This two-part series takes a look at content marketing in 2020. In this first article, we’ll talk about new tools that can make your content marketing more effective.
In part two, I’ll talk about “evergreen” content marketing tips you need to use. Tips that are valuable, whether it’s 2020 or 1920. I hope you find it useful.
++++++++++++++++++++++
It’s 2020. And as a marketing pro or business owner, you still need every advantage you can get. If you aren’t doing content marketing, you may wonder if it’s worth your time and energy. You may be asking yourself if it still works.
The short answer is, yes it does. But you have to do it the right way. Today, let’s talk about some tech innovations that can help you run your content marketing campaign more effectively.
Video:
In 2020, your content marketing needs to be much more than “just a blog” or “another white paper”. So if you are serving up your marketing content by print only, you’re missing a golden opportunity to win and keep your audience’s attention. You are losing a chance to harness the power of content marketing to help you win more sales.
Video viewing is increasing in popularity around the world. It’s estimated that, by 2021, the average person will invest 100 minutes per day watching video online.
According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers claim that video is important to their marketing strategy. So guess what? Chances are your competitors are harnessing the power of video in their content marketing. Your audience wants video. So give it to them.
If you don’t, you just might get left behind by your competitors who do.
There are many ways to use video in your content marketing approach. Here are a couple you might not have thought about:
-Product demonstrations-these videos can help you put buyers at ease by showing them just how easy it is to use your product. Videos can also be used to add value after the sale to help you build brand loyalty and offer your customers a better experience. The result? More repeat sales!
-Customer reviews and testimonials- In his classic book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini discusses six key principles of persuasion. Social proof is one of these. All of us are influenced in our behavior by the behavior of others. What previous buyers say about a purchase influences our buying decision.
This makes video testimonials and reviews a very powerful tool that can help launch you to content marketing success!
But here’s something important to keep in mind: video by itself won’t help you beat all your marketing challenges. You need an effective, comprehensive marketing strategy. And you need the right words. Yes, compelling, persuasive, engaging copywriting matters when you are speaking on video just as much as it does when you are writing a blog post.
Another video trend to pay attention to-live streaming video. According to one survey of consumers, “80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog.”
Video:
In 2020, your content marketing needs to be much more than “just a blog” or “another white paper”. So if you are serving up your marketing content by print only, you’re missing a golden opportunity to win and keep your audience’s attention. You are losing a chance to harness the power of content marketing to help you win more sales.
Video viewing is increasing in popularity around the world. It’s estimated that, by 2021, the average person will invest 100 minutes per day watching video online.
According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers claim that video is important to their marketing strategy. So guess what? Chances are your competitors are harnessing the power of video in their content marketing. Your audience wants video. So give it to them.
If you don’t, you just might get left behind by your competitors who do.
There are many ways to use video in your content marketing approach. Here are a couple you might not have thought about:
-Product demonstrations-these videos can help you put buyers at ease by showing them just how easy it is to use your product. Videos can also be used to add value after the sale to help you build brand loyalty and offer your customers a better experience. The result? More repeat sales!
-Customer reviews and testimonials- In his classic book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini discusses six key principles of persuasion. Social proof is one of these. All of us are influenced in our behavior by the behavior of others. What previous buyers say about a purchase influences our buying decision.
This makes video testimonials and reviews a very powerful tool that can help launch you to content marketing success!
But here’s something important to keep in mind: video by itself won’t help you beat all your marketing challenges. You need an effective, comprehensive marketing strategy. And you need the right words. Yes, compelling, persuasive, engaging copywriting matters when you are speaking on video just as much as it does when you are writing a blog post.
Another video trend to pay attention to-live streaming video. According to one survey of consumers, “80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog.”
Conversational Marketing:
Could your content marketing campaigns, your sales results, and your company’s brand reputation benefit from a real-time authentic dialog with your customers? Would your buyers and potential buyers appreciate it? I have no doubt your answer is “Yes”.
Conversational marketing enhanced with chatbots and AI can help you. Not only will you be able to share your message with your audience real time, you can also “listen” to them. Think how this ability could help you improve your customer experience and enhance the customer journey.
Social media platforms can also be used to host your conversational marketing and boost your customer dialog.
You can also use an old, but proven, tech tool-email, as part of your conversational marketing.
The bottom line on conversational marketing: although there are plenty of tools you can use, the tool is secondary. What matters more is that you make it a personal, engaging conversation, and that you make it timely-don’t wait too long to respond.
Voice Search:
Voice search through smart phones and devices, including Amazon Echo, etc., is a trend, more like a tidal wave, that you can’t afford to ignore. In 2020 and beyond, it will be influencing content marketing big time!
Voice search is not only gaining in popularity; it’s going through the roof. As of January 2018, the number of voice searches per month crossed the 1 billion (with a B!) threshold.
So how do you give your content marketing a boost with voice search? For one thing, you need to optimize it differently than you do for traditional searches. Think about it…
There is a key difference in the way voice search happens, as compared to typing a search: Voice searchers tend to ask questions. For example, they might say, “What are the biggest content marketing trends of 2020?”, instead of “2020 content marketing trends”. So be sure to include in your content and your headlines the long-tail keywords and phrases people are likely to speak as they search.
Personalized Content:
Even though I’m talking about this in an article about content marketing in 2020, marketers have always needed personalization. Readers, and viewers, tune out content they don’t find relevant to them. This was the case 100 years ago. It is the same way now.
According to a 2019 survey, 96% of marketers state that personalization helps build customer relationships.
Here’s some great news! Software options to help you personalize your content marketing abound.
Through the power of technology, marketers like us now have the capability of delivering even more personalized messages. You now have more capabilities to enhance the customer experience, build your brand and boost your bottom line.
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
AI has been a hot topic in pop culture for a long time. If you’ve seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, you no doubt have vivid memories of HAL, the AI computer that controlled the space craft en route to Jupiter.
Well guess what? AI is no longer the sole domain of science fiction. It’s real. And like it or not, it will have an impact on content marketing. So why not use it to your advantage?
But how?
It’s no secret that AI-enabled programs are now writing and speaking content and in many cases, being used instead of human writers. Some of it is pretty good. Chances are you’ve read AI-generated content without knowing it. But it still has limitations.
How else can AI help you with content marketing? We just discussed the usefulness of personalized content. This can be a big challenge. But as marketers, we can leverage AI-related capabilities such as machine learning to help us.
Predictive intelligence can help you understand individual customers to a greater degree and give them the content personalization they want. It can also help you determine where your prospects are in their buyer journey.
AI helps marketers analyze user data and make sense of the constantly changing content marketing landscape.
Technology can help you win the content marketing race. But here’s a warning: you can have every tech advantage and still fail.
So don’t treat technology as a crutch or a bandage. It won’t save a fundamentally
flawed content marketing approach. You need much more. In our next article, we’ll talk about some tried and true basics every content marketing campaign needs.
Until then, Happy Marketing!
Related Articles
Looking to Succeed With Pay-Per-Click? These Tips Will Help You
What do you need to succeed in the ultra-competitive world of online marketing? That’s a big question that’s kind of hard to answer in just a few words. But I’m confident we can agree on this: to win at digital marketing, we need leads, traffic and sales. How can you...
The Customer Journey. And Why You Can’t Afford To Ignore It
Your customer journey is your biggest opportunity to grow your bottom line. But it’s also an experience that can destroy your company’s reputation. So let’s talk about how you can enhance your customer journey. Before we go any further, let’s define the customer...