Happy January. While nothing magically changed from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day—there’s a lot of new trends and tactics that will come into play on the marketing and advertising scene this year.
We know content marketing is always changing. You can’t just do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result—that’s insanity. That’s why things are always shifting toward more current and timely ways to reach customers—because we know customer preferences aren’t staying the same, either.
For those of you looking to know what’s new, what’s in, and what’s next—buckle up as we untangle three emerging trends in content marketing that have recently increased in demand and are sure to shake up your day-to-day operations.
1. Personalized Content
With a savvier customer base, you need a more sophisticated way to reach them. The days of casting a wide net are over. Organizations should be speaking to customers on an individual level as it can be key to strengthening your relevancy and their willingness to read/listen to your message.
Personalization also offers you an edge against the competition, but it is heavily dependent on data. So, the more data you have about your customers, the better the chance is that you can keep them at the center and create deeper, more meaningful content that will resonate with them.
If you’re working on a content strategy that needs to speak to different audiences, we have a tool for you. Download this Message Matrix to define the goal and key messages that will resonate with each audience segment.
2. Information Quality
Whether it’s a light article or blog post, providing quality information is the best way to get through to your audience. You’ve got to ensure your content is credible and that it’s produced by writers with expertise on the subject matter.
Right now, Google is rewarding depth of expertise. Think E-A-T—expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. The concept comes from the tech giant’s search quality rater guidelines—they’re individual ranking factors that allow searchers to pull the most credible content from the most trustworthy websites. High-quality content can meet these guidelines because it demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
If you’re looking to improve the performance of your existing content and figure out what’s working for you, this Content Audit Template is a good place to start. But be warned, it is a spreadsheet.
3. Video and Motion
Telling your business’ story through video is going to be more important than ever in the new year—as it allows you to convey your story with emotions and really build a personal connection with the viewer.
Video can also help answer essential questions about the “whys” surrounding how you market your products and services. You can use the length of the video to showcase the most important features of your brand and do so in a premeditated and well-edited form. Customers always want to know what’s in it for them—and this question can be clearly answered with compelling and creative video that can include infographics, fun music and animations. And remember to align your conversations with your media team, so you can explore ways to target (and retarget) your audience.
If you’re working on a content strategy and wondering when video would be a good option, this Content Framework Template is for you. This tool will help you work through the purpose of each pillar, type of content, frequency and which channels to promote on.
Get Started
So now that we shared our thoughts on what we see coming in 2022, you might be a bit overwhelmed about what B2B marketers need to do. We know each of these three trends require a lot of planning before any action can take place.
Consider revisiting your strategic plan for 2022 with these trends in mind and start thinking about how you can weave them into various aspects of your organization. Share these trends with your leadership teams and get the conversation going so everyone can start thinking about how this may look across the entire organization. Remember, alignment is key. Get everyone on the same page with these simple content tools to help inspire ideas and drive action.
