I heard this question recently and, honestly, it made me chuckle: Is content marketing dead in 2024?

My answer, of course, is no, content marketing is not dead in 2024. The reason it made me laugh?ඣ People have predicted t🌞he deaths of all kinds of marketing for years. For decades. Email marketing is dead. Google ads are dead. Direct mail is dead.

You get the idea.

But I want you to think about this: Radio advertising, which seems likeꦆ a total dinosaur to many of us, (up from about $10 billion in 2020). 

The message here is that m🌱arketing tactics have a long history of no💞t dying the way the experts say they will. 

Content marketing is no exception, I promise you that content marketing is not going to b⭕e dead🍸 in 2024. 

But, is content marketing changing? You be🍃t it is. And if you’re approaching it the way you did in 2014, you’re going to be way behind. Below, I’ll expl💫ain what I think the new year holds. 

The way we think about traffic has to change

If yoꩲu ask the average marketer what the point of content 💎is, they will generally say the same thing: It’s for traffic.

This is the traditional inbound funnel. 

• You make content that ranks for certain keywords. 
• This content attracts traffic.
• You capture some of this traffic as leads
• Some of these leads enter the sales process
• Some of these opps turn into customers.

Traffic, leads, and sales. Traffic, l൲eads, and 💞sales.

The hope was always that if you put more traffic into the top of the funnel, more sales would come😼 out at the bottom. 

And in many cases, that has been true. 

The problem with this approach is that it led marketers to produce fluffy content that brought in traffic — but no🉐t high-i🔜ntent traffic. 

This was fueled by a high focus on out-o💮f-context numbers. (In other words, if traffic is the core marketing KPI, marketers wil🎶l do what they need to do to boost traffic, even if it’s not going to influence revenue.)

And now, times are changing. It’s up to us to think differently. AI-powered content is flooding SERP pages, making it harder and harder to rank and get traffic. At the same time, generative ཧsearch is taking ma🌊rket share away from traditional search engines, mea🏅ning the way people consume information is changing.

So, traffic won’t be as reliable as it once was — and it might noꩵt ever have been as reliable as people be🃏lieved. 

Content isn’t (just) about search

This changes the way we think about our content. If i꧃t’s not just about getting found in search, what’s the point?

First off, it’s important to remind ourselves that you will still get found in search. While we are seeing shifts, in many cases, search engines (and search engine users) still operate the way they have for years.&nbs𒀰p;

But I bel൲ieve it’s time to think differently about what our content should be doing.

We must think of our content as educational, first and foremost. 

This means that when people come𓆉 to your website — whether through search, from social media, or because they heard someone tell them about it — your content 𒁏is there to answer their questions and make it easy for them to buy from you. 

Your content exists to answe🍌r their questions and alleviate their concerns. That’s job number one. Not traff🌼ic. Not clicks.&nbꦡsp;

For some, this will feel like a radical departure. For others, they’ll think, yeah, that makes sense.

Be prepared to think broadly about what content should be

The second thing I see ahead for content marketing in 2024 i👍ꦚs an ever-broader definition of what content means.

In the early days, “content” meant written content. That is, articဣles, pillar𒐪 pages, ebooks whitepapers, and the like.

While those things are still important — but, be honest, when was the last time you downloaded and read an ebook?ꦜ — the definition of content needs to keep expanding.

The first things on the list are obvious: video (long-form, 168极速赛车官网:short-form, and streaming), social media posts, events (digital and i🐼n-person), interactive content, and podcasts.

But that will𒅌 be the tip of the future content iceberg.

As search changes, I expect social media to play an even bi💃gger role in the way we discover products and services. 

Thꦇe companies thಞat have a social media presence that’s authentic and approachable will be the ones to win. And they’ll be very creativ🎃e in the ways they meet, engage with, and delight their✱ audiences.

 …and about how content gets consumed

At the same time, we can🐼’t think of content as just a top-of-the-funnel tool. At IMPACT, we teach our clients that the MOST IMPORTANT application for content is in the sales process.

Sales enablement content that addresses buyers’ fears, worries, and concerns is content that’s 🍎going to streamline the sales process and actuall🌌y bring revenue into your business.  

Whe🌊n your marketing team and sales team work together on content, they provide a seamless ♛sales experience — which is something that every business needs.

So, as we think about the future of content marketing, ඣremember that the most impactful place for the ma🍌rketing team to put their effort may be the very bottom of the funnel. 

Content marketing in 2024 — and beyond

Content marketing is not dead, but the way you did it a decade ago is. If you’re hanging on to the same playbook, you’r🗹e in danger of losing relevance and limiting your future.

Tomorrow’s content marketing is AI-enhanced, full-funnel, buyer-fo🎶cused, and, most impor🍷tantly, creative and authentic. 

If you’re not sure how to build a content marketing plan for your business’s future, talk to us at IMPACT. We help sales and marketing teams come together to build trust and capture revenue. 168极速赛车官网:Reach out to see what’s possible.