Most brands will crash and burn at marketing with content because they don’t get their story right; get smarter now.
Seems everyone’s posting this month about their predictions for 2016. And with so much going on in the industry – the digital ad disaster, rampant ad blocking, the ongoing debate about native ads, the revival of print as a luxury channel – there is no shortage of fodder for prognostication.
There is one source we are taking to heart: 40+ Predictions on Content Marketing in 2016, published by the Content Marketing Institute.
“In this e-book … you’ll see predictions related to data-driven marketing, a huge push toward creative, a call for all things visual, and a rather optimistic view on content marketing going mainstream,” writes CMI’s Joe Pulizzi on his company’s website.
While more companies are doing it, he warns that most of them are going about it all wrong.
“While we will see shining examples of content marketing magic in action, the sheer majority of brands will continue to crash and burn with their content creation and distribution efforts,” Joe predicts. “Simply put, most brands resist telling a truly differentiated story; and even those that do aren’t consistent or patient enough to build loyal audiences over time.”
Some big brands, he predicts, will buy media platforms rather than build their own.
“Media acquisitions by brands will start in the B2B arena, where large manufacturers like GE will purchase niche content sites with loyal audiences (buy vs. build). This momentum will continue in 2017 when Apple will buy Disney, at last bringing together Steve Jobs’ two greatest creations (Apple and Pixar),” Pulizzi says.
For brands without those deep acquisition coffers, the focus will be on creating better and more relevant content.
“The focus will be shifting from simply creating ‘more’ content to serving the ‘right’ content; especially personalized content. We have the ability to be – and users now expect – personalized and hyper-relevant content delivered instantly to them wherever they are engaging — social, email, or any channel, for that matter,” agrees Amanda Todorovic of the Cleveland Clinic.
The e-book is worth a read, especially if you want to improve your own content marketing in the coming years. Nobody’s 100% right, but these guys are usually spot on.
All the best in 2016!