Many content marketing experts and companies predict that 2016 will be the year when products and the content that revolves around them will all come together very nicely. The most popular trend will likely be from enterprises rearranging their marketing approach as well as their customer service and marketing teams around new and improved cutting-edge consumer experiences.
However, it’s the Internet marketers who focus solely on their effective strategies and stay the course who will win the race, for both the brands they stand for and themselves. And, although budgets will keep growing, they will need increased justification overall. In other words, 2016 will be the year for the strong, willing, and able.
Here are just some of the things to expect in terms of content marketing for 2016:
Content will take on a new life
Both the content itself and visuals will remain the same. However, static content will inevitably start getting replaced by more immersive and interactive experiences. These so-called interactive content marketing experiences will inspire potential customers to take key actions and therefore spend a substantial amount of time interacting with the brand.
System integrations will be standard
Since 2006, several millions of dollars of capital have been used for content marketing ventures and startups. And, because there are now countless marketing vendors today, the lives of many CMOs have become increasingly more complicated instead of easier. As such, technology vendors will need to integrate themselves into systems that already exist and the big boy players will have to become the key systems and platforms that they plug into. Literally no one can create just one system to do it all.
Great content will enhance the customer experience
Content marketing has gradually matured over recent years and is now considered the fuel behind the whole modern-day engine in terms of marketing. Brands will start to recognize and appreciate the overall deeper value that content provides and view it as the core of the natural customer experience that they offer regarding every customer as well as every channel.
Attracting and keeping the best marketing content will be a priority
Most everyone in the business world knows that highly creative talent is extremely difficult to come by, not to mention keep. So the demand for individuals who possess these distinct qualities will only continue to increase as time goes by. Companies seeking that level of talent are going to need to get very creative themselves in order to attract those kinds of gifted people since perks like extended vacations aren’t enough anymore.
Marketing pioneers will capitalize on virtual reality
While video was very trendy and popular last year and will remain so for 2016, leading-edge brands are expected to follow suit with companies like GE, The New York Times, and Hyundai, and start experimenting with the concept of virtual reality in order to create key destinations concerning certain campaigns.
In 2016, the primary focus will change from just producing more and more content to actually creating the right kind of content, particularly when it comes to publishing more personalized marketing content in general. Marketers have the ability to personalize uniquely relevant content and subsequently deliver it to whatever medium their audience chooses to engage with, whether it’s email, social media, or any other type of medium as well.
