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4 Key Points of Content Marketing

Brands that have been making consistent investments in content marketing are seeing better results. According to a 2017 trends reports from Content Marketing Institute, over 60% of B2B marketers report that their content marketing efforts are now more effective than they were one year ago. So what’s changed and what should marketers be doing in 2018 to drive better results?

Here is a brief overview of the latest content marketing trends and some content strategy tips to help you drive better results for your business.

1. Diversifying Content Formats

If you consider how buyers interact with companies in evaluating whether or not to purchase a product or service, every step of the buyer’s journey depends on content. In fact, a study found that 81% of buyers perform some type of online research before making a purchase. Furthermore, 47% of consumers review 3 to 5 pieces of content created by a company before starting a conversation with a sales representative.

As a result, more companies are focusing on creating content in various forms such as:

  • Social media content
  • Blogs and articles
  • Infographics
  • Videos, both live and pre-recorded
  • White papers
  • Podcasts

What’s important is that you deliver content to your audience in the manner in which they like to consume it. Meeting your audience where they are, builds awareness, and trust in your brand.

2. Creating Keyword Intent Focused Content

Despite the fact that SEO requirements keep changing, one thing that remains true is that high-quality content drives SEO results. However, if you want your site to get more traffic, you need to optimize your content. While you probably are aware of the fact that you need keywords, it’s also important for you to understand search intent which means you need to optimize your content in such a way that it answers the questions that people really want the answers to when they do a search.

It’s key to think like your audience (not like your business) and understand why or what they are searching for.

3. Content Shock Is Your Content Strategy

For the past few years, companies have been worried that content marketing would never become a long-term sustainable strategy simply because of the sheer volume of content being created online daily. This phenomenon is known as content shock. The idea is that visitors coming from search engines wouldn’t be able to engage with every new piece of content being created simply because there are too many existing pieces of content on the same subject. Fortunately, content shock has proven to be a myth, especially for those brands that are have managed to become leaders in their industries.

For brands that want to get ahead, content needs to be created strategically and regularly. In addition, companies that hardly have any digital presence at all should know that opportunity awaits them and now is the time to start engaging.

4. Publishing Frequency Is Changing

How often should you create new content for your website: once a month, once per week, daily? According to a recent study, publishing frequency has declined among individual bloggers. However, this doesn’t mean that they are creating less valuable content. Instead, they are providing more relevant content for their users, they are curating lists of their best answers to questions their clients are asking.

The fact that B2B organizations are actually getting better results from creating less content simply shows the importance of performing regular content audits. Consider the answers to these questions:

  • Are your visitors engaging equally with new content that you create as much as older pieces?
  • Are you able to meet your provide content that solves a problem for your visitors?

If you want to get better results, evaluate the effect of your current publishing schedule on your overall site traffic and conversions. Then you’ll start to get a better picture of whether your current strategy is working for you or if you need some tweaks. If your engagement metrics are declining over a sustained period of time, it’s time for a change in strategy. Companies who are achieving content marketing success are experiencing exponential growth.

Beach City Design will help you create a plan that will ramp up your content marketing results. Contact us today for a free consultation and let’s discuss your business. stacey@beachcitydesign.com