Content marketing has really hit its stride in the past few years. As buyers become ever more independent, they continue to seek out information on their own. Content can inform, teach, and even entertain. The best kind of content actually does all three, and it keeps people coming back to your website, your blog, or your YouTube channel.
As consumer preferences shift, however, content marketing must continue to evolve. Changes are already visible. For example, tastes have already shifted away from long-form e-books to video marketing.
What will this kind of marketing look like in the future? These nine predictions shed some light on what marketing professionals might see in the not-too-distant future.
Personalization and customization are already big trends in marketing and sales, but you can expect this trend to continue. As artificial intelligence and other technologies continue to mature, everything from websites to email marketing campaigns will become ever-more personal.
Another trend will be the idea that every employee is involved in your marketing campaign in some way. Whether it’s the tech department setting up the AIs to enable certain marketing techniques or content being at least partly prepared by those who work “behind the scenes,” marketing will be everywhere in your business.
Sales and marketing alignment is already happening in many businesses, or at least it should be. It’s almost integral to your inbound marketing success.
As content marketing evolves, however, you can expect sales and marketing to not just align, but to integrate as well. Sales needs the right content to reach prospects, and marketing wants to better understand the company’s prospects and customers.
Another trend in content marketing will be increasing brevity. This trend is already observable, with preferences moving away from long-form content like e-books towards shorter videos and other formats.
Long-form won’t disappear entirely, as evidenced by the length of blog posts increasing over time. Nonetheless, short and sweet will become more and more the norm.
Audiences are already somewhat fragmented, but this trend will increase. As audiences continue to splinter, content will need to be created for individual niches and adjusted to the audience accordingly. This will coincide with the increasing trend towards personalization as well.
Another thing that will happen is an increasing push to be memorable. Branding and voice will be more important than ever before. As content marketing continues to grow and adapt, consumer preferences will continue to change as well.
With everyone adopting these marketing techniques, you’ll need to do something more to stand out from the crowd.
New technology will be another major driver in change when it comes to marketing with content. Already, AI and voice-activated technology, like Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa, are changing the landscape. Content will need to evolve and adapt to these new technologies, just as it has for other technological advances.
Predictions about the rise of local search are already rampant. In the next few years, most searches will be done from a mobile device and people will be searching for local information. The local market is going to be more and more important for a business.
This rule is already true, but there’s no reason to see it going away in the near future. You’re going to have to ensure you engage your audience. This means you have to meet them in their spaces, and you need to be ready to have a conversation with them.
Content marketing is evolving, and it will continue to evolve in new and exciting ways.