Content is king and will continue to rule for many years to come. However, designing and publishing more content is no longer equal to more web traffic. There are more than 440 million blogs in the world (not including the Tumbr which alone has 400 million of them). All these are directed at nearly 7.5 billion population of the world. Not stopping at this, the number of blogs is constantly on the rise so the need for creative content marketing ideas was never more pronounced as you have to create a compelling need for people to come to your blog bypassing all your competitors.
Current Status of Content Marketing
Content marketing ideas which defined fortunes for the early adopters are no longer valid today. The niche has become more fluid and the rules of the game have undergone a sea-change as many new entrants have joined the band-wagon. Something to always remember is the level of competition you’ll always have. No matter what idea or topic you choose to work on, there will always be many blogs already flooding the online space on the same line of thought. This is serious and interesting. Even if you plan to follow a few keywords, the competition will not cool-off. Even the idea of using long-tail phrases will lose ground as far as future of content is there. The only thing that will stand firm in the future is something which is new and original. A high bounce rate or people walking-away only after reading the headlines is either because the person already has enough knowledge about the subject you have written about or that the content you have mentioned is far from interesting.
Strategies for Successful Content Marketing
- Content Marketing has become Mainstream: Content marketing has become integral to traditional marketing strategies and in many cases has completely surpassed the same. It was only a few years ago when businesses took up content marketing only in free time. Marketers have realized that only one-sided push or conversations will not hold good and one has to develop personal relationships and regular interactions with the audiences for bagging their share of mind. Content has become a handy tool for every little function of marketing as it is an excellent tool for trust-building and generating more traffic.
- Strategy is the Core: Creative content marketing ideas are not just a random play but need a more specific and streamlined approach especially as the field has matured to become a highly potent tool. However, to maximize its effectiveness to span the entire potential it has to be used with a well-defined strategy in place. Although almost all the content strategies work to attain the general content goals like SEO, generation of leads, etc. businesses nowadays tailor the same to match the aims which are important for them and their organizations.
- Creating Value for Audiences: Content has different connotations for different departments of a business. E.g. for a sales wing it seeks to address their need for improvement in client relationships while for the ones involved in branding it should be able to generate goodwill in the market. Creation of value for customers refers to the way businesses help the customers realize how to drive maximum benefit from the product. There is a deliberate push across all the channels to highlight the good around the product or service. This further helps in brand growth. This encourages both returning customers and also word-of-mouth marketing.
- Content Distribution: There is absolutely no use for creating effective or interesting content unless there is no audience to see it. Thus, every successful content marketing strategy should have a well-laid out a distribution plan. Although, a lot is handled by social media channels and email marketing, each business has to go further to boil down to the right distribution strategy which is unique to their audiences. Passive distribution or the one which happens after there is no traffic is the worst thing you can do your business as you are making your most valuable asset of content sit idle.
- Search Engine Optimization: Needless to say SEO is essential in this age where algorithms define the measure of your success. Google search algorithms have shifted their tilt towards ‘real experts’. Search engines have become more sophisticated to understand similar concepts. Even the ranking of personalized keywords has become unpredictable and difficult to calculate.
Conclusion
As Ginny Mineo said, “re-calibrate your strategy between compounding, recurring, and experimental content channels”. Successful content marketing strategy has been centered on your target audience taking into account the above pointers. The world of content marketing is rapidly changing and one has to adapt quickly to keep pace with it. The point is to create compelling and original content which resonates with the minds of the audience. So, do not miss the bandwagon of success. Get Started!
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