5 content marketing tactics publishers need for 2020

By Shrikant R. Kale

Digital media is getting increasingly competitive with not just publishers, but also brands entering the arena. So, to get the attention you deserve, you need to take proactive steps to promote your content.

Content discoverability is the second-most important digital transformation focus of publishers. That is why many are constantly maximizing their existing efforts while exploring new tools and tactics to better reach the end-users.

To make the best of your content, you need to have a solid plan. Let us take a look at five different strategies that should be a part of it.

Timing and frequency

You can engage your users, but there is no point if you are not reaching out at the right time, no matter how personalized and attractive your message is.

Generally, there are days and times known to bring better results, for example, Tuesdays 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. or Wednesdays 10 a.m. – noon and 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. But do not forget about time zones – you do not want to promote weekend activities on a Sunday afternoon.

Frequency also matters.

If you overwhelm your readers with 10 emails a day, chances are they open them – only to find the unsubscribe button.

You might need to experiment to find your sweet spot, but know that push notifications sent just twice a week see a four times higher conversion rate.

Quality of your messaging

Whether in-push notification or email, your messaging needs to be top-notch. If it is not catchy enough, your audience will simply ignore it.

Personalized messages combined with behavioral data perform best.

Make sure the content remains to-the-point and use analogies to make people smile.

Avoid fluff, and experiment with power words. And remember: a picture is worth a thousand words, so do not be afraid to add some graphic elements.

Each message should give value – which is why the first logical option is to promote special offers.

But there is much more.

Publishers can focus on content that makes peoples’ lives easier. This can be anything from a highly-localized weather report to a reminder for users to pick off where they left off, be it with reading an article or listening to a podcast.

Building and owning your audience

You can best market to an audience that you have.

Maybe you managed to get thousands of new likes on your Facebook page thanks to a viral article.

But there is hardly any guarantee that any of these users will ever come to your platform. That is why publishers need to own their audience.

Using emails and Web push notifications to reach the right user with the right content is a necessity.

These strategies create a constant engagement bridge and help publishers cultivate the sense of a community. To do that in the most effective way, you should leverage the data you are able to collect, segment your audience and personalize the messaging.

Making use of different formats

Using gifs, infographics, videos and different types of tools and platforms is the key to keeping up with the dynamic nature of content that the modern consumer wants.

Take a lesson from The Economist, the king of interactive data tools. It leverages interactive indexes for good reason: They produce three times higher average read time.

Podcasting is also an increasingly lucrative field. The podcast industry is growing fast; it generated an estimated $479.1 million in revenue in 2018 and is expected to produce more than $1 billion by 2021.

Exploring different platforms can help you reach new audience segments or target groups. Let us say that you are looking to create content for Gen Z – is there a better place than TikTok?

A/B testing

At the end of the day, you always need to think about your readers. What is the content they want to see? Which formats engage them the best? And how can you improve their experience?

One of the easiest ways to experiment and optimize is through A/B testing. Define a method for finding what to test, create hypotheses, set parameters and write a recap of what you learn.

For example, the Dodo used A/B testing to fine-tune headlines and found that those that resonate with their audiences the most contain words such as “epic.”

CONTENT IS created to be seen.

So, by leveraging these strategies, you can ensure that your digital publishing business is successful and undisrupted – even by the efforts of your competitors.

Shrikant R.Kale is cofounder of iZooto

Shrikant R.Kale is cofounder of iZooto, NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, India. Reach him at shrikant@izooto.com.