When was the last time you reviewed your go-to content marketing techniques?
With strategies and user preferences evolving rapidly, it’s important to explore new content marketing techniques and strategies to stay competitive.
In this article, we’ll delve into 5 must-try content marketing techniques that can help you connect with your audience, drive engagement, and achieve your business goals.
Contents
5 Must-Try Content Marketing Techniques for 2024
- Use AI insights for content personalization
- Make content customer-centric
- Create content for different buyer journey stages
- Leverage subject-matter experts for original content
- Build content for SGE and AEO for SEO success
Bonus: 5 content marketing mistakes to avoid in 2024
1. Use AI insights for content personalization
AI-powered technologies have revolutionized numerous industries, and content marketing is no exception. By utilizing AI insights, you can personalize your content to better suit the needs and preferences of individual users.
With advanced algorithms and machine learning techniques, AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns, preferences, and behaviors. This data can then be leveraged to deliver tailored content experiences that resonate with your audience.
Personalized content marketing allows you to address the specific pain points and interests of your target audience.
Explore the different types of content you can use in your strategy.
With an understanding of their needs and preferences, you can create content that is truly for your customer.
Rather than speak broadly about your services, personalizing content helps your audience see the value in what you offer, per their needs and interests. This approach builds trust, establishes credibility, and fosters long-term relationships with your customers.
Incorporating AI insights into your content marketing strategy requires the use of sophisticated tools and platforms. Utilize AI-powered content recommendation engines, customer analytics platforms, and marketing automation tools to gather and leverage valuable insights.
By harnessing the power of AI with this content marketing technique, you can deliver personalized experiences that exceed customer expectations and drive meaningful engagement.
2. Make content customer-centric
Focus on your customers’ interests and the information they need to make purchase decisions. This requires a deep understanding of your target audiences and their needs. The more personalized your content is, the more likely it will resonate with your customers.
Tip: Use AI to analyze customer data, preferences, and behaviors to provide insights that inform content strategy and development.
To implement this content marketing technique, ensure your creative team understands the difference between customer-centric and product-centric content. Traditionally, many businesses focused on product-centric content which mainly highlighted the features and benefits of their offerings. However, modern consumers are seeking personalized experiences and content that genuinely addresses their needs. Keep reading for a better understanding of these two content types.
Traditionally, many businesses focused on product-centric content which mainly highlighted the features and benefits of their offerings. However, modern consumers are seeking personalized experiences and content that genuinely addresses their needs. Keep reading for a better understanding of these two content types.
Customer-centric vs. product-centric content
Customer-centric content shifts the focus from the product to the customer. It delves into their pain points, challenges, and desires, providing valuable insights and solutions. By crafting content that resonates with your audience’s interests and needs, you can establish a deeper connection and position your brand as a trusted advisor.
Product-centric content, on the other hand, primarily revolves around promoting and showcasing the features of your product or service. While it still plays a role in content marketing, relying solely on product-centric content may limit your ability to engage with your audience on a deeper level.
Instead, aim to strike a balance between product-centric and customer-centric content, creating a holistic content strategy that addresses both the benefits of your offerings and the needs of your customers.
3. Create content for different buyer journey stages
While maintaining consistency in messaging and visual branding is important, to effectively engage your audience, it could be beneficial to create content that caters to customers at different stages of their buying journey.
The traditional marketing funnel has long been used to guide content creation and strategy. However, in 2024, it’s essential to look beyond the funnel and consider the complex and nonlinear nature of the B2B buyer journey.
Rather than relying solely on the standard awareness, consideration, and conversion stages, consider the various touchpoints your customers encounter throughout their journey. Beginning with initial interactions all the way through to post-purchase engagement, each stage requires unique content experiences that deliver value and guide customers towards conversion.
To employ this content marketing technique and create content for different buyer journey stages, start by mapping out the different touchpoints and interactions a customer may have with your brand—from social media to sales meetings to customer loyalty programs.
Identify the questions, concerns, and motivations they may have at each stage. Then, craft relevant and informative content that addresses their specific needs. This could include educational blog posts, case studies, tutorials, demos, or customer testimonials.
4. Leverage subject-matter experts for original content
One effective way to strengthen your content marketing strategy is by tapping into the expertise and insights of experts within your organization. These individuals possess unique perspectives, deep knowledge, and valuable experiences that can provide valuable content for your audience.
Consider creating content in collaboration with thought leaders within your organization. This could include webinars, interviews, expert roundups, or guest blog posts showcasing their expertise.
Read: ‘Using Webinars for B2B Lead Generation: Best Practices and Tips’
By leveraging their insights, you not only provide valuable content to your audience but also establish your brand as a trusted authority in your industry.
When working with thought leaders, be sure to tailor the content to resonate with your target audience. Deliver value by making it actionable, helpful, and focused on solving their challenges.
Additionally, to build on this content marketing technique, you can further personalize the content by incorporating customization techniques such as personalized videos, tailored messages, and targeted email campaigns. This helps create a highly engaging and relevant experience for your audience.
5. Build content for SGE and AEO for SEO success
With the advancement of AI-powered search experiences, such as Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), optimizing your content for AI will be crucial for SEO success in 2024. SGE utilizes AI-generated results for search queries, making it imperative for your content to be useful and provide accurate answers to users’ queries.
To prepare for SGE, focus on creating content that can serve as reference material. This means crafting high-quality content that can be used as a resource by AI to provide relevant information to users.
Ensure your content is well-structured, easy to read, and optimized for AI to process. This includes using bullet points, organizing information into tables, and writing in a Q&A format or incorporating FAQs.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is another important aspect to consider. Modern users often seek answers to their questions. That’s why this content marketing technique of optimizing your content to be picked up by answer engines—such as ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Bing chatbot—can give you an edge. Focus on providing concise and informative answers that directly address users’ queries.
Bonus: 5 content marketing mistakes to avoid in 2024
While exploring new techniques is important, it’s equally crucial to avoid common oversights. Here are five content marketing mistakes to steer clear of:
- Not having a keyword strategy: Keywords play a crucial role in optimizing content for search engines. By not having a well-defined keyword strategy, you miss out on the opportunity to attract organic traffic to your website. Take the time to research and incorporate relevant keywords into your content to increase visibility and attract your target audience.
- Ignoring video content: Video content is an excellent way to engage your audience and increase your brand’s visibility. Video is now expected to account for almost 85% of all internet traffic, so it’s vital to include video in your content marketing strategy.
- Overlooking the importance of analytics: Without tracking your content marketing performance, you won’t know which strategies are working effectively, making it difficult to refine your strategy going forward. Always keep track of relevant metrics like engagement, conversion rates, and bounce rates.
- Ignoring customer feedback: Your customers’ feedback is a valuable resource for improving your content and better understanding their needs. By ignoring their feedback, you miss out on opportunities for growth and risk alienating your audience. Actively listen to your customers and incorporate their feedback into your content strategy.
- Not investing enough time and resources: Content marketing takes time, effort, and resources to produce quality content consistently. Don’t make the mistake of underinvesting in your content strategy, or you risk falling behind your competitors.
As you create your content marketing strategy for 2024, stay mindful of these common mistakes and take the necessary steps to avoid them.
Conclusion
As marketing tools become more sophisticated and user expectations grow, regularly updating your content marketing techniques and strategy will help you stay competitive.
Embrace the power of AI insights, create customer-centric content, cater to different buyer journey stages, leverage thought leaders, and optimize your content for SGE and AEO.
More inspiration: 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your B2B Marketing Strategy
These content marketing techniques—if implemented with high-quality content and design—can attract and grow important customer relationships that will benefit your business in 2024 and beyond.
Want to empower your team with impactful content? Let’s work together to optimize your sales and marketing collateral to drive better outcomes.
