What Is Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategy focused on creating and distributing valuable, consistent content designed to attract and retain your target audience. This content can take various forms – blog posts, videos, infographics, e-books, etc. The key to success lies in delivering high-quality content that caters to your audience’s needs while aligning with your business objectives. Doing so can build credibility, generate leads, and raise brand awareness.

The Value of Content Marketing

Content marketing has become a pivotal part of contemporary business strategy and for good reasons. Here are some key advantages of content marketing:

It helps build brand awareness

Creating and distributing valuable content can increase your brand’s visibility and reach a wider audience.

It establishes trust and credibility

Creating and disseminating valuable content can increase your brand’s visibility and reach a broader audience.

It generates leads

By offering valuable content in exchange for contact information, you can capture leads and nurture them into paying customers over time.

It drives traffic to your website

Sharing your content on social media or other channels can drive traffic back to your website, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Overall, content marketing offers a cost-effective way to attract and retain customers while building a solid brand reputation.

Content Marketing Statistics

• Demand Metric reports that 91% of B2B marketers employ content marketing to reach customers, while 72% of marketers confirm that content marketing boosts engagement and leads.
• According to HubSpot, companies that publish 16 or more blog posts monthly receive almost 3.5 times more traffic than those publishing four or fewer posts.
• Demand Metric notes that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing but generates about three times as many leads.

Top 12 Content Marketing Strategies for 2023

Content marketing is an ever-evolving field, and staying on top of the latest trends is crucial for success in 2023 and beyond. Here are some tips to help you stay ahead of the curve

Your goal with content marketing is to create content that showcases your subject matter expertise and helps your prospects and customers see what makes you unique. How do you do that?

Here are 12 best practices that will make a big difference in helping prospects and customers move through the buying cycle.

1. Know your audience

If you’re an email marketing company and operate under the assumption that every single company is a potential customer because every company uses email, you’re missing the boat. You’re talking so highly that nobody can relate to you. You need to define your persona(s) much more precisely. Perhaps one of your targets is chain restaurants that need to promote their brand and their individual locations.

2. Focus on key messages

Know precisely what you want your reader to take away from your piece. Is this a new product story? Are you addressing a customer pain point? A competitive comparison? Have you chosen a good keyword?

3. Determine the next steps

What do you want your reader to do next? Have a clear plan and put it clearly and enticingly in your call to action (CTA).

4. Remember that a picture is worth a thousand words

The primitive brain plays a huge role in customer engagement, particularly during the early stages of the sales funnel. Pictures are essential, as are relatable stories.

5. Pay attention to readability

After you’ve written your piece, read it as if you’re the audience and ask yourself, “Would I read through to the end? Would this engage me?” Assuming it’s a topic that would interest the audience if you answered no to these questions, it’s time to look at the piece’s readability. Do you sound a bit standoffish, or do you speak in an inviting tone? Do you break the piece into titled sections and include some bullets to make it more readable? Do you include some personal information to help people get to know and trust you? Is your piece boring? Can you figure out how to take more risks and make the piece juicier?

6. Create A Measurable Goal

When it comes to content marketing, creating measurable goals is essential for success. A specific and measurable goal could be to increase website traffic by 20% within the next six months through targeted content creation and promotion. To achieve this, regular blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters can be implemented.

Regular tracking and analysis of website traffic using tools like Google Analytics will help determine if the goal is being met and allow adjustments to be made if necessary. Businesses can achieve their content marketing objectives and drive growth by setting a clear, measurable goal and implementing an effective strategy.

7. Understand Your Buyer’s Journey.

Understanding your buyer’s journey is crucial for successful content marketing. It involves identifying the different stages a potential customer goes through before making a purchase and tailoring your content to address their needs at each stage.

By creating targeted content that speaks directly to your audience’s pain points and interests, you can build trust and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. This, in turn, can lead to increased conversions, higher customer retention rates, and ultimately, more significant ROI for your content marketing efforts.

8. Pillar Cluster Content Model

The Pillar Cluster Content Model is a best practice in content marketing. It involves creating a pillar or main piece of content, such as an in-depth article or video, and then creating multiple smaller pieces of supporting content around it.

This approach helps to establish authority and thought leadership on a particular topic and can also improve search engine rankings by providing a comprehensive resource for users. By organizing content this way, brands can create a cohesive and effective content strategy that resonates with their target audience.

9. Track Content Marketing Performance

To track content marketing performance, it is essential to establish clear goals and KPIs before launching any campaigns. This will help you measure the success of your efforts and identify areas for improvement. Regularly reviewing and analyzing your metrics can provide valuable insights into audience engagement, content effectiveness, and overall ROI.

Key metrics include website traffic, social media engagement, email open rates, and lead generation. By implementing these best practices, you can ensure that your content marketing efforts deliver measurable results and drive business growth.

10. Provide Content For Present And Future Actions

Content marketing best practices involve creating content that speaks to your audience and provides value and relevance. It’s essential to align your content with your business objectives and use data to inform your strategy.

Additionally, you should focus on creating evergreen content that can be updated and repurposed for future use.

11. Strengthen Stats Skills

Strengthening your stats skills can significantly enhance your ability to make data-driven decisions and improve your overall job performance. Whether you work in marketing, finance, or any other field that requires data analysis, having a solid foundation in statistics is essential.

By taking courses, attending workshops, or even just practicing with real-world data sets, you can sharpen your stats skills and become more confident in interpreting and communicating complex data. This not only benefits you and your career but also helps to drive better outcomes for your organization.

12. Keep importance to writing styles

In content marketing, the writing style is of utmost importance. It plays a critical role in engaging and retaining the audience’s attention while effectively conveying the intended message.

A consistent and coherent writing style can help build brand recognition, establish credibility, and strengthen brand identity. Therefore, investing time and resources is essential to develop a clear and distinctive writing style that aligns with the brand’s values and target audience.

Before and After Applying the Best Practices

Before

At Acme Manufacturing, we make the best refrigeration systems in the world. Our systems feature forced air circulation for uniform temperature at all shelf levels, heat-free defrost for maximum uniformity, and solid doors.

After

As a food warehouse manager, you are focused on storing and preserving your food safely, with the fewest interruptions. At Acme Manufacturing, we are committed to providing safe storage with minimal interruptions.

Content Marketing Trends for 2023

To improve your content marketing efforts in 2023, consider implementing these content marketing tips: creating high-quality and relevant content, leveraging new technologies such as AI and AR, prioritizing customer experience, utilizing social media platforms, and measuring the ROI of your content marketing efforts.

1. Short-Form Video Content

Short-form video content has become an essential part of content marketing best practices. With attention spans decreasing, short-form videos provide a quick and engaging way to communicate your message to your audience. They are easily shareable on social media platforms and can help increase brand awareness and engagement.

2. AI and Automation

AI and automation are revolutionizing businesses’ operations, from streamlining processes to enhancing customer experiences. By leveraging the power of AI and automation, companies can increase efficiency, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

To stay ahead of the curve, businesses must understand how these technologies can benefit their operations and implement them effectively.

3. Content Consistency Is Key

Content consistency is a fundamental aspect of successful content marketing. It helps to establish brand identity, build trust with your audience, and improve SEO rankings. A consistent content strategy ensures that your messaging is clear and on-brand across all channels and platforms, leading to greater engagement and increased conversions.

4. User experience

User experience (UX) is critical in content marketing best practices, as it determines how users interact with and perceive your brand. Creating a seamless and enjoyable user experience can increase engagement, build brand loyalty, and ultimately drive conversions.

5. Human-Centered Content

Human-centered content is a crucial aspect of content marketing best practices. By focusing on the needs and preferences of your target audience, you can create content that resonates with them on a deeper level. This means taking the time to understand their pain points, interests, and motivations and using this information to inform your content strategy.

Whether you’re creating blog posts, social media content, or video content, the key is to put your audience first and create content that speaks directly to them. Doing so can build stronger relationships with your customers and drive tremendous success for your business.

6. Rely On original content

As the digital landscape becomes increasingly crowded with content, relying on original content to stand out is more important than ever. Creating original content sets you apart from others in your industry and helps you establish your brand identity and build trust with your audience.

Original content can take many forms, including blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts. By consistently producing high-quality original content that resonates with your target audience, you can position yourself as a thought leader and attract new customers or clients.

So if you want to stay ahead of the game and make a lasting impact in today’s fast-paced digital world, prioritize original content in your marketing strategy.

Types of Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing best practices for businesses include using various strategies to reach their audience. Blog content establishes a brand’s expertise, videos create engaging content, social media connects on a personal level, email marketing provides direct communication with subscribers, and infographics convey complex information quickly. The choice of strategy will depend on the business’s goals and target audience.

Infographics

Content marketing is a vital part of any successful digital marketing strategy. One popular approach is to use infographics, visual representations of data or information that are easy to digest and share on social media. Infographics can attract attention to your brand and increase engagement with your audience.

Blog content

Another effective content marketing strategy is blog content. By creating high-quality blog posts that address the needs and interests of your target audience, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry while also driving traffic to your website.

Podcasts

Podcasts have also become a popular way to reach audiences in recent years. By creating engaging audio content that listeners can tune into anytime, anywhere, you can build a loyal following and position yourself as a thought leader in your field.

Videos

Videos are another effective way to engage with your audience. Whether through product demos, educational tutorials, or entertaining content, videos can help humanize your brand and build trust with your target audience.

Social media

Finally, social media has become essential to any content marketing strategy. By sharing relevant content on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you can increase your brand’s visibility while building relationships with customers and prospects. Regardless of your chosen approach, a strong content marketing strategy can help grow your business and achieve long-term success.

Wrap Up

Effective content marketing is crucial for businesses looking to boost their online presence and engage with their target audience. By following best practices such as creating high-quality content, leveraging social media, and measuring performance, businesses can achieve their content marketing goals and drive success. At Position2, we specialize in helping businesses develop and execute effective content marketing strategies. If you’re interested in learning more about how our expert team can help your business succeed, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We look forward to partnering with you to achieve your content marketing goals.

FAQs on Content Marketing

How do I identify my target audience for content marketing?

Identify your target audience for content marketing by researching their demographics, interests, behaviors, and pain points.

How do I measure the success of my content marketing efforts?

Measure the success of your content marketing efforts by tracking key performance indicators such as website traffic, engagement, leads, conversions, and ROI.

What are some common mistakes to avoid in content marketing?

Common mistakes to avoid in content marketing include ignoring your audience’s needs, being too promotional, producing low-quality content, and not measuring the results.

How do I distribute my content for maximum impact?

Distribute your content for maximum impact by using a multi-channel approach, leveraging social media, email, influencers, SEO, paid advertising, and other tactics that fit your audience and goals.

Brands thrive on awareness

Whether it’s their products or services, their social impact, or how their customers perceive them – a brand’s values and promise and how it delivers against both can make or break a business. With so many marketing channels for a brand to spread the message – social media, web, content marketing, SEM, paid media and print advertising … it can be overwhelming for a marketing team.

Quickly, concisely

We all know there are a million distractions and average attention spans have dropped significantly in the last 20 years. If your message doesn’t reach the intended audience in seconds, chances are, it’ll be skipped over or outright ignored. Your marketing content needs to be presented quickly, and be easily digestible – delivered to the consumer on the channels they are on. How quickly you can turn around and deliver your content matters – but it also has to hold that consumer’s attention, it has to be entertaining and relevant.

There’s no better format than video content to achieve this – no other format can blend visual content with storytelling and information to generate awareness.

Show the world

We just discussed why brand awareness is critical for any marketing efforts and in 2023 – video content is one of the best ways to achieve this. As Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research wrote years ago “One minute of video is worth 1.8 million words”. A brand can say and show more about itself with ten seconds of video than in any other media.

You might think that videos may impede the success of other channels – they can actually help with SEO and better page rankings. Google is the premier search engine in the world – YouTube is ranked second in popularity, in addition to being a social platform.

So why do videos attract so much attention? It’s psychology 101. It’s a fact that our eyes are drawn to motion.¹ Whether it’s a holdover from our hunter-gatherer days, or something more, the fact remains – anything that moves catches our attention.

Additionally, video can:

1. Be an engagement booster

   Consumer consensus is that video content is more interesting compared to static content. When surveyed, 80% of consumers prefer to see more content from businesses.² Over the last year alone, 82% of the total web traffic was driven by video content.³ This engagement drives brand awareness. Video is not limited to one channel either – they can be hosted on a brand’s website, on sites like YouTube (and the Google Advertising Network), or on apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat literally driving engagement from multiple platforms simultaneously. Additionally, consumers or more likely to share videos with their friends than any other content ² – making a persuasive argument as a mechanism for customer loyalty and advocacy.

2. Help you stay top-of-mind

   Video content is an excellent way to reach out to new customers, or remind existing ones that you’re still here. Consistent video content is a great way to keep your brand in front of your customers, updating them on what you are doing, Top-of-Mind-Awareness (TOMA).⁴ This is especially useful with targeted or retargeted advertising across multiple platforms – helping brands focus their content across channels – reaching a wider audience.

3. Help build community

   Few things help drive awareness or brand recall like building a community, and it’s not just limited to social media. Brands can develop a loyal fan base on and offline. Video content lets brands build an identity that resonates with their customers, creating relevant, relatable content. Helping spread the word and get consumers to regularly interact with your content, building engagement and trust in your brand.

4. Give sales a boost

   The direct benefit of video marketing is increased sales. 88% of consumers say that watching a brand’s video convinced them to purchase or opt-in to a product or service, with 78% of respondents claiming to have downloaded an app or software thanks to videos.⁵

5. Drive organic traffic

   Video marketing is a mainstay of any marketing strategy because it’s widely helpful for driving organic traffic to sites and landing pages. Benefiting brands in so many ways – viewers don’t feel excessively targeted by advertising, and regular site visits help page rankings rise naturally (allowing for better search results). It’s proven that websites with video, experience a 157% increase in traffic, and are 53% more likely to reach Google’s front page.⁶ Resulting in 89% of marketers saying that videos have helped them achieve a better ROI.

It’s a fact that video has taken brands in a new direction – increasing the number of people consuming content on the go in an engaging manner. The benefits to B2B / B2C brands (and consumers) are undeniable – and unlikely to change soon – at least until a new format comes along.

For now, though, video content is here to stay.

“The play button is the most compelling call to action on the internet.” Michael Litt, CEO and Co-Founder of Vidyard, a global video creation, hosting, and analytics platform for businesses – perfectly sums up the power of video content marketing.

About 4.7 billion people across the globe use social media, and 227 million new users have come online within the last 12 months. Failing to adapt to the latest social media trends means neglecting a significant audience. The key to unlocking your social media potential lies in the definition itself; other media types are usually one-way, while social media is social.

The most successful marketers deliver content consistently through multiple social media channels. Of all the content posted through these channels, it’s no surprise that visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared than text-only content. Video is no exception. It’s becoming an increasingly vital part of the promotional artillery, with 65% of businesses considering it the most engaging communication channel for their audiences.

Video: The Swiss Army Knife of Social Media Marketing

With online videos accounting for more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022– you need to consider your options as we advance. The question is, are you making the most of your video assets across social media? Here are just a few reasons why video is currently topping the charts as the focus for social media marketers presents a huge opportunity.

Helps you reach a broad audience

One of the most significant contributors to bounce rates is when someone comes to your website, and it’s unclear what product or service you’re offering. This is where the use of video can be very beneficial. Video can present information in a more interactive, visual, and enjoyable way. It is an effective tool to generate website traffic and keep visitors on your website longer. Video content marketing gives your brand a voice, authenticity, and credibility. It’s visually appealing and can be used as an essential resource, making a big difference in your marketing and sales success.

Video content improves search optimization

Suppose you’re looking for just one reason to recommend creating video content for your business or brand: it’s Search Engine Optimization. Videos are valuable metrics that search engines consider for ranking. Two of the most critical metrics for SEO are the time users spend on your page or website and the number of backlinks to your domain. Videos improve both numbers in most cases. The more video content you create, the more quality traffic you can drive to your page, which will enhance your overall SEO in the long run.

A sure-fire way to boost your ROI

Audiences are watching the video like never before, so there’s no question why social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn prioritize video so highly. Videos not only increase brand messaging and awareness, but they also help businesses worldwide generate leads and increase sales. Social media channels tend to outperform static posts, so continue to favor video by making it more visible in your feed. This allows businesses to be creative and find new ways to differentiate themselves digitally. To get you even more excited, 83% of companies say video delivers a high return on investment.

Helps you build effective relationships and trust with customers

Trust is the foundation of conversions and sales. Building trust with your customers makes them more likely to commit to your product or service. Trust is one of the factors that influences nearly every purchase decision a customer makes, regardless of the product. Videos are a great way to build brand loyalty. By creating videos that inspire trust and add value to your brand, you can keep growing your loyal customer base for the long term. Including some or all these videos in the client’s marketing funnel can provide a richer and more positive experience for the client’s customers, increase brand loyalty, and increase the likelihood of converting customers into brand ambassadors.

Provides data and actionable insights

When brands use video on social channels, they have immediate access to robust data. Enthusiastic viewers can participate in the user’s journey, driven by video viewing habits. For example, you can send your viewers targeted information or a call to action midway through your video. Viewers who have watched the entire video can be marketed accordingly, and viewers who previously quit the video can be given specific information to target them. Video allows audiences to test different narratives, tones, and styles to find the most effective communication for each target market.

Video appeals more to mobile users

Video and mobile phones go hand in hand. Most consumers watch videos on their mobile phones. People love to watch videos on the go, and as the number of smartphone users grows, so does the video audience. Research shows that smartphone users are twice as likely as TV viewers and 1.4 times as likely as desktop viewers to feel a personal connection with brands that display video content and ads on their devices. The growth of mobile video means brands need to pay attention to their customers’ personal experiences on smartphones.

Wrapping Up

In the age of YouTube, Facebook, live streams, Instagram Reels, and webinars, it’s clear that video is the number one priority. One of the revolutionary additions to your advertising toolbox. Creating a marketing video for your business requires creativity and an understanding of human psychology. These components allow you to make proper marketing miracles with minimal effort. Inspirational and creative videos go viral on the Internet in days, receiving millions of views and shares.

Social Media Video Marketing is undoubtedly king today. It’s time to lead, not lag.

When was the last time your team did a content audit on your marketing assets ?

A qualitative assessment of your content is a best practice – it’ll help identify messaging that’s out of date, improve relevancy for new audiences as well as overall organization for your content.

What qualifies as content?

Everything from your website (and landing pages), blogs, social media channels/pages, posts, and third-party content/event is a good start for a content audit. Don’t stop there, there’s value in extending the audit to product briefs, whitepapers, use cases, customer success stories, ebooks, webinars, videos, and recorded live streams.

Do you know how your content measures up against your business goals? And why is that important? If you’ve never done a content audit, it can be overwhelming to get it started, try focusing and prioritizing on what content needs action, then start identifying low-quality content to clean up or remove.

Quick questions to ask when you’re considering an audit:

Does your content meet your audience’s needs?

Is your content findable?

Is your content easy to digest?

Is your content actionable?

Strategic Content Assessment Factors

Time to get started evaluating content quality and value:

Is the content relevant? Yes or No

What’s the purpose of the content? Is it Informative or Actionable? Does the content educate or influence the audience? Or is the content meant to move the reader to take action (fill out a form)?

What is the value of the content? Is it critical to the goals and strategy of the business and or does it support your brand?

How valuable is your content to your audience? In order to identify the value, you have to measure audience engagement (web visits, time on page, clicks). If you don’t measure engagement, you’re just speculating.

What’s the tone of your content? Does it support the brand voice, persona(s), and buyer’s journey? Does it represent the voice of the company or the product team?

How accurate is your content? Does it represent the current view of messaging or product information?

Expertise, Authority and Trust (EAT)

One of the more important aspects of content/content marketing that you’ll have to address is EAT. It’ll be difficult to measure in your organization but it’s important to Google – since they represent a large part of US search – it’s also critical for your business.

Expertise in content is demonstrating that you (or your company) have the domain expertise. Being an Authority is the natural progression of that expertise. Trust, howsoever, is built over time – think of your favorite ‘trusted’ brands, they took years to build.

There’s no quick way to build up EAT, if you haven’t started – there’s no time like now to start.

Content Marketing checklist

Use this list as an audit checklist and a foundation of a scoring system.

Audience: Identify the relevant audience and match it to the right content asset. Your audiences will include customers, prospects, internal, press/media etc.

Industry: If your content is developed for a particular industry – be sure to identify it by industry. Some of your content will have broad appeal – list it as general or multi.

Service / Product: Your company could offer services, a product(s), or both – identify your content accordingly.

Key topic: When reviewing content that is editorial in nature (blogs, case studies, eBooks, etc) identify each asset for its key topic for easier categorization and access

Funnel: Is your sales and marketing content applicable to the stages of your prospect/customer journey? You’ll want to identify and categorize the content asset by TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU (top, middle, bottom of the funnel).

Objective: What’s this content purpose/objective? Brand awareness, sales, lead generation, etc.

Map Your Content

Map your content to your audience persona’s buyers’ journeys. (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU)
(use a comprehensive multi-touch attribution approach i.e. website, social, third-party)

1. What is the current audience mindset?
2. What do we want them to think and feel regarding our offering?
3. What are our key message(s) and messaging frameworks?
4. What are the appropriate content types(video, short-form, long-form?)
5. What content is available and low effort/high effort?
6. Determine the appropriate KPIs?
7. Find your gaps? What is missing?
8. Make appropriate content recommendations for net new.

Results

Once the audit is completed you’ll have the confidence that your content is positioned to perform, on-brand, current, and valuable to your audience.

• Outdated content is refreshed and updated
• The digital experience for customers and prospects is improved
• Your brand message is clear and concise
• Content is more relevant to the audiences it was developed for
• Traffic and site stickiness improves
• Redundant or outdated messaging is removed
• You’ve de-cluttered the CMS
• The client has actionable insights and next steps

When you’re on Amazon’s site, aren’t you amazed (impressed, frightened, in awe) when you see them serving up products that you did a Google search on earlier in the day? Their ability to serve up customized shopping experiences is what personalized content, or dynamic content, is all about.

Personalized content is online content that dynamically appears based on a visitor’s past and in-session behavior and data known about the visitor.

Personalized Content and Your CRM System

Personalized content relies heavily on your CRM system, which might be SalesForce, Hubspot or Pardot. Using data from your CRM system, you can customize your site pages, emails and other communiques for each particular visitor. You can segment your pages to provide a different experience for leads vs. customers, for people from the United States vs. other countries, for people who appear to be further along the sales funnel, for people interested in certain product lines, and so on.

If you’d like to use your CRM system to personalize content, you’ll first want to make sure your CRM system is collecting a mass amount of data about your customers and prospects. You’ll then define a set of rules and set up priorities for those rules to help ensure that the most important content reaches the right customers. Hubspot provides many more details on how to use your CRM system to add personalization to your content.

Why Is Personalized Content Important?

B2B companies spend a ton of money on content – sometimes as much as 25% of their total budget. If that content isn’t consumed, the money goes to waste. Everybody understands that SEO plays a huge role in helping your content be seen. But even if your content is seen, is it consumed, and is it compelling? All too often, it isn’t. All too often, consumers feel like the site they’re visiting is talking generically to a million people. Not a fun experience.

Personalized content goes a long way in helping engage readers, which of course drives conversions.

Here is a chart from Evergage’s 2018 Trends in Personalization report.

The good news is that all of these user-experience benefits point to higher-quality content, which improves Google organic rankings and SEO.

When Creating Personalized Content, What Are the First Steps?

To create content that delights customers and drives sales, start by identifying who you’re creating your dynamic content for. The more detail, the better. Long gone are the days when you could successfully convert customers by using a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. A key goal from this step is to identify your segmentation criteria and the smart rules your system will use to adapt your dynamic content to your intended audience.

Once you identify your audience, do some research on customer intent:

• Use Google Trends to explore search trends in your category.
• Conduct keyword research to better understand the words that are more likely to result in conversions.

Next, determine your default content, which is the content that will be served up to people for whom you have no information. If you manage an ecommerce website, your default content will be the website, perhaps including a “Customers also bought” section. The dynamic element would be a “You may also like” section. This would look different depending on the visitor’s age, their interests and their past buying history. For every dynamic asset on your site, you’ll need a default version for the people for whom you have no information.

What Should Be Done Next?

You’ll want to use dynamic content recommendations. The most widely used and most advanced general recommendation method is called ‘collaborative filtering’, which, at its core is an algorithmic approach to capture preference or taste information on many users by collecting and analyzing behavioral information on them.

Any Other Recommendations?

• Be Sure to Use Automatic Optimization: Dynamic content should be automatically optimized over time when search engines introduce changes to their algorithms, standards and formats that would otherwise require retroactive and sometimes work-intensive optimization.
• Adopt a Progressively-Dynamic-Content Approach: If you have a visitor who comes in with no cookies, and you can’t figure out where they live, your system will serve up default content. If your visitor doesn’t have a cookie, but your system can figure out that they live in Texas, that visitor will be served up default content for Texas. If your visitor has a cookie, your system will look up their search and visit history and serve up the most relevant content for them.
• Choose What You Will Personalize: Because personalization adds layers of complexity, most companies start by personalizing one or two elements per page. Keep in mind that some of your pages won’t be suitable for personalization.
• Remember All of Your Options: It’s important to remember that, in addition to personalizing web pages, you can personalize social media, emails, landing pages and ecommerce sites.

How Do You Measure Performance?

Why do you personalize your content? To increase conversions? The good news is that, according to SurveyAnyplace, 91% of B2B buyers prefer to consume dynamic content over static content.

But how do you measure the impact of using dynamic content?

It can be difficult to track which versions of your dynamic content receive more engagement. Using a different link or a unique query string for each asset will make things easier. For your website, you’ll want to track before and after statistics to see if your dynamic site gets more visitors and if the visitors stay longer.

If they don’t, you will need to rethink your personalization strategy and make modifications to boost your performance.

Join us March 8th from 11:40-12:30 PT as our head of Organic Marketing, Tushar Prabhu, speaks about creating and optimizing content with our proprietary Predictive Content methodology at the SEMpdx Engage Conference, a digital marketing conference in Portland. The Engage Conference is a two-day digital marketing conference with panel sessions of expert insights, strategies and the latest advancements in digital marketing, SEO, content, advertising, and paid media.

Over the last couple of years, Tushar has been working with our content and organic marketing teams, developing Predictive Content, a methodology that has been transforming organic marketing for our clients.

Participate in this packed 50-minute discussion with your questions as Tushar teams up with Kane Jamison, CEO of Content Harmony, covering concepts around content strategies, user intent, the latest in content marketing and how to get your content to rank in organic search. Do not miss out as this could jump-start your content marketing strategy.

Come say hello to us at the Engage Conference, on March 7th and 8th at our booth at the Sentinel Hotel – Portland. We are excited to see you there!