Content marketing is one of the building blocks of a successful digital marketing strategy and, although it’s been a buzz word for the last couple of years, it shows no signs of losing steam in 2018.
As you start to think about what you want from your digital marketing agency next year, consider incorporating some of these incoming content marketing trends.
Original Content
Great content marketing is always about creativity and 2018 will be no different. A big trend over the course of the next 12 months looks to be original content. Apple is already ahead of the game here with reports that it has committed to investing over $1billion in original content.
Your digital marketing agency can help you plan a strategy around this trend but suffice to say, it doesn’t all have to be written. Original content can take any form so consider other mediums such as video, live streaming, visual content and podcasts as part of your strategy.
Monetise your content
Some content experts predict that 2018 will be the year when you’ll finally be able to truly monetise your content. Revenue can be generated either directly from the audience – readers are slowly becoming accustomed to digital subscriptions and the need to pay to access the best digital content – or third party platforms such as Apple or Google.
Of course, being able to monetise your content assumes that what you are creating is useful, original and worthwhile so quality is also an important factor here. You’ll need to tap into what your audience actually wants from you and gauge the type of content they’re willing to pay for before you can leverage this trend.
Bigger budgets
A recent study that marketers in Asia Pacific rated content proficiency as their number one goal while in the US, research from The Content Marketing Institute has found that most marketers are already increasing their content budgets.
Much of the investment so far has been directed at projects – one example being working with a digital marketing agency to produce a series of videos. However, good content marketing is less project driven and more consistent so, while you might have more cash to spend on content in the next 12 months, there’s also going to be pressure to use it wisely. Ensure that content production is consistent and not all project-driven. While those bigger pieces of content, such as a series of videos, are important, there should also be ongoing investment in other forms of content year round.
