Blog Post | Apr 25, 2023
3 Content Marketing Tactics You Should Try
Content Marketing is continually changing and adapting to the needs of the customer and the marketplace. Your business needs to stay on top of the latest user-driven methods to set yourself apart from the competition. In this article we discuss three content marketing tactics that will inspire instant customer engagement and help your business meet the needs and expectations of today’s consumers.
Content marketing is constantly evolving and adapting to changing customer expectations. Integrated marketers need to be flexible and stay up to date with new trends and consumer demands.
Below we’ve collected three of the top content marketing trends that are influencing consumers—if you aren’t already using these, now’s the time to test them out.
Infuse Your Copy with Empathy
Today’s consumers aren’t looking for buttoned-up business speak when they hear from brands. COVID-19 ushered in a shift in how customers relate to brands: they want to break down the barriers. As a result, integrated marketers are finding success by using human-focused content to connect with audiences.
This move involves ditching salesy corporate talk and practicing transparency (Forbes calls it “pulling back the curtain”), using a natural and conversational voice to speak, human-to-human, to customers and prospects. Fostering humanity in content marketing also aids with relationship building and reputation management, creating personalized customer experiences.
Try these approaches to show the human side of your business:
Prioritize the User Experience (UX)
Consider your customers’ website experience. Your audience has higher expectations than ever before and will judge you based on how you present it to them. The UX is more than just site design; it takes into consideration functionality, navigation and adaptability. Going beyond aesthetics, the site should be useful with content that solves user problems and makes it easy for them to find what they need.
Some of the most important elements of UX include:
The quality of the experience significantly impacts conversion. Being clear and concise and user-friendly helps your business stand out to your target audience.
Produce More Short-Form Video
At this point, all integrated marketers know that video is king, with the average user consuming 19 hours of content every week. Video is the top B2B marketing channel and the advent of TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts and other short-form video content has changed the landscape of video marketing. Most users are watching video on their phones or mobile devices, so brevity is essential.
Shorter video needs to distill your message down to a brief snippet while remaining impactful. Video inspires the audience to pay attention and encourages them to engage and act, whether they are an existing customer or a new prospect. Often people are more willing to watch a brief video—especially one that is entertaining or interesting—than to read a web page or brochure. A video can serve as an introduction to other communication formats.
With short-form videos’ impressive ROI, it is key to a successful integrated marketing campaign. The brief time that you will have the consumer’s attention encourages getting to the point and distilling your message to its most important elements. It also hits the authentic and personalized beats mentioned above with authentic, customized messaging that is accessible to all audiences.
Which Will You Try?
Above all—and shared in each of these tactics—is the imperative for the integrated marketer to focus on bringing the human element to digital outreach. Those marketers that reinforce empathy, connection, accessibility and engagement in their marketing experiences will create true connections with customers.
Below we’ve collected three of the top content marketing trends that are influencing consumers—if you aren’t already using these, now’s the time to test them out.
Infuse Your Copy with Empathy
Today’s consumers aren’t looking for buttoned-up business speak when they hear from brands. COVID-19 ushered in a shift in how customers relate to brands: they want to break down the barriers. As a result, integrated marketers are finding success by using human-focused content to connect with audiences.
This move involves ditching salesy corporate talk and practicing transparency (Forbes calls it “pulling back the curtain”), using a natural and conversational voice to speak, human-to-human, to customers and prospects. Fostering humanity in content marketing also aids with relationship building and reputation management, creating personalized customer experiences.
Try these approaches to show the human side of your business:
- Share behind-the-scenes information to showcase employees
- Be sensitive to your customers; be thoughtful and mindful of the larger context in which you are talking to them (pandemic, recession, etc.)
- Personalize content by segmenting audiences, practicing likeability, drive engagement and brand evangelism
Prioritize the User Experience (UX)
Consider your customers’ website experience. Your audience has higher expectations than ever before and will judge you based on how you present it to them. The UX is more than just site design; it takes into consideration functionality, navigation and adaptability. Going beyond aesthetics, the site should be useful with content that solves user problems and makes it easy for them to find what they need.
Some of the most important elements of UX include:
- Page load speed – 47% of users expect a page to load in two seconds or less
- Mobile performance – 67% of users are more likely to purchase from a mobile-friendly site
- Using a cohesive style and voice – content should facilitate the customer journey with engaging, conversation and human-focused writing
- Image placement and quality – users will quickly leave a site if the images don’t load or look distorted
The quality of the experience significantly impacts conversion. Being clear and concise and user-friendly helps your business stand out to your target audience.
Produce More Short-Form Video
At this point, all integrated marketers know that video is king, with the average user consuming 19 hours of content every week. Video is the top B2B marketing channel and the advent of TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts and other short-form video content has changed the landscape of video marketing. Most users are watching video on their phones or mobile devices, so brevity is essential.
Shorter video needs to distill your message down to a brief snippet while remaining impactful. Video inspires the audience to pay attention and encourages them to engage and act, whether they are an existing customer or a new prospect. Often people are more willing to watch a brief video—especially one that is entertaining or interesting—than to read a web page or brochure. A video can serve as an introduction to other communication formats.
With short-form videos’ impressive ROI, it is key to a successful integrated marketing campaign. The brief time that you will have the consumer’s attention encourages getting to the point and distilling your message to its most important elements. It also hits the authentic and personalized beats mentioned above with authentic, customized messaging that is accessible to all audiences.
Which Will You Try?
Above all—and shared in each of these tactics—is the imperative for the integrated marketer to focus on bringing the human element to digital outreach. Those marketers that reinforce empathy, connection, accessibility and engagement in their marketing experiences will create true connections with customers.