Boost Sales Through High-Quality Content: Content Marketing Trends 2018

In the world of digital media, content is paramount. Without a well-written word to speak to your audience with authority and captivate their attention, you won't have much traffic to your site.

Even digital platforms that are heavy on visuals, like Instagram, need good content to keep viewers engaged and build a following that's genuine. The trick is finding the time and skill to create excellent content on a regular basis.

Content is much more than snappy sales copy to persuade a new customer to purchase your product. You also need to show knowledge and expertise about what you do so the audience knows they can trust you. Show you're an expert in your field, and you'll have no problem becoming a resource and go-to for people in your industry.

Here are Seven Tips for Boosting Sales Based on 2018 Content Marketing Trends.

1. Get Real About Interaction

Today's consumers love to engage with their devices. With so many of us spending time in front of our screens, it isn't enough to simply provide information or even vibrant imagery on the page. Speak to the consumer in a way that impacts them past their screen.

Think about the way you might "talk" to Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa on a daily basis. These forms of artificial intelligence are technology stocked with information and authority that allows the individual to benefit without standing in front of a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen.

Even if your product isn't this kind of interactive technology, you can consider adding interactive tools to your site or app.

2. Break Down Difficult Information

You can produce popular content by helping your target audience break niche information into more digestible facts. The internet is full of people searching for answers and looking to comprehend highly specialized industries in a short amount of time.

We live in an age where polls, surveys, and research are constantly evolving and multiplying. Everyone has a social media account or blog. Part of accomplishing high-quality content is to use various forms of media. 2018 is the perfect time to use your network to create peak format range.

This new age of content marketing needs more than a snazzy blog post. Branch out into an array of formats like videos, infographics, animation, audio production, graphics, and more.

3. Go Live

Live video streaming is available on a wide range of platforms today, and if your company isn't using it, you've made a big mistake. Engagement statistics for live video are sky-high compared to more traditional forms of media.

Users will watch longer and comment more as Facebook has found. What's also great about live video is that you don't need anything more than a smartphone and app to get going. You can choose from Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram, for starters, to reach your audience.

Live video is off the cuff, authentic, and more realistic for viewers, so they feel more connected to you. Live video might take a bit of practice to get comfortable, but it's certainly worth the investment.

4. Get Personal

Every business deals with a smarter consumer today. Millennials alone can read through a generic sales script, and buzzwords like "green," "responsible," and "charitable" simply don't hold the value they did 10, five, or even three years ago.

Having a cause and greater purpose is good business, but your target audience knows when you're using it as a sales prop and not a genuine foundation of your business. Recent studies show that today's buyers trust word of mouth above any other marketing tool, and consumer reviews are second.

This research means transparency is key. Keeping an open and honest door of communication with your customers is what will build trust and break the block of sales jargon that could be holding you back.

5. Enlist Influencers

Nothing is bigger than social media influencers. In today's markets with everyone's nose buried deep into an algorithm-based news feed, paid influencers will place your brand in front of the people who need to see it most, and that converts into sales.

People with large followings on social media, like Youtube and Instagram, often work with brands to sell their product. Every brand doesn't need someone with a million followers. Many times, simply having a few thousand or even tens of thousands of followers will help you build a solid presence with your niche crowd.

With the help of a YouTuber or blogger with a loyal following, you can reach more people than your last marketing campaign ever did.

6. Stay Local & Long

The power of GPS and localization is huge in today's fiercely competitive market. Buyers are looking for brands that are close to them or can reach them, which is why SEO and distribution are so important. When crafting your content, think in terms of reaching the audience.

Make sure your content is reaching the local markets that you want to cover and that if you are a larger brand with a wide audience, you're making your distribution known. Now is a great time for online businesses and global markets, but those two things are nothing without proper localization techniques.

Users also prefer longer posts that are typically over 1,000 words. Longer posts just recently emerged as a trend in the last few years, but make sure it's reliable information and not simple fluff.

7. Remarketing

It's one thing to catch someone's eye or even produce, click, and visit your website. However, consumers can quickly forget. To make sure you stay on their radar, implement a remarketing campaign that will stay with consumers after they've left your site or ad.

This method is often ranked one of the highest marketing tactics in today's online landscape, with conversion rising higher the more a consumer sees your brand or the product they recently viewed. For more loyal clients and a higher sales rate, use a remarketing tool on your site.

Putting in the extra work to create a stronger marketing campaign and boost sales will pay for itself several times over whether you're a small start-up or a more established brand. If you are worried about your content-writing skills or simply don't have time with such a small staff, consider hiring a professional content writer to get your site on the right foot out of the gate. Freelance writing platforms—like Upwork, EssayTigers, and Hubstaff Talent—are great places to have your content written effectively and originally for your business.

Making these changes will help you acquire more clients and build an authentic following to your brand. In the tech world, it's invaluable to show that you know your business inside out, and personalized, insightful content that's professionally written will catapult your business to the next level.

Stacey Wonder is a content marketer with vast experience in marketing, content management, blogging, and social media marketing. She is currently a content marketer for EssayTigers, the writing service.

Stacey develops her professional skills to share the best practices with others. Her long-term goal is to accustom web users to read only high-quality content so that the web contains more user-oriented content.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.