Content marketing proved to be important for all businesses in 2018. According to the Content Marketing Institute, the most successful B2B marketers spend 40 percent of their total marketing budget on content marketing, and the most successful B2C marketers spend 26 percent of their overall marketing budget on content marketing. This year, content marketing is projected to be even more vital to businesses’ digital marketing success, and here are the top trends we’re forecasting in 2019.
Original, Valuable Content > Clickbait
Over 75% of consumers say that personally-relevant content increases their purchase intent. This year, take the time to create original, relevant content for your audience. Don’t just follow what every other marketer is doing; dare to create content that sets the bar in your industry. People are catching on to clickbait topics (such as “The Unbelievable Superfood That Will Shave Off 10 Years”) and tend to stay away from working with businesses who promote or create it. Create content that will deliver what people expect to get from these “fishy” stories.
In short, remember to respect your audience’s time and create share-worthy content that will boost your digital presence.
Voice Search
This trend became very popular in 2018, and its momentum isn’t slowing down. Voice search will continue to grow, and your business cannot afford to ignore it. When you write content, make sure some part of it answers quick questions with straight-to-the-point answers. If optimized well, your content could be in featured snippets, which appear above the top organic results.
As more people purchase and use voice-controlled devices like Alexa or Google Home, voice search needs to be at the forefront of your content marketing priorities.
Audio and Video Content
Nowadays, content is more than words; it’s also in the form of videos and audio. Adding variety to your content mediums will allow your audience to stay engaged the way they want to, and they typically respond to shorted, bite-sized audio and video content.
Video marketing is one area we expect to see growth this year, and you should take advantage of this. There are so many tools out there that make video editing a breeze, and adding captions to your videos is also seamless with these same tools.
You probably have a list of go-to podcasts you like to listen to on a daily basis; add your own podcast into your audience’s playlist. If you need inspiration, check out our A Brighter Web podcast and DigitalCast.
No matter which new formats you want to try, remember our first point: make it original and of use for your audience.
Storytelling Content and Brand Storytelling
If you can master how to tell a story that keeps your audience engaged, you can take advantage of this in just about any content marketing format. One story you will want to get right in 2019 is your brand’s story that descriptively shares who you are and your purpose. There are many ways you can go about this, such as creating a messaging strategy to use for all your marketing collateral or work with companies like StoryBrand to map out your story’s beginning, middle and end.
Like 2018, content marketing will need to be a priority this year. Start planning your content marketing efforts to boost your digital success!
To learn more about content marketing, get ahold of GreenMellen today!
