Content Marketing is always changing. With 2023 only a few weeks away, now is the time to review our content marketing strategy for 2023 to ensure it is targeted and effective for the year ahead.
CONTENT MARKETING 2023
Content Marketing is always changing. With 2023 only a few weeks away, now is the time to review our content marketing strategy for 2023 to ensure it is targeted and effective for the year ahead.
PERSONALISED CONTENT
We have written previously on clients increasing expectations to receive personalised content from organisations and brands in relation to their marketing. In 2023, getting reach and organic traffic will continue to get harder for brands and marketers.
This is because brands in the same area tend to push similar content, resulting in consumers being flooded with similar material.
To stand out and have a greater impact, brands must consider the following points.
1. CONSUMER PRIVACY
Personalisation to be effective requires data. However, with the increasing number of cyberattacks on the internet, customers are both more reluctant to provide personal information and have higher standards for businesses to ensure the data they do provide is kept secure and private.
Customers want to feel safe and secure when engaging with your company, and this sense of safety includes how you use the data you collect on clients [1].
In 2023 companies and brands need to invest in ensuring clients' privacy and security, and protection.
2. INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY
Previously, brands did not invest in research on the importance of considering diversity, equity, and inclusion of their target audience in any of their marketing campaigns [2].
Data is now demonstrating that developing personalised content that includes diversity and inclusivity will build consumer trust and confidence.
Consumers trust brands that promote diversity and inclusion, resulting from the brand's efforts to create an environment that is welcoming to everyone [3].
Two other benefits arising from inclusivity are;
- Greater online ad recall by consumers; &
- Connection with an audience that felt marginalized in 2022 [4].
3. THE POWER OF STORYTELLING
Many companies and brands underestimate the power of storytelling in both selling the brand and developing customer loyalty.
Spending time creating a strong, unique story is important for a couple of reasons.
It creates the backbone for the marketing strategy
A strong, effective story is like a spine that organises and holds together all the other content pieces the brand or organisation develops.
Consumers are oversaturated with information. When businesses create random pieces of content, it just blends into the background with all the other content. However, when the content is linked to a unique story that supports the brand’s over-arching vision, it stands out.
A strong, effective story is like a spine that organises and holds together all the other content pieces the brand or organisation develops.
It simplifies the complexities of a brand’s mission, vision, and values
People remember stories much easier than they remember facts, mission statements and vision. Brands have a much better chance of clients knowing what they stand for when they can wrap their mission statement and vision in an effective story [5].
Storytelling connects us, helps us make sense of the world, and communicates our values and beliefs. A good story makes us think and feel and speaks to us in ways that numbers, data, and presentation slides simply can’t [6].
WHAT IS YOUR BRANDS STORY FOR 2023?
Given the importance of having a strong, unique story, the end of 2022 is a good time to reflect on our current brand story and how we can strengthen it and make it more effective for 2023.
When developing our brand’s story, we must remember to.
Connect with people’s emotions
The strongest stories tap into people’s emotions, genuinely connect with them, and help them believe in a business and what it stands for [7].
One of the consequences of COVID is the rise in hybrid employment opportunities where people can work from home and the office. One of the side effects of people working from home is an increase in social isolation. This provides an opportunity for brands to create stories that create connections; however, with the opportunity comes responsibility. If your brand is going to tap into clients’ emotions and create a connection, you need to ensure your product or service is meeting their expectations [8].
Tell all the story
Just as toxic positivity can be detrimental to individuals, it can also be to brands. A story that only highlights the positives and the successes of the brand ultimately does not resonate with clients. Businesses should not be afraid to tell the full story – the struggles, conflicts, setbacks, successes, etc. to help people understand the passion and heart that went into creating and building the brand [9].
It is telling all the story that ultimately connects with clients and builds trust and brand loyalty.
4. TECHNOLOGY AND CONTENT MARKETING
In reviewing and developing a brand’s content marketing, it is also important to adapt and use different technologies to target different groups. For example, we recently published an article on engaging Gen Z or Zoomers. This generation uses social media to achieve different outcomes. Hence it is important when creating content within the brand’s story that it is in a format that engages and links to the client group.
There is no point in developing a marketing strategy for 2023 that is based on long-format content when it will be met with TL: DR (too long, didn’t read).
The use of videos and infographics on platforms that target millennials will be much more effective, particularly live videos. Live videos allow a brand to begin conversations and hold forums and discussions, enabling a brand to obtain client feedback and input in real time.
[1] https://legiit.com/blog/content-marketing
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta
[6] ibid
[7] ibid
[8] https://legiit.com/blog/content-marketing
[9] ibid
