Photo Courtesy of Stock Images @ freedigitalphotos.net

Photo Courtesy of Stock Images @ freedigitalphotos.net

Calendar year 2017 may still be three months away, but it’s not too early for content marketing experts to make predictions on growing trends. According to Joe Pulizzi, the founder and CEO of Content Marketing Institute, the most successful organizations will be those that take the time to create a real marketing strategy.  It seems that even experienced marketers focus too much on campaigns and discussing products and services and not enough time on putting a formal strategy in place. Other organizations miss out by not reviewing their marketing strategy nearly often enough. Here are five other growing trends that require your attention:

  1. Influencer Marketing: This has always been important, but in 2016 it made it into the top five trends in content promotion. Influencer marketing orients its activities around specific people in the industry thought to have the greatest impact on potential buyers. These key people are hired by an organization to deliver a message to a broader audience.
  2. Interactive and Personalized Content: No one wants to feel like they are just a number, and this is increasingly showing up in content marketing strategies. Videos and written content are geared more towards specific personas and groups of individuals rather than for everyone the marketer hopes to convert. The use of interactive content that allows readers to click on topics of greatest interest to them is growing in demand and application as well. This requires a marketing team that knows how to effectively link different types of content.
  3. Mobile Capability: You have probably been hearing for years that companies must have a mobile responsive website in order to remain competitive. Now that we’re on the heels of 2017, you simply can’t afford to ignore this advice any longer. With most Americans having at least one mobile device, you will lose out to the competition if potential customers can’t find and easily scan details about your products and services while on the go.
  4. Quality Written Content: The use of video in marketing may be trending, but consider that someone still has to write the story-based text that goes along with them. It’s also important to remember that Google still rewards sites with well-written, informative content of actual value to readers and penalizes those that offer little more than spam. However, marketing talent doesn’t always equate to writing talent. If you don’t feel confident in your writing ability or simply don’t have the time to write content, browse our Writer Directory to outsource the work.
  5. Video and Visual Marketing: Using video in your marketing campaigns just makes sense, no matter what the platform. At the beginning of 2016, the research group Insivia released some staggering statistics on video marketing. For example, did you know that you can increase conversion rates by 80 percent just by including a video on your landing page? When your company email contains video, open rates can be as much as 300 percent higher. These are just two trends that Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute expects to keep trending.

The above represent trends that have come along in recent years that continue to pick up steam. We also recommend keeping your eyes and ears open for completely new concepts in content marketing that will help your organization better meet its goals. As always, please let us know how we can be of service to you here at Content Runner.