One habit that isn't changing anytime soon is that most people take time to research a company, product, or service on the internet before making a purchase. In 2020, Internet users rose an additional 7.4% to 321 million daily users. Digital marketing is a necessity for companies; your website is often your first opportunity to impress potential clients. 

A well-rounded content marketing strategy will help you connect with your ideal buyer, move potential customers through a buyer's journey, and delight your clients to improve retention. 

Here are the Content Marketing Strategies You Can't Ignore in 2021

Write Blog Content

A well-written blog article will clearly convey your message to your reader and search engines. It's important for both to understand the context of your content. By utilizing SEO best practices, you will increase your content’s opportunities to show up in search queries for different keywords relevant to your industry or niche. It takes time and money to develop high-quality content. However, it's the cornerstone of every digital marketing strategy because of all the different ways you can repurpose a long-form piece of content.

Blog Stats to Note for 2021:

• Over one-third of high-earning bloggers (those who earn over $50,000 annually) say that readers' demand for higher quality content is now greater than it was two years ago. 
• Tumblr has nearly 488.1 million blogs. 
• WordPress has approximately 78 million new posts published on its platform every month.

Source: Oblero 

Video Marketing

One of the quickest ways to enhance written content and greatly improve your opportunities to rank in search is to add a video. There are two ways to include written and video content together in a blog post. If you start with the video, you can add a transcript of the video's spoken words. If you start with the written content, you can add a video to provide deeper content on a topic. This may draw in visual learners who don't have the time or patience for longer blog posts.

Another great way to use video marketing is on social media. Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, and Google web stories all offer visual opportunities to connect with potential leads in unique ways.

Video Stats to Note for 2021:

• 70% of consumers say they have shared a brand's video.
• 72% of businesses say video has improved their conversion rate.
• 52% of consumers say watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions.
• 65% of executives visit the marketer's website, and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video.
• 80% of video marketers claim that video has directly increased sales.

• 72% of customers prefer learning about a product or service by way of video. 
• A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video. 
• 84% of people say watching a brand's video convinced them to buy a product or service. 

Source: learn.g2.com

Audio Content

If you're looking to expand your audience and video isn't your preference, consider developing a podcast or recording an eBook. Podcasts are constantly growing in popularity, along with audiobooks. While audiobooks are sometimes more of an investment, they are becoming more accessible as libraries invest in Libby and Hoopla memberships.

Audio Content Stats to Note for 2021:

• 38% of marketers are investing more in creating this content format, including podcasts and audiobooks. Visme.co
• 73 million people listen to podcasts each month. Visme.co
• 45% of those in the U.S. age 12+ have listened to audio podcasts in a car through a cell phone. backlinko.com

Email Marketing 

Email marketing is a key part of a holistic content marketing strategy because it allows you to personalize and target your communication with each contact. Email is used for every aspect of a customer's buyer's journey, starting with lead generation. You can continue to engage your customers and delight them by offering insider discounts on new products or services. 

Email Stats to Note for 2021:

• Content Marketing Institute For every $1 spent on email marketing, you can expect an average of $42 in return. lairedigital.com
• DMA Marketers who used segmented campaigns noted as much as a 760% increase in revenue. lairedigital.com
• 87% of marketers say that video has increased traffic to their website. lairedigital.com
• 80% of marketers have reported an increase in email engagement in 2020. learn.g2.com

Visual Content is Key

The visual learning style popularized by Neil D. Fleming is one of three distinct types. Fleming explains that visual learners need to see information to learn it. This "seeing" takes many forms from spatial awareness, photographic memory, color/tone, brightness/contrast, and other visual information. Include visual content in your content marketing such as infographics, photos, graphs, charts, slide decks, and web stories. One easy way to incorporate visual content is to have a custom image with every blog post.

Visual Content Stats to Note for 2021:

• 56% of marketers are designing more image-based content. circlesstudio.com
• Studies have shown an 82% increase in readers' attention spans and recall through the use of colors in visuals. visme.co
• Researchers demonstrated a 39% decrease in time spent finding crucial information in a document when visuals, color, and charts were used compared to when they weren't. visme.co

Social Media Marketing

As you strive to extend your digital reach, it's helpful to leverage social media. Social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent places to connect with your target audience, share content, and answer questions.

It's important to spend time developing a buyer persona. This way, you will know which social media platforms will best connect your brand with your target buyer. You will want to plan out your social media posts. It's important to look ahead and consider ways you can incorporate interactive content such as polls.

• 53% of the world's population uses social media worldwide every month, which is more than 4.14 billion people. 
• 88.9% of all internet users use social media each month. An average of 2 million people sign up to social networks every day. 
• Active social media users rose 12.3%, +453 million.
• The average number of social media accounts per internet user (aged 16 to 64) is an incredible 8.3. However, this is not an indication that we use each of our social accounts every month. Many of us have accounts that sit dormant. 

Source: influencermarketinghub.com

Social Media Users as of December 2020:

Facebook – 2,701 million

YouTube – 2,000 million

WhatsApp – 2,000 million

Facebook Messenger – 1,300 million

Weixin / WeChat – 1,206 million

Instagram – 1,158 million

TikTok (excluding Douyin) – 689 million

Q.Q. – 648 million

Douyin – 600 million

Sina Weibo – 523 million

Source: influencermarketinghub.com

As you develop your content marketing strategy for 2021, take time to think about how you can incorporate each of these aspects into your overall digital marketing efforts. If you need help thinking through how to implement your ideas best, give us a call. We're content marketing experts who specialize in customized strategies.