What is content marketing you ask? Easy, it is everything you read, see and even listen to online – either via your Facebook feeds, your favourite blog or even your favourite podcast. Content marketing is the heart of social media marketing and it is pretty much important if you want your marketing campaign to work, let’s just put it that way.

I mean, how can you create an advertisement, whether it is online or not, without any content?

However we all know that what is acceptable 5 years ago, might not be as appealing today anymore. So to help you stay ahead, we are going to list down the top content marketing trends we’ve found for the year. 

• Quality over quantity

 

What this basically means is that you should tell less story but focus on making those few stories impactful. Remember when we used to tell you, post as much as possible? Scratch that because it might not work anymore today. 

A research by Orbit media showed that the publishing frequency of top bloggers over the past few years has decreased while the average length of their pieces has increased. What this is telling you is that, they are no longer working on ensuring they have a lot of content, rather they are aiming to provide you in-depth content with a lot of research to ensure they writing is of quality.

Instead of spamming people with your content, focus on making a huge impact. Make them click through your link to read more, or make them go “Wow, that is interesting and it really helped me”. 

• Personalised content

 

Shafqat Islam, CEO of content marketing platform provider NewsCred predicts that in 2018 content will be more personal. “Individual online experiences will be both curated and customised,” he says. “What you see when you visit a company’s website will look different if you’re visiting from a hotel in Dallas after just seeing a new movie, versus an airport in Miami while waiting for a delayed connection to Argentina. For the smartest marketers, personalisation creates a massive competitive opportunity.”

He also said that personalisation will be most important when it comes to email marketing. We are already slummed with emails for work that we don’t need another email sending us shopping requests on things we don’t like. However there is a high chance that you will read an email that understands you need.

An example, if you are into shoes, and you get an email saying the online store is having a 50 per cent sale on all shoes, you are more likely to open it than if they tell you they have a sale – which sounds more general.

• Content localisation

 

While the world is more connected, we are still more tuned to things that happens around us. While we accept that English is the international language, brands need to realise that people are going to respond better when you not only use the local language, but the local slang as well. In other words, American English might not work well for Australians where it’s acceptable to “nah, yeah” as a form of saying yes.

Marketers should now focus on ‘trans-creating’ content.  What this means is that when marketers are given content elements (images, headlines, etc.) and the strategy, local marketers should use the media assets to create their own content instead of just publishing the original content.

Not only does this produce content which is more suitable for local markets, but trans-creation also lets local marketers create content specifically for local markets, which is almost always different from global markets.

Unless you are a local company, then you don’t have to worry about it. However if you decide to go global, we advise to avoid Google translating your website but hire a local copywriter instead.

• Less hard sell

 

Do not try to convince people to buy your product or over-promote it. Instead focus on creating content that your audience can benefit from. For example, if you are running a saloon business, don’t create content that talks about how good your service is or how much you charge for a Balayage. Instead, write a blog that gives your audience tips and tricks on how to keep dandruff off their hair or the different hairstyles they can do at home that is suitable for office looks.

Apple have just devoted to spending $1 billion on original content for its streaming platform. PepsiCo opened a new content creation studio in New York to help generate revenue and creating a platform to advertise their products.

So if industry pioneers are devoting that much effort to ensure they produce such content, shouldn’t smaller business follow in the footsteps as well? I mean, we don’t have to spend that much money but then again, ideas don’t often cost that much but if it’s the right idea, it can generate a lot of revenue.

Content marketing has truly changed the world and we believe that if you do it right, you will be able to greatly increase your business fast.

 

If you ever need someone to help you out with your content marketing, ThunderQuote can help you find the right people for your job!

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.