email marketing campaigns are approaching content marketing with a full media strategy.
Trends that are moving in the right direction include:
TRANSPARENCY – 2018 is all about purpose and meaning. Does the tone and content produced across platforms honestly and authentically reflect your brand identity? Because trust matters.
It’s not about a bombardment of information; your brand needs to have something useful to say.
The graphic below comes from a great study – Neilson’s study ‘Global Trust in Advertising’ highlights how consumers respond and where they are putting their trust.
There is an increase in factors such as recommendations, editorials and promotion vial influencers – such as YouTube channels and social media. Email marketing also remains strong.
MULTIMEDIA – Your brand needs to design clever content that speaks in the right language for each social media platform. This means LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, industry editorial, email marketing, blogs, webinars (you name it!) – each piece needs to grab attention in the right ways.
One of the biggest trends even for B2Bs is the use of video including explainer videos and live streams via Facebook and YouTube.
Don’t shy away! Thinking of creative ways to showcase information will get you noticed and this should include video.
See also: The best social media options for B2B
Using B2B to generate inbound enquiry
Sales explainer videos can win you business
SHARE TRIGGERS - More than 2 million blog posts are published every day. Social shares and engagement is a significant indicator to search engines that a piece of content has value, that it has a social currency. A recent study of 100 million pieces of content by Buzzsumo found the following trends on analysis for the most successful online articles. Its findings included that useful content gets the most shares. Longer, researched pieces are popular and the way that information is presented also influences whether it is shared, as sharers post content that is likely to reflect positively on them. Keep these factors in mind for your future posts.
See also: 10 easy content ideas for your next B2B newsletter
CALL TO ACTION - You want to indicate value to your audience. Your call to action is the purpose behind the content. Once you have an audience, what would you like them to do? This is key in answering the question “what’s in it for me”. Brand, and the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of your product/service also come into play here. The overall content and messaging provided in the web page, social post, newsletter, article or invite needs to remain consistent, informative and persuasive.
See also: How to write a call to action that packs a punch
THE STRATEGY AND THE JOURNEY - Many marketers feel that the more content, the better. Another common myth is that Google favours new ‘fresh’ content and short and sweet is effective. In actuality, the real value that Google and your consumer base will place on your content will always be about the relevance of information, usefulness, entertainment factors and attractiveness/functionality.
Again, we come back to purpose. One of the best things you can do for your brand is to develop a content strategy that accurately reflects each touch point on the customer journey. Purpose each piece and think about the responsiveness of different personas at different times.
See also: Successful email marketing, beating the barriers for your next campaign
It sounds simple enough – create a plan and execute. We all know that BAU gets in the way. If you need any help to build your 2019 content plan get in touch with Make it Happen. Our team is always happy to help.