How to crush your content marketing in 2018

The top content marketing trends for 2018 from some of the sharpest minds in the business

Yes, this is another of those new year articles about content marketing trends. However, this one is slightly different.

Rather than you forcing my own ideas on you, I’ve trawled the web and social media in search of the best trends from the best marketers that are going to help you stay ahead of the pack this year.

Because that’s what we all want, right? Tips that are actually actionable in our everyday work, especially for businesses here in New Zealand. Not just a list of babble from people who use all of the right fancy words.

That said, these are The Content Lab‘s favourite content marketing trends for 2018. These are the tips and tools that we’ll be applying more in our work this year.

I hope you find a few nuggets of gold.

1. Transparency is king – Neil Patel

Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. He’s also the co-host of one of my favourite marketing podcasts, Marketing School.

I love this tip from Neil. Basically, people’s bullshit detectors are operating at full capacity in 2018. Blame Trump, blame “fake news”, blame whoever or whatever you need to.

The fact is that businesses, brands and agencies need to cut the crap out of their marketing. 2018 is the year of transparency and authenticity.

This is what Neil has to say:

“Consumers are getting burned out on brand advertising, and I’m not just talking about the generation that’s been painted with a broad brush.

It’s true that millennials are more progressive and want companies to be more authentic, transparent, and driven to give back to society.

But consumers overall want that same transparency.”

Brands need to believe in their content

I feel like authenticity is a major buzzword in marketing and buzzwords are notorious for losing all meaning and substance (think synergy, for example *shudders*).

I like to think of authenticity as not just doing something because you think it’s what people want, or you think it will make you look good.

This is rife in business. Businesses always want to make sure they’re seen to be doing the right things, supporting the right causes, jumping on the right bandwagons.

2018 is the year that brands do and say things because they actually believe in them.

Neil says there’s “a growing fatigue in brand advertising, ‘green’ claims, charitable contributions, and corporate support for causes”.

“Brands try to tie it all together into “cause marketing,” but wary customers are starting to see this kind of promotion as desperate.

Some customers simply feel the company is being dishonest.”

Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey shows there’s a major gap between the trust people have in their peers and the trust they have in brands.

Neil says this is because “consumers don’t feel they get the same authenticity from brands that they get from their peers”.

What’s the solution? It’s time for brands to focus on transparency. This is becoming more important with the rise of influencer marketing.

But really this is just about brands being honest. Radically so. Just try it. Experiment. Say what you mean in the content you’re putting out this year and see how your audience responds.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

2. Fewer stories, better content – Joe Lazauskas, Contently

Joe Lazauskas is editor in chief at Contently, a contributor at Fast Company, and a thought leader in the world of storytelling and content creation.

For years, brands and marketers have been pumping out masses of “snackable”, unoriginal, copycat content to feed the insatiable beast that is social media.

The thinking was that frequent posts resulted in more clicks, higher engagement, and better SEO.

However, the rush to create content has led to a content glut. Mark Shaefer described it as “content shock”.

The idea is that the supply of content has outstripped demand. There are only so many eyeballs in the world and only so much content they can consume.

So the notion of brands pumping out endless content has lost its shine.

Joe says that research shows that the publishing frequency of top bloggers over the past few years has decreased while the average length of their pieces has increased.

“In other words, the best online writers have discovered that the winning formula is publishing fewer posts that are far more in-depth.”

Joe calls this “breakthrough content”.

“I’ve been strongly advising our clients to focus on creating breakthrough stories and invest more resources into distributing them to the right people…

You need breakthrough content because simply getting people to click on your content isn’t enough. You have to capture their attention. You need to teach them something. You need to wow them. And when a story can do that, you need to make sure your target audience sees it.”

This idea isn’t exactly new in 2018, but I think this is the year that brands and marketers will (or should) invest more in long-form, in-depth, high-quality content.

Google loves it, audiences love it, you should love it, too.

3. Exploring new content frontiers – Amanda Todorovich

Amanda Todorovich is director of content marketing at Cleveland Clinic and an assistant lecturer at the University of Akron. 

Amanda’s tips for 2018 come courtesy of the Content Marketing Institute’s 63-page Slideshare on content marketing predictions.

She says she expects to see more diversification of content formats this year. This is something I’m totally on board with.

People are consuming content in so many different ways now and it makes sense for brands to think about the most effective ways to reach those people.

Amanda gives examples of live-streaming on social and podcasts as formats that she expects to see grow in 2018.

I mean, if you’re a local, enthusiastic accountant with a half-decent voice, why wouldn’t you consider producing a 10-minute weekly podcast with fresh financial advice?

The great thing is, that 10-minute podcast can also be turned into a blog post, several social media posts, and a short animated, captioned video.

That way you’re reaching your audience on several major channels.

Amanda says:

“Brands will continue to invest in content as they have been over the last few years, but that investment will shift from mostly writing services and paid distribution/promotion to a whole host of services – production, more animation and video-related graphics, voice talent.

It’s no longer just about words – content is about creating experiences.”

As we see journalism become more immersive and interactive, why would brands not look to create interesting experiences for their audiences?

It’s also inevitable AI, VR, and the IoT will play more of a part in content delivery by the end of the year.

The brands that figure out how to leverage these technologies first are going to crush it.

4. The sales pitch is dead – Gary Henderson, Forbes

Gary Henderson is the founder and CEO of DigitalMarketing.org and Interactivity Digital.

I’m going to keep this short because I shouldn’t really need to be saying it.

The sales pitch has no place in your content in 2018.

Gary puts it more gently:

“In 2018, content marketing is about creating interesting content people actually want to engage with. Stop talking about your brand, and start creating content people want to read, watch or listen to…

Sponsored posts, branded emails and traditional ads are no longer as effective as they once were. If you aren’t looking to create useful, interesting content in 2018, your efforts are going to fall flat.”

The thing is, the hard sell should never have been a part of your content marketing. But many brands still struggle to let go.

Sure, you should be investing in content knowing that it will lead to more customers … eventually.

But your original content isn’t where you deliver your sales pitch. It’s where you deliver creativity, advice, and entertainment.

It’s where you reinforce your brand story or mission statement without being preachy.

A New Zealand brand that I feel nailed their content marketing this year is Ecostore.

I’ve followed this brand for quite some time and always saw great potential for it to become New Zealand’s leading source for health, wellness, and green content.

When they dropped this video on Facebook in September, I wanted to call them up and congratulate them.

There is no sales pitch in sight. Just how it should be.

5. Living your content – Gilad de Vries, Outbrain

Gilad de Vries is senior vice president of strategy at Outbrain

I really like this concept. It’s similar to my plea for authenticity above, but what’s the harm in emphasising it here?

Gilad says that most brands invest heavily in content marketing campaigns and projects, rather than “always on” strategies.

This approach can work, but it’s less effective than a brand that truly “lives” its content.

Gilad explains:

“Most brands still treat their content marketing like advertising. And that’s a problem.

For content marketing to truly work, it must be differentiated and consistently produced over a long time. Only real commitment to an always on strategy, producing content every day, every week, every month will drive learnings, optimisations and real measurable return on investment.

If you want to truly engage with Millennials you need to not only create content. You need to live it.

Your content needs to be tightly connected to everything you do as a brand. It needs to cut across management, product, media, creative, PR, social, customer care, customer success and any other group in the company that is engaging with the outside world.”

Gilad recommends watching a lecture by Jeff Fromm, author of Marketing to Millennials, in which he says that simply telling a story is no longer enough. “Brands will need to provide demonstrable proof that they’re living that story every day,” Jeff says.

I love this concept. It gets to the heart of authenticity. Your story is your truth and your truth is your story.

If your business is keeping it real when no one’s watching and not just “turning it on” when it’s time to shine, then you’re living your content.

And if you’re living your content, you’re going to create more meaningful, genuine connections with your audience. Show me a brand who doesn’t want that. I’ll wait.

Note: I want to acknowledge all of the people whose ideas I have borrowed for this post. Thank you for your valuable insights. I like the way you think.