Content. The word itself has so much power that it does not need many words to explain what its power is. How did a single word gain so much importance in today’s world? What’s the future of content marketing? Continue reading to find out more about content marketing future.
Defining a concept as varied as content is not an easy task. Content cannot have one particular meaning. It is perceived differently by every unique individual. Content can mean information to one person and experiences to another.
Now, using the concept of content in terms of marketing is what makes content marketing what it is. Content is the basic building block towards defining what a brand is.
What is content marketing?
The Content Marketing Institute, an online global organization has given the following definition for content marketing:
“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – to drive profitable customer action.”
Content marketing means sharing relevant information that is informative, unique and intrigues the target audience to engage and interact with the brand, leading to sales conversions.
It is a scalable way to bring in new clients and also to stay in touch with older clients to create a sense of brand awareness as well as brand loyalty.
With the world being online for a major part of the day, your brand needs to reach its target audiences through a well-devised content marketing plan which should be implemented in a way to engage with customers and persuade them to make a buying decision.
Evolution of Content Marketing
It is believed that content marketing has been a part of our lives ever since man started telling stories. Many people say that content marketing is associated with art storytelling as it also involves similar creativity.
Even though one school of thought is that it is so old, another school of thought is that content marketing also emerged along with the advent of the internet. Online marketers all over the world started creating online content marketing strategies ever since social networking came into existence. This was because now they could curate content that would be specifically for these particular social media platforms and target audiences.
The 1990s were a very crucial decade for content marketing as a whole. The promotion of content online began with an e-book that was published online. This was a turning point in the whole concept of content marketing.
It was towards the end of the 1990s when blogging came into existence as well. Blogs were converted into people making certain guides on how to go about certain things, answering important questions that were being asked about for many years. This was a landmark moment in content marketing history as well.
Come the 21st century, and we got into social media. Social media became the hub for content marketing when it started with MySpace and Facebook, where people could write about their thoughts and soon became visual with Instagram. Content changed its definition from not just being textual information to graphics, videos, and so on.
Today content marketing has taken such a huge leap that companies have been spending a big part of their budget in marketing with a focus on content.
According to The Drum, “Content Marketing industry will be worth a whopping $412 billion by 2021.”
What comes under Content Marketing?
Your content marketing strategy needs to be well-curated with a lot of different types which will provide the maximum results. Some of the broadly used types of content marketing are-:
Blog Content Marketing
Blogs are a very creative form of inbound marketing and also give a wide array of topics to be explored and written upon. It all depends on how informative and interesting your content is. Blogs are one the most effective ways of content marketing that are still widely used all over the world. Through a blog, you can also promote certain existing social media content by interlining those and your website through the blog, and also motivate your readers to share your blog by adding a social share button.
Infographic Content Marketing
Infographics are one of the most innovative types of content marketing as they involve sharing a piece of particular information with the help of visuals and charts, which are more attention-grabbing than simple texts. They are easier to understand as information when presented in the form of graphics and flowcharts attracts more visitors and thus improves engagement. They are a great way to communicate what you are trying to say, even though it is something quite complex as with infographic content marketing, everything becomes easy to understand.
Video Content Marketing
An up-and-coming form of content marketing, videos have recently paved way for themselves with the era of digitization. Many viewers now prefer watching videos about certain products or services before they make a buying decision. These videos can be anything from telling about the products or even tutorials on how to go about it. Videos are a very easy way to provide certain information about your brand and what it has to offer. Video Content Marketing, though a tad bit more expensive due to production costs, etc., is a very resourceful method of content marketing as you can even share these videos on your website and social media to attract more potential customers.
Podcast Content Marketing
For the people who are in a rush and don’t like to sit and read about certain things, podcasts are another way of communicating information about your brand to the general masses. Podcasts are audios, where you can talk about your business and the products or services offered, uniquely and creatively. Podcast marketing is a very proficient way of marketing your content as you can post these audio bites on your website and social media and people can easily listen to them while they are traveling or even working.
Social Media Marketing
The impact that social media has had on the entire world population in the last few decades has been drastic. Social media has been an integral part of everyone’s lives today, and it is a fact that people spend more time on social media than with their friends and families. Social media content marketing supports all forms of content, from blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, and many more. The content created for social media should resonate with your target audience about what your brand is about and should intrigue them to find more about you.
Importance of Content Marketing
Content Marketing focuses on driving sales by giving your potential customers what they want through online media while they are searching for it. Your content needs to convey a certain style that is unique, intriguing, and consistent. Your content must be consistent as it establishes your credibility, builds trust in customers, and also improves your reputation.
We know by now how the content needs to be. But why is content marketing so necessary for any business? Read ahead to find out.
It drives sales
Content marketing helps to generate leads organically. Content provides important information about their products and services and engages with existing and potential clients. Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to boost sales as you can give quality content to your potential clients in the forms of texts, audio, images, video, etc., which will be persuading enough to motivate them to make a buying decision.
Helps amplify brand awareness
When people will read and look at your content, you will be portraying what your brand is. Whatever content is being created by you, describes a picture of your brand and how you want it to been seen by your audiences. Marketing content is all the way more essential because when someone searches for a particular product or service and your brand pops up, it will be more effective and will also boost your brand awareness.
Content marketing is a really important and efficient method to improve your social media presence. Creating trendy and engaging content will help you to get popular on social media. If some people find your content online then they will make it a point to share it with their family and friends, thus creating a long chain where you increase your fans on social media.
Cost-effective
Even though some people find the initial investment to be a bit much in the case of content marketing, it has proven to be a lot less expensive as compared to its traditional counterparts. The content that you will create for your online marketing mediums will increase your growth, hence providing you with exponential increased ROI.
Content Marketing Future Scope
In the world of digital marketing and social media, content marketing forms the backbone of online advertising strategies followed by the top marketing firms in the world. With good content, one can boost sales, increase followers, and establish themselves as a brand.
In the upcoming years, the emphasis on the quality of content will only increase. We will now try to unveil what the future has in store for content marketing-:
Interactive content
The content that is better able to engage with your target audiences and motivate them to purchase your goods or services is what will be most important in terms of content marketing in the upcoming future.
Content will more be focused on the visual aspect
Gone are the days when content was defined by writing basic lengthy blogs and articles for newspapers. How the audiences have been engaging with brands has evolved. Audiences prefer interactive mediums where they can also interact with the brand and the information is conveyed to them in a less boring way.
There will be an increased demand for voice-optimized content
Technology has brought us to the point where we ask Siri or Alexa to make a call for us and switch on the TV, and it is done. Voice control has become the most important invention in the 21st century. We have got voice assistants on our smartphones today and that is how most people search on social media as well. The content created will be more concentrated on how it will show when someone voice searches about their business on social media.
Content Marketing is all about giving your customers value in the form of content you write that speaks for the brand itself. An effective content marketing strategy focuses on reaching your target audience and increasing conversions. It is about proving to your customer why you are the best in the business and just by having a look at the content you create for your business, they will know the hard work that you have put in to establish your brand in the industry.
Banyanbrain is a digital marketing agency in India providing 360- degree solutions to grow your business into a well-reputed brand by offering services like PPC, SEM, ORM, Content Marketing, E-mail Marketing, and SEO services in the USA and on a global level.
