Nov 20, 2023, 12:21 by Sara Foster

The importance of how you approach content marketing goes without saying. Even if your 2023 strategy has been successful – or mostly successful – this is no time to rest on your laurels. 

There is a lot to think about, however, so before you complete an evaluation of your options, consider these five content marketing technique trends that are based on current research:

• Customer-centric focus on creating content. A recent survey from the Content Marketing Institute revealed that close to 60% of marketers considered their biggest challenge to be finding the right content for their audience. Thus, content production should be based on information that answers audience questions and also adds value to the search experience.
• Using the entire funnel. When asked which part of the content marketing funnel they would emphasize in 2024, the three biggest responses were conversion/purchase (32%), engagement/loyalty (29%) and reach/exploration (26%).
• Integration of content strategies. A majority (70%) of larger companies with 100+ employees are integrating their content strategies. As customers use various platforms to engage and interact with brands, this becomes more important. Research has found a definite correlation between the volume of social networking engagement and site rank, making it a good idea to use a combination of SEO and social for content distribution.
• Using AI assistance. You’d have to have lived under a rock or on another planet for the past year not to have heard about AI-assisted content creation. In specific, ChatGPT says it offers multiple benefits to content marketers, including:
  • Efficient analysis of customer data across channels
  • Content personalization
  • Insights in real time for making agile changes
  • Customer behavior trends
  • Use of chatbots to improve customer support
  • Improving cost efficiency and marketing ROI

Boosting search in light of SEO changes. Google recommends that content marketers continue to write for humans, rather than bots, as bots should have the ability to obtain pertinent information from customer questions.