Content marketing for businesses is more important than ever before as marketers look to digital platforms to connect with their audience.
New year. New trends. The pandemic has accelerated the digital shift, with brands increasingly relying on content marketing to reach their audience. We’ll continue to see this phenomenon in 2021 as the following trends shape content marketing for businesses.
The importance of brand value
With the massive shift to digital in content marketing for businesses, brand value can become a key differentiator between competitors.
Brand value is the sum of the interactions and experiences that shape the relationship between a user and a brand. Users who perceive a brand as valuable are willing to pay more for a product or service and will choose that brand over competitors because of past experiences.
New models
In 2020, some businesses saw key processes become more flexible as team members got used to working from home. Even though remote work introduced some new challenges, it has helped teams improve communication and organization.
This newfound flexibility, combined with a need to lower costs, is giving way to the rise of new content creation models. Marketing teams can leverage this flexibility to outsource writing and editing, publish content more regularly and access a larger talent pool.
Micro-moments and the buyer journey
Because of the pandemic, more than half of consumers said they shopped online more frequently. Content is more important than ever for supporting users through that journey.
Content marketing for businesses is adapting by targeting micro-moments in the buyer journey. They are prioritizing content that addresses specific intents with formats like Q&As, text and video snippets. Focusing on answers that are short and straight to the point help address a specific need at a micro-moment in the buyer journey.
Testing and learning
Marketing professionals agree that it’s time to experiment with new things. The pandemic forced marketers to adapt quickly, shift their priorities, and respond to new needs and pain points from their audience.
Marketers can stand out by experimenting, breaking a few rules and giving content creators more freedom when it comes to telling stories and engaging their audience. However, these experiments should be structured with measurable goals so that the outcome can be used to update existing rulebooks.
Niche SEO
SEO has been a constant for marketers, but it’s worth repeating that SEO will never go out of style. Large businesses with a strong online presence have an advantage in this area, but there are opportunities to explore with niche SEO and long-tail keywords.
Investing in keyword research and focusing on long-tail keywords will help marketers target users with a specific profile and intent. Long-tail keywords also reflect natural human speech, which is becoming a more common way of issuing queries thanks to smart assistants.
Final thoughts
While some aspects of content marketing for businesses will remain constant, like the need for a user-centric experience or the importance of SEO, 2021 will see marketers adopt new models and focus on micro-moments and brand value.
Tempesta Media can help you adopt a more flexible model and keep up with these new trends with solutions like custom content writing. Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help. To get started now, download our latest e-book, 100 Mistakes Businesses Make When Starting, Optimizing and Scaling Content Marketing Programs.
