According to a report called “B2B Content Marketing 2014” published by the Content Marketing Institute, over 90% of marketers engage with content marketing in some form or the other. Now, you might go “that’s an old report… is it relevant”?
Well, truth be told, content marketing will always be relevant. There is no expiration date for this particular marketing strategy, especially in the context of localization and global marketing. When working within a globalized business landscape, it becomes necessary to produce content that your buyers can connect with. That’s the only way you’re going to see any results.
Your content has to be linguistically and culturally accurate if you want to make an impact in a globalized economy. One way to ensure this is by keeping a track of trends that will drive your content marketing strategy. Here are a few…
More Long Copy
A study carried out by IZEA found that blog posts played a key role in boosting traffic and creating impressions. So, needless to say, blogs are a big draw for businesses. It would be a wise idea to position your blogs as editorial pieces. This is known to create a lot of interest.
Use analytics to find out which blogs are popular where and then translate accordingly. You don’t have to do everything at once. Also, the study found that blogs ranging from 3000 to 10000 words saw the most engagement. So, focus on creating more long form content.
Stick to Digital
Let’s face it; digital is the way to go today. More than half your customers, even in foreign markets, prefer a digital experience. More and more customers seek product information on the internet before they go in for a purchase.
They don’t mind spending time on researching and narrowing down their options to the best possible product or service. The specific digital medium they choose to use could vary from social media to videos. However, the key theme here is “digital”.
So, your content strategy needs to shift towards being more digital oriented. Don’t focus only on one type of digital content. Have a variation-based approach. Try videos and blogs instead of just blogs.
That brings us to our next trend.
Video
Videos are the most preferred form of digital content. Customers consume videos more than they consume any other form of content. According to a prediction from CISCO, a huge chunk of the content we see on the Internet will be videos.
Video publication is growing to be a chosen method of digital content marketing. This is because videos are far more engaging than textual content. Plus, videos are more accessible as well, thanks to increases in internet access speeds and the proliferation of mobile technology.
The growing popularity of video makes it a key ingredient in a business global content marketing
strategy.
Internal Promotion of Content
Statistics tell us that only a handful of CMOs consider their content marketing strategies to be effective. Most of them have a hard time figuring out what audiences, especially in local markets, want from them. Content marketing, especially in the context of global marketing, is something businesses find hard to decipher. In fact, they do not even see the benefits it can offer. Budgetary and resource constraints only make the situation worse.
One way to overcome this is by raising awareness about the power of content within the organization. By showing how content can impact the bottom line and also raise brand awareness, across the organizational spectrum, more C-suite support can be gained in establishing global content marketing as a primary strategy.
