The Tecmark Panel: Why does content marketing matter more than ever in 2016?

Why does content marketing matter more than ever?

That’s the question we put to three members of the Tecmark team in the first installment of a regular new feature.

Each month we’ll dig down on a range of topics from SEO and content marketing through to outreach and design.

But, for now, here are our expert’s verdicts on the ongoing importance of content marketing…

Rebecca Moss (campaign manager)

Content marketing doesn’t matter any more than it did in 2015, but what does matter more than ever is the way that content marketing is supported by the accompanying channels such as SEO, paid, social and even native advertising.

On its own content marketing can only do so much. Sure, you get a few links and some citations and press coverage – which is brilliant, I’m not disputing that. But think about how amazing your campaign could be with a fully-integrated, all encompassing strategy.

Here are five things I’d recommend:

1. Why not re-purpose or recycle an existing authoritative page on the site to send all of the traffic gleaned from content marketing efforts?

2. Have a chat with your PPC pal for some extra insight into their keyword research. There may be some corkers that you’ve not noticed before.

3. Learn from the moneymakers. Sit down with the MD, who’ll be able to give you real insight into their business and years of experience to give you a steer on what works and what doesn’t.

4. Discover if CRO can help. It’s great that you’re driving tons of traffic to your campaign pages, but make sure you have the best chance of converting those visits into something much more important.

5. See if there’s any benefit to setting aside some budget to appear within the ‘you might also like…’ articles at the bottom of a top quality publication.

Richard Bannister (senior account manager)

Content is more and more important as time goes by. There’s so much content now being produced that it’s more important than ever to make sure your content is not only high quality, but also has a reason for people to link or be interested – that’s how you stand out from the crowd when the crowd is growing and growing.

Firms need to focus on data-driven content, headlines that really draw attention and supporting content such as videos or visual pieces.

Getting the right idea is essential, then planning who will feature your content, and how you’re going to get it in front of them, is key.

This year we’ll see changes in the social media landscape and the ways people digest content, with mobile traffic growing again in 2016. All of those factors need to be considered when planning and executing your content campaign.

Stacey MacNaught (search director)

I think content marketing matters as much as it did last year. But what matters more is having some measurable goals and tangible KPIs to determine the success (or failure) of your content marketing efforts.

As the volume of content out there increases, and we’re seeing bigger and increasingly creative content projects launching, it’s becoming tougher to compete. And businesses are investing really heavily in content marketing with sometimes very “fluffy” goals attached to it.

If, for example, you’re going to measure success based on tweets, then you should have some indication about what the value of a tweet is and how it ties in to your business goals. Similarly, if your overall goal is increasing organic sales to a certain level and you need more links to achieve it (hence turning to content marketing), then you should have a clear idea as to what sort of links you need and then go on to measure their impact on actually contributing to the SEO goals too.

Targeting direct conversions or assisted conversions through content is something we’re doing more and more. Making sure content has a tangible business value will become increasingly important over the course of this year.

When investment continues to rise, it’s perfectly normal that the channels getting that investment will have to become more accountable and transparent for the real business value they drive.
 

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