8 Trends in Content Marketing

8 Trends in Content Marketing

Chuck FreyDirector of Online Training

Content Marketing Institute@chuckfrey

DEFINITION“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Focused on audience needs – NOT your brand or products!

Requires a strategic approach

Customer personas are essential

Understand their customer journey

Nurturing: map content to each step of it

The right content to to the right

audience at the right time

DELIVER:

GOAL: change or enhance audience

behavior

Teach, don’t sell(not like Ron Burgundy…)

CAMPAIGN

Longer-term play– a different mindset

Rewards commitmentand consistency

ROI hard to prove –at least initially

Make your audience more intelligent

Communicate consistently

Trend 1:Less Content, Greater Impact

Content requires a strategy

But 48% of B2B marketers still don’t have a documented content strategy

Source: CMI 2015 B2B Benchmark Survey

More content ≠

more success

Without a strategy…

Let’s turn the crank FASTER!

We’re getting pretty good at this…

“Produce the minimum amount of content you need to create the impact you require”

-Robert Rose, CMI

Trend 2:Focused content

distribution

Typical scenario: Be everywhere!

The social media numbers game

GROWOUR

FOLLOWERCOUNTS!

Better approach: Focus and own it!

MatPat = 5.7MM subscribers!

Trend 3:Dawn of the

Content Brand

Excellent content has value separate and distinct from the product itself.- Joe Pulizzi, Founder, CMI

A collection of content = valuable asset

Leading content brands

AMEX Open Forum Adobe CMO.com Red Bull Red Bulletin

P&G Everyday Williams-Sonoma Taste HubSpot

How can you move in this direction?

ExtraordinaryContent

ConsistentlyPublished

CustomerFocused

Treat your content program as a product

Trend 4:Deliver true

mobile experiences

Most mobile content is rearranged

desktop content

Goal: Unique mobile experiences

Trend 5:The rise of ad blockers

R.I.P.BANNER

ADS

Effects of ad blocking

ContentNative

advertising

Trend 6:Accelerating

changes in social media business

models

Don’t build your house on rented

land

Example: Facebook Pages

Seen by less than 2% of your followers

You must “pay to play”

Drive people to your owned media

You don’t

control these

channels

They can change the rules at any time

Trend 7:Audience building

becomes a big priority

Priority: Build your email list

You OWN this!

Drive the right people to your website

Offer gated and ungated resources

“Steal” audience via

paid distribution

Target ads to match your personas

Trend 8:Think like a publisher

The mindset of the publisher

The mindset of the publisherClearly defined editorial mission – who we serve and how

Well-honed processes to produce content efficiently

Focused on cultivating deep relationships with their audience

Editorial calendar and high content standards

Well-developed business model – multiple revenue streams

Content marketers can learn a LOT from publishers!

The publisher’s “product” is an asset that has

value $$$

Audience engagement via:• Web content• In-person events• Print publication

Builds trust

Customers as heroes

Builds brand equity

“House” ads for Deere equipment/services/

dealers

Apply this mindset to content strategy

How it’sfunded

How it’s nurtured

LONG-TERM THINKING

How it’s planned

Grow audience faster: Buy a publisher

Brands buying publishers: examples

Thank you!Chuck Frey

Director of Online Training@chuckfrey

chuck@contentinstitute.com