Content Desk unpacks the industry’s trending topics to find out what’s around the corner for content marketers this month…

User experiences

Ensuring your consumers have the best experience possible from your content is crucial to building trust and enhancing your brand.

Content creators must be aware that mastery of intent lies at the heart of this. Knowing your audience and being able to target them is crucial. Keywords and strategies are becoming useless amid the hordes of internet users who know what they want but can’t find the words to express it.

On top of getting into the minds of consumers, the rise of automation is an unmissable opportunity for content marketers. The onward march of content technology is giving innovators more opportunities than ever before to revolutionise user experiences.

Read more:

Brand leaders influence lots of touch points. Ask what your brand does and why it is the first step to working out what users want: Content Science Review

Keyword intent takes many different forms. Find the right one for your business and boost conversion rates: Convince and Convert

Why user intent is a crucial ingredient in website optimisation, and how to get it right: Convince and Convert

Automation can improve scalability and boost efficiency – but is it worth the cost yet?: Marketing Insider Group

Content intelligence

Making content more intelligent is a huge topic, covering a range of challenges and hurdles. However, a cross-company injection of intelligence can offer an edge over the competition.

Content intelligence requires some changes in the technology and techniques you’re using, and can mean short-term investment for long-term payoff. Examples include awareness of AI’s growing importance, understanding of revolutionary products and the possibilities arising from platform integration.

However, making intelligent content an integral part of how agencies operate means more than throwing money at new products and better AI. It also concerns the more imposing task of heaving firms into the 21^st century with a technologically-attuned culture shift. Businesses eschewing insight and persevering with caveman content risk oblivion.

Read more:

Trendsetting products list for 2017 – home personal assistance tools are particularly well represented: EContent 

Microexperiences: the way to integrate messages across platforms, minimising navigation and maximising intelligence: EContent 

Addressing company culture, building a business case and gradual progress can help naysayers embrace new marketing technology: Content Marketing Institute

How the death of traditional advertising is making artificial intelligence more important than ever in modern marketing: Marketing Insider Group

Customer and sales journeys

The concept of user journeys is a popular one across B2B and B2C marketing, bringing a much-needed sense of lively adventure to the buying process.

By dividing these journeys into steps, content marketers can harvest insights on what sort of content to use and when – thus augmenting their chances of generating a purchase.

Much like a real journey, creating leads and nurturing sales is a process with a beginning, middle and an end. Content marketers must be prepared to hone their offering for every stage.

Read more:

The importance of customising emails depending on recipients’ positions in the buying process: Content Marketing Institute

How and why you should tailor content for each stage in the customer journey: Kapost

The different stages of the sales cycle, and the importance of influencers in each: Convince and Convert

Seven key principles governing lead generation and management for marketers to remember: Marketing Insider Group