Marketing has progressed immensely from mere product placement techniques or the amusing slogans used to sell soda or cars. It is in everything, from gum adverts to missile launchers.

Content marketing especially works as the creative branch of the industry and it is essential for the success of advertising campaigns.

Surpassing repetition and focus, content gives context and meaning to an ad, two key elements of its success. The online environment explosion in the last few years has created a field ripe for picking for marketing specialists.

The content they have created has attracted the attention of more people than ever. Here are 7 content marketing insights to consider in 2017.

1. Reduce the information

- A common mistake in adverts is to include too much information. Being descriptive may be essential in other areas – such as promotion in specialized magazines – but in dealing with the general audience, one should take into account the attention span.

- Any product has a series of key features that can be easily emphasized without overloading the customer with information.

- A good marketing strategy will play on these features in order to achieve its goal and will pass un on unnecessary additions.

- This strategy is especially true for content marketing, which exists in an information-rich environment already. Reducing information has become a kind of golden rule among marketers, but it is still well worth mentioning.

- For example, if one has to deal with an entire article, he has to spread certain keywords between the lines. Keeping fragments short and sentences informative is a sure way of keeping the customer interested.

- When creating content for online publishing, the excess of adjectives can seriously impede on the purpose. Marketing is far from literary creation, both in aim and in method, therefore content marketing should refrain from using complex text structures.

- Short and sweet or direct sentences can create a lasting impression on the reader and promote a product successfully.

2. Digitalize

- Large, building-sized billboards are no longer the flagbearers of marketing. A busy intersection may be passed through by hundreds of thousands of people daily, but it cannot compete with the heavy traffic the internet ensures. Similarly, online access, with its array of tools such as immediate messaging or the charter one login pass used in banking, has simplified a substantial number of things.

- For quite some time now, the prime area of advertising products has been the online environment. Content creation is the “bread and butter” of this environment, and it allows marketing companies to tap into a well of methods and means in order to reach the target audience.

- For example, for a marketing company, its own online self-presentation is the first thing to focus on. Digitalization cannot be ignored as an addition to its image, it has to be part of its hard and soul.

- However, the same environment is saturated by comparable ads promoting similar products. The style of a company’s content should be able to permeate the web and be heard. Consumers are nowadays used to the traditional ways in which marketing campaigns try to captivate their attention.

- A successful business strategy includes a plan for the company to present itself as unique and different to its target audience, most – if not all – of which can be reached through the internet.

3. Create a story

- Content marketing is perhaps the most important part of any marketing strategy, giving it shape and strength. Moreover, creating content is creating a brand story – how a product presents itself on the market.

- A story is nothing other than the means through which to differentiate among products that saturate the market and suffocate the buyer, especially online.

- Stories captivate attention and imagination. Just like magicians awe their audience with a grave voice while shifting focus from one point to another, so can good content improve the image of a product by playing on its key features. Some brands have a strategy of suggesting uses or settings appropriate for their products.

- Companies producing soda, for example, always portray groups of young people enjoying life together with the image of their products.

- One of the most widely used technique in terms of story-creation is that of relating products to elements familiar to the potential buyer. For example, cleaning products play their essential role in the life of any housewife.

- Conversely, toy companies understood the need parents feel to satisfy their children and the pleasure that children feel when they impress their friends. Accordingly, the content they push is molded on these understandings of the product that “normal” people have.

4. Adapt

- Creating a governing plan such as a content marketing strategy may be helpful in the short run, but the online market is always shifting and morphing.

- Thus, the strengths of a well-established plan may turn into its weaknesses, making a campaign entirely redundant. It is, therefore, essential to constantly survey the market and adapt to it.

- The created content needs to be part of a world and has to respond to it in order to cause reactions. For example, an airline carrier may vaguely hint at the political context regarding migration and travel. With such a subtle mention, the company can receive extensive rewards from its clients.

- Conversely, a company may alienate a segment of the audience with the same daring messages. Such a campaign strategy may thus prove to be highly risky and only provides a good return value for the big name brand.

5. Establish a relationship

- As mentioned before, ideas do not exist in a void, they are presented to an audience of extremely diverse individuals. An effective marketing strategy does not limit itself to presenting products and stories to the consumers.

- Instead, it observes and documents their patterns, needs and wants. It is also vital to understand the promoted image through their eyes.

- The best tool to reach and relate to a greater number of people is social media. However, by 2016 the content fatigue of people reached higher levels that before. Ads have become so numerous and yet similar and common that the target audience hardly ever noticed them. Instead, they pass over it as “just another ad”. This can be prevented with an audience persona already familiar to the public.

- Instead, they pass over it as “just another ad”. This can be prevented with an audience persona already familiar to the public.

- The most successful companies are those with an established name brand. Words are essential to such brands, as most choose to associate their name with a series of features or values, usually highlighted by their logo or slogan.

- This is just another form of content creation and it can either take a company to new heights of profit or destroy and humiliate it, forever connecting its name to something undesirable or ridiculous. As such, content should be one of the key focuses of any company trying to establish itself before its target audience.

6. Frequent audits

- Going back over past work to enhance or study the impact of the employed measures is something that most marketing companies do not do.

- A satisfied customer is considered to be enough, although it shouldn’t be so. For marketing professionals, the work is not done once the ads are out. Analysis of past activity is an essential part of future success.

- Certain kinds of content that are put on the market may fail to entail reactions at a certain time. The exact same content may be praised and cause an immediate rise in sales at another time. This happens because the ad market is volatile. The environment changes constantly.

- A successful business strategy involves a marketing plan that is quick on its feet and observant. Being aware of the surroundings can only improve the quality of the produced content, and that is also true for any company striving for success.

7. Share information

- The last point pertains to the “internal kitchen” of a company. In terms of content creation. Simply put, from creative writers to strategy developers and managers, the end-goal of a marketing campaign needs to be thoroughly understood by all.

- Workload distribution is another key feature that needs careful balancing. Each team, as each individual, has its limitations and areas of expertise. By sharing information and encouraging cooperation, a company can only benefit and expand the said domains of knowledge.

- The internet, along with a series of information sharing apps, has greatly improved the reach and connectivity of ads. As such, marketing companies and content developers need to be at the forefront of this trend in communication.

- Every way in which more potential customers can be reached must be thoroughly known and populated with content. The web is any company’s friend, be it for self-promotional or business opportunities, and is the most important takeaway of this point.

- These 7 insights each bring a content marketing strategy closer to success. Beyond immediate customer satisfaction, they ensure the long-term viability of techniques and methods.

- Flexible and proficient, the content thus created will reach a larger audience with a more impactful message. Sales and profitability will naturally follow.

(Cre: https://www.businessphrases.net/content-marketing-strategy/)