Are you curious about the newest content marketing trends? I know I am. But I’m a curious person by nature.

For example, did you know that 71% of buyers say they’re turned off by content that sounds like a sales pitch? That’s one of the reasons content marketing has been so successful. Content creators design articles, podcasts, and videos that educate and entertain.

The content doesn’t sell.

It builds trust and authority. If you’ve been developing content for a while but you’re just not seeing a return on your investment, stay tuned. The sections below outline the newest trends for 2019.

When you’re ready to see your authority skyrocket, drop the sales pitch. Use the themes below and give your audience what they want. Are you all buckled in? Good, then read on.

1. Long-Form Content

In recent years, there’s been a growing shift toward long-form content (aka posts over 1500 words). Recently, Buzzsumo analyzed over 100 million articles. They found a correlation between the length of an article and its popularity. Longer posts tended to be ranked higher in search engines.

Well, that trend is continuing into 2019, but there’s a catch.

The key word is correlation. Just because popular posts tend to be longer does not mean the opposite must be true. In other words, just because you build a long post doesn’t mean it sure to become popular.

We posit that the length of a popular post is the byproduct of something else altogether. And that “something” is the secret sauce. It separates expert content creators from their less successful brothers and sisters. It’s called thoroughness.

They build articles focused on a goal, be it to inform or entertain. And they don’t stop to worry about word count. They stop only when they meet their goal.

It just happens that it usually takes more than 1500 words.

2. Webinars, Webcasts, and Live Video

YouTube is taking over the world. Actually, video as a whole is taking over the world. YouTube is just a sign of Video’s supremacy.

Unfortunately writing a script, filming, and editing can take a great deal of energy. 81% of content producers say Video is the hardest type of content to create. But it doesn’t need to be.

If you’re an authority in a field, people will want to know what you have to say. They aren’t concerned about what you’re wearing or how often you blink on camera. They don’t care about whether you stumble over your words once or twice.

They want your insight.

If you aren’t an authority, then borrow someone else’s. Find a person in your field and interview them. Audiences love genuine settings and off-the-cuff conversations.

3. Voice Search

Did you know that in 2018, 84% of buyers admitted they used their smartphones to access business-related content online? That’s amazing when you consider that the first smartphone was built in 1992, and didn’t really become popular until 10 years later. Now they’re ruling not only our personal lives, but our work lives as well.

Now, another trend is moving us toward another burgeoning technology. It’s called voice technology. If you’ve ever used Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, you know what we’re talking about.

So how is this tech connected to content creation?

Well, you can take one of two approaches to take advantage of this trend. The first is to create more audio content. Think podcasts.

Second, you can design the rest of your content for audio technology in the same way that you design it for search engines. You need to keep in mind that search engines look for different things when they run queries for audio users.

They look for keywords or phrases that use natural language. They also tend to work better with a question and answer format, which is why Q and A webpages do so well.

4. Originality

You’re not the only one building content. If you’re only using Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique and nothing else, you’re in trouble. There are too many other people doing the same thing.

The problem is it’s all saying the same thing. It’s just repackaged. This approach worked fine when hundreds of people were using it. There was still plenty of internet to go around.

It worked fine when thousands were using it. Tens of thousands. Now there are millions of people who have build content aggregate sites.

It’s led to a homogenous internet. It’s like cable tv, back before satellites and the internet, when every channel was showing repeats of the same shows.

If you want to build a following, change it up. Sure, you can write about the same subject matter. Simply choose a different perspective.

Take a different stand. Breath your own life into the topic. Give it something to make it stand out rather than writing the same dry, repackaged information.

5. Brand Storytelling

Brand positioning in marketing is everything. Remember, we’re in the age of information overload. A thousand of your competitors are saying the same things, in the same ways, to your audience.

In the last section, we talked about the importance of standing out from the chaff. Well, another way to do it is by filtering your content through a brand filter.

Continue building content, but first, make sure it’s in line with your brand. That includes focusing on your niche and using a voice and style consistent with your brand. Use all relevant brand positioning tips to keep your content laser focused.

6. Personalization

One of the biggest current marketing trends is to build more content for each stage of a buyer’s awareness. Long gone are the days of one-size-fits-all style content. The more accurately you can give a person what they need, the more they’ll appreciate it.

The more they, and others like them, appreciate it, the more popular your content becomes. Fortunately, we’re in the day and age of heatmaps and exit polls. We have the technology to determine what stage of awareness your web traffic fits into.

It gives you greater insight into how to entice your audience. It gives you get in their heads and meet them where they are, rather than where you think they might be.

7. Influencer Reversal

It’s not uncommon to sponsor digital content influencers. To pay them each time one of their viewers watches your ad on their channel or clicks on your link. But what about the opposite?

What if rather than paying them to put your content on their channel, you ask them to build content for your channel? You still reap the benefits of connecting to the digital influencer’s audience, but now you own the content.

It’s a one-time fee rather than a monthly fee, and it stays up as long as you want it.

Try These Content Marketing Trends

Now that you know about the latest content marketing trends, it’s time to them into action. We recommend you start by developing your brand voice and style. You can introduce them to any piece of content you create from here on out.

Then move on to the other strategies we laid out in the sections above. If you found this information helpful, then hop, skip, and jump over to our vast library full of other brilliant articles on all things marketing.