Gone are the days when businesses used to consider content as an additional activity. Content Marketing has seen a tremendous growth of around 225% increase in search volume in the last five years. Not just the searches, the number of posts published each day are increasing each day. Marketers are increasing their content marketing budgets, and the industry is estimated to be a 3 billion dollar industry in 2019.
If you have been following Content Marketing blogs, news and updates you must have heard of the term Content Shock. Mark Schaefer coined this term. In simple words, Mark says that there is more content on the internet than people can consume. With this, many people are questioning the effectiveness of producing content in 2019.
Image creditContent Shock doesn’t indicate that you should stop producing content. Instead, create the right content that catches eyeballs.
Content is a war of attention, and the one that soars above the rest wins the game.
Content marketing is not going to slow down anywhere shortly, and in this article, we will discuss the Content Marketing trends in 2019:
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1- More companies will invest in content marketing
Following the companies who have successfully built their authority with content marketing, other businesses are planning to increase their investment in content marketing. From hiring expert content writers, editors, to copywriters and tools, companies will invest more to win the content race. Content creation is the area of content marketing where companies have spent the most in the last 12 months (56%).
The most successful and average content marketers invest 39% and 26% on content respectively. 37% of the marketers who did not see success with content marketing says it is so because the budget was low.
We can say that Content Marketing works better with more budget. Hence we will see companies investing more to win the battle.
Forrester predicts an average firm will increase their content marketing budget to 35% as against 26% of today.
2- Content strategy will be an essential part of content marketing trends in 2019
CMI study reveals that 65% of the most successful content marketers have a documented plan. On the other hand, only 39% of marketers have a documented strategy on average. Marketers are waking up to this difference, and more of them will follow the path of the most successful content marketers.
A documented approach allows you to have a consistent brand image to which your audience can relate instantly. It makes sure that all the team members are on the same page and moves your content efforts from chaos to consistency and coordination.
A major reason why content does not get all the credit it deserves is that the results are not tracked correctly. A documented strategy allows you to track your investments and results in content.
3- Videos will stick out in 2019
80% of the traffic comes through videos. Although the written content is essential than ever before, visual content catches the eye instantaneously.
We will see businesses investing more in videos creation and marketing. Marketers have increased their proportion of budget from 2018. In 2018, only 17% of the businesses planned to invest more than 30% of their budget on videos. Whereas in 2019, more than 32% of businesses plan to invest more than 30% of their marketing budget on videos.
4- Consumer will again be the king in 2019
You will produce, and they will consume -it’s not going to happen anymore. People come to your site for specific queries, and it will take no time for them to bounce if they don’t get it. You can’t say ‘I am writing for anyone who is looking for a home tutor’. One needs to laser focus on the persona they want to create content for.
“Begining is the most important part of the work.”- Plato
And, creating an audience persona is the beginning point of a company’s content strategy. Though only 42% of companies are creating audience personas, 73% of B2B content marketers plan to use ‘personas’ as a part of their content marketing strategy by the end of 2018.
5- Voice Search Optimisation
We will see more businesses optimizing their content for voice searches this year.
By 2020, half of the searches will be voice-based.
As most of the voice searches are on-the-go types, content marketers need to find such patterns in voice-queries and optimize their content accordingly. More emphasis should be on shorter-form content offerings like an FAQ page.
6- Impact of Machine Learning and AI on Content
AI and machine learning in general and in Content Marketing are aimed at providing excellent user experience.
HubSpot (an Inbound Marketing platform) recently acquired two AI companies. Since data is the most crucial component of how well your algorithm is trained, such companies have a little challenge. More the number of users better their algorithm would perform.
So we can see more such acquisitions this year in 2019.
7- Impact of RankBrain on Content marketing
Rankbrain is a machine-learning algorithm that identifies packets and buckets data. As confirmed by Google, it is the third most important factor in the Hummingbird algorithm (links, content, RankBrain). It focuses on relevance and quality. The AI-based algorithm analyses all the search queries and SERP results. And, as it is analyzing it is becoming more intelligent and efficient with each search.
How Will Rank Brain impact content marketing in 2019?
Well, the keyword-stuffing game is long over it will further take a back seat and marketers will be required to create concept based content focusing on providing real value to the reader.
Creating content for a laser-focused audience persona, answering specific queries in long-form content are some of the ways you can win some trust in Google’s eyes.
8- Content Marketing Trend: The paid vs organic tussle will go on
Are you aware of banner blindness?
We all hate being sold to. Right?
That’s what we do when we snap our link right in front of our audience. They understand that it’s a paid add and the real value I’m going to get is through the first organic result Google is showing.
That’s the reason 86% of the clicks are on organic searches.
While paid marketing can do the significant lifting when you’re struggling with big giants for some real estate on Google’s first page, it has limitations. You get the traffic only till the time your add is showing up. Though Paid traffic converts better than organic traffic, it does not build trust and relationship with your customers in the long run. On the other hand, Focused content can prove to be your real friend when you have done enough of paid marketing.
Depending on your need you may choose to go for paid traffic or organic traffic.
With these tips, you can plan your content strategy accordingly for the coming year. Let me know in comments how do you think the Content Marketing industry will change in 2019. Am I missing out an important aspect? Please mention in the comments.
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