The phrase ‘content is king’ has been bandied around for years, yet it now rings truer than ever, with businesses needing to prioritise content marketing if they’re to engage with and inspire their target audience. With modern consumers being more demanding, savvy and empowered than ever, content will remain at the heart of marketing in 2017 and beyond.

Understanding content marketing

Content marketing cover a broad spectrum of practices but it is generally thought of as a marketing strategy that places emphasis on creating and curating valuable, high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. The end goal is to engage consumers, boost brand loyalty and, ultimately, increase the bottom line.

Over the past few years, content marketing market has evolved a lot, and marketing strategists can no longer rely on keyword stuffing to improve search engine rankings. Now creating entertaining, shareable, authoritative content is the key to success.

Content trends in 2017

As the year has progressed, several trends have come to the fore. By utilising these, brands can optimise strategies to give them the best of succeeding. For example, 84 per cent of online consumers say they now trust reviews just as much as recommendations from a friend. It stands to reason, therefore, that if a firm can get the backing of a celebrity or industry influencer, better consumer awareness and connection can be gained.

Native advertising – advertising that resembles editorial content but is intended to promote a product or service – is increasingly being used because consumers are so accustomed to banner and display advertising that they fail to notice them. This means native advertising is now essential for brands to be noticed.

Mobile content is also becoming more popular amid predictions that 50 per cent of devices in use around the world by 2020 will be smartphones. It is important for businesses not to miss out on this growing audience and to utilise mobile marketing to engage with it.

A level of automation is also now being used in content marketing to streamline campaigns. Though it’s unlikely content creation will be automated any time soon, methods to save time and improve efficiency throughout the content marketing process can greatly help overall results, with research suggesting that companies utilising automation see a 451 per cent rise in qualified leads.

Tools for SMBs

For small and medium businesses (SMBs), content marketing offers the chance to meet larger competitors on a level playing field by optimising campaigns some of the many excellent tools now widely available.

One of the best is Kajabi, an all-round content advertising tool that is mobile responsive and helps firms develop file downloads, membership sites, online courses, training portals and more. The Clearvoice platform helps firms simplify their content strategy from management to distribution to measurement.

Content is set to remain on its throne for the foreseeable future, but it must be curated in a strategic and efficient way to yield results; firms that take the time and effort to do so can expect great returns.