Content marketing is a genre of advertising which includes the recent popularity of ‘native advertising’. The success of native ads has had the marketing industry growing steadily without bounds. Content can be seen across channels like traditional media, newspapers and magazines, where brands work hard to find a content strategy and model that will fit in with the voice of the advertiser. The trend is most prevalent in local broadcasting media, where entities that are trying to redefine the identities of their brands online.

Advertisers are now looking for trends to follow that can help them get their message across in the form of content that can reach prospects organically and media publishers are trying to test their expertise with their fans, client services, and editorial production, to become big players of the relevant field. There have been quite a few trends that we have witnessed in the past year, but only three of them emerged time and time again, proving their significance.

Identity

Advertisers are always looking for more effective ways to get their brand’s message across in the form of content that is capable of reaching prospects organically, and media publishers are using their expertise with users and a large audience, client services, and editorial production to carry major importance in the field. The notion of a voice that spreads like fire and a positive editorial identity are two defining factors of the digital age. Pioneers and entrepreneurial giants will quickly discover that building a good following by sending across their message and identifying users who are passionate about their products, will serve them best.

Today, more and more brands are looking to build an identity for their brands from an editorial point of view and as a provider of valuable information, so that their prospects can form a relationship with the company based on trust.

Information

Today, more than ever before, consumers are looking for information and knowledge to help them make better purchasing decisions. Advertising and content marketing go hand-in-hand and they are both meant to educate users by providing information that they are looking for. Instead of pushing, we are now moving towards a pull strategy; brands are focusing on providing the best content, so that their users start regarding them as a source of valuable information and begin to trust their expertise.

Native advertising has been developing rapidly, and brands have started to be highly conscious of the information they provide, because indirectly, the knowledge that you impart through your content reflects upon the knowledge that you possess and how practiced that knowledge is.

Invention

Native advertising channels and programs are gaining popularity fast and don’t only provide a good source of revenue, but also invention, innovation and creativity. The content curation and presentation should be unique, since the modern consumer is looking for information more than a product or service. If your company manages to effectively provide that information to its clients, they may then opt for a service or product that you offer. You will have to focus on inspiring and influencing your clients first; buying will come later on.