Content marketing is rapidly spreading as a strategy in businesses across the country as information technologies continue to evolve and both people and systems require a higher standard of written material. 87 percent of businesses in 2012 claimed to use some form of content marketing in their marketing programs, up from 82 percent in 2011 and continuing a strong upward trend. But even though the overall trend is rising, the motivation for pursuing content marketing is changing.
Engaging Customers
Engaging a target audience remains the primary goal for most businesses claiming to use a content marketing strategy. Without a quality content marketing strategy, you may be missing out on interactions with a key segment of your market. Keeping customers engaged and interested remains one of the biggest motivations for content marketing, but it is being rivaled by similarly powerful goals.
Thought Leadership
One of the emerging trends of content marketing is capitalizing on thought leadership. In a country dominated by constant streams of always available information and advertising that blends in to white noise, it is becoming more important than ever to generate unique ideas. Content marketing uses the notion of thought leadership—becoming the first player with a new idea or new perspective—to help build authority and capture new interest.
SEO
As Google rolls out update after update, it is becoming more important to generate quality content to rank on search engines. Companies who had never heard of content marketing before are now trying to implement a full strategy in order to protect their Google ranking and maintain their search engine authority.
As the world of content marketing evolves, more companies are adopting a strategy to incorporate quality content into their marketing programs. Thought Leadership and SEO are rapidly becoming the most popular motivations—so make sure to stay current with your content marketing strategy.Â
