Recently, a friend and I were trying to recall a nightclub we frequented back in the day. I grabbed my phone and asked Siri to find “1980s Dallas nightclubs.” Instantly I had the name. In Google, I clicked on “Images” and there it was, just as I remembered the place. Tapping one of the photos took me to a story about my old haunt in an area magazine’s micro-blog. Take that, early Alzheimer’s. Who needs brain cells when you’ve got artificial intelligence!

That pretty much sums up the remainder of our 2017 Predictions: mobile-first, voice search, increased visuals and niche marketing – all trends to take note of and implement if you want your company to operate on the cutting edge of content marketing.

Prediction 4: Drilling Down Will Reach the Nouveau Niche  

Don’t rely on intuition and guesswork to find your new niche. The best content writers know you have to do the research, conduct interviews, hold focus groups and discover what’s in the minds of customers. Determine which segment has the most potential, decide what you want them to do, then talk in terms of their specific interests.

Instead of being a “travel blog,” rebrand yourself as “The Nomadic Addict in search of a travel fix.”  Titles such as “A Tour of Brooklyn” loosely target travelers, but don’t appeal to any particular niche, like people who study architecture or seek regional cuisine. It also doesn’t distinguish between a walking tour, bus tour, driving tour or armchair tour. It’s broad nature would fail to interest anyone with even a passing knowledge of the outer borough.

Now “A Tour of Babe Ruth’s Brooklyn,” on the other hand, appeals directly to sports fans and history buffs alike. You’ll lose some potential customers by narrowing the field (no pun intended), but you’ll get higher response rates from the truly interested.

Set up subdomains like historic tours, eating tours, teenager tours, etc. with separate landing pages or direct traffic to various blog segments using off-site links or paid advertising.

Targeted content tends to produce better results, but it’s important to cover your bases (sorry, that one was intended) with some general interests, too.

Prediction 5: Voice Search Will Be a Major Talking Point

Mobile device usage is increasing along with reliance on virtual assistants like Alexa, Cortana and Echo. This will have a tremendous effect on traditional SEO strategy. Will your company be the one Siri recommends?

Keywords will need to be adjusted to match the way people talk: using more long-tail keywords will widen the possibilities. Geographic details on services like Google My Business will be essential when users want “pizza takeout near me” or “closest same-day dry cleaners.”

Inbound phone calls will increase, too, as users can say “call Walmart” and be connected rather than looking up and dialing the number. Businesses will need to set up procedures to capture the calls for future actions.

Prediction 6: Mobile-First Marketing Will Be The Way To Go

We knew the day was coming when more people would access the internet from their phones than from their laptop or home computer. That day is here. Two considerations are essential when setting up a strategy to benefit from this shift.

1. Responsiveness

How well does your website adapt or respond when it goes from a 17” desktop screen to a smartphone? Today’s seo content services have to plan for the new resolutions, configurations and screen sizes of emerging mobile products. A primary challenge will be  getting content to “render” appropriately, maintaining the quality of design regardless of device. Another difficulty will be how to veer away from keyboard usage and translate to gestures on touch screens.

2. Dedicated Mobile App

Most large companies like banks and airlines have mobile apps with select content, not everything found on the website. It satisfies on-the-fly, pressing needs such as checking balances, gate changes, frequent flier miles, etc. If someone wants to read the company history or apply for a job, they will normally go to the website.

Now even small companies can have their own mobile app developed for them. Take a slow, strategic approach to ascertain what that abbreviated content will be for you and your business.

Prediction 7: Visual Content Will Complete The Picture

People love searching for pictures and there are so, so many places to find them on the Internet. Ever wonder where all those cute kitten pictures and inspirational sayings on Facebook come from? If your marketing writing content isn’t utilizing this frequently free artwork, you are depriving readers of their eye candy. Not only does having access to a variety of vivid images enhance a website or blog, it opens up the whole world of photo-based social sharing platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.

Google Image Search is the latest entry. A search for “Good Morning” brings up hundreds of greeting card style sayings, with or without pictures, that can be saved, shared or visited.

If budget permits, hire a photographer to shoot your company and products. Then get an account like Canva to access thousands of presentation designs, social media graphics, page layouts, stock images, illustrations, photo filters and typography fonts.

A lack of design experience could mean you need to consult with a professional to help put the pizzazz in your pictures and other visual content.

 

If there’s one thing certain about the future, it’s this: new technologies and consumer behaviours will continue to produce more diverse channels of discovery for businesses ready to provide top-notch targeted content. Look to iwebcontent for help with all of your content marketing needs.