2. Develop buyer personas for your content planning.
Another of the content marketing trends on which to focus is personas. Developing personas gives marketers a deeper understanding of their target audience and buying behavior. The data collected can become a guidepost for creating content that will assist consumers throughout their buyer’s journey. Three of the most effective methods of building your buyer persona come through the collection of information about your target buyers. This process includes checking your current online visitors, conducting market research, and interviewing existing customers.
Once you have collected enough information, you can create a comprehensive profile for each persona you have developed. These profiles should be organized according to the 5 rings of buying insight, namely: priority initiatives (reasons buyers invest), success factors (results that buyers are expecting), perceived barriers (concerns that buyers have about your company), buyer’s journey (details of who and what impacts your buyer’s decisions), and decision criteria (critical aspects of competing products).
A well-developed buyer persona profile will have multiple content opportunities that you can create and publish on your company website. Once those articles are published, they need to be regularly reviewed and updated. This is to ensure that no obsolete information is retained on your site.
3. Create original and relevant content.

One of the content marketing trends that marketers need to focus on now is the creation of original and relevant content. This content should not only sell products or services, but help readers solve their problems without taking money from their pockets. It should provide value – be it for entertainment or educational purposes – which will demonstrate that they can turn to you for answers when they encounter problems at work.
Aside from remaining relevant, marketers must prioritize the creation of original content. Consumers nowadays are getting good at identifying clickbait material. If you consistently deliver original content that is not copied from viral headlines and topics, you let readers know that you value their time and want to offer them valuable information.
Statistics show that 66% of manufacturing marketers now use audio/visual content, and 59% offer written digital content such as articles, blogs, and e-books. Similarly, long-form content is used by 57% of marketers. You can also use these types of content to provide relevant information to your readers.