What are the current trends and best practices in content marketing that you follow and recommend?

Work your ICPs. Utilize social media analytics, keyword research, and audience surveys to gain a deeper understanding of your niche and audience's preferences, pain points, and content consumption habits.

Defining a niche/audience is the most important step in content marketing. You want your audience to instantly connect - on an almost sub-conscience level - with your content.

Don't try to focus on everyone. You won't appeal to them. Instead, focus on appealing to a very select audience and talking to them at a hyper-focused level that's meaningful and relevant.

Most teams are too loose or too rigid with their content strategy/plan. It should be structured, thoughtful, and infused with a mix of objective and qualitative insights. But it also should be fluid enough to allow experimentation and evolution.

Add flex! Don't hesitate to adjust your content strategy and plan based on real-time data and market trends. Being flexible allows you to seize new opportunities and address emerging challenges effectively.

You want to stay fresh, Don't be afraid to try out new content formats or explore emerging platforms to keep your content fresh and engaging for your audience.

Diversity is key in how you promote your content. Try a ton of different versions to understand how your audience likes to consume your content.

More companies need a content strategy that's less fast-food and more farm-to-table. What's that mean? ↳ appetizing presentation ↳ high nutritional value ↳ quality ingredients ↳ sustainable ↳ digestible ↳ satisfying People need food. But they want *good* food.

There's a common fallacy for marketers to put far more effort into the creation rather than the promotion and distribution. So they'll spend all that time, hopefully, creating something great. But it won't reach enough eyeballs because the promotion/distribution was an afterthought. Create content with purpose and work backwards from the outcome you hope top achieve. From there, you'll be able to properly think through the distribution that will get you there. Fill in the creation piece last.

Personalization is the key to effective engagement and nurturing. It's about tailoring your content and interactions to the individual needs, interests, and behaviors of your audience. Here's a unique angle: Leverage AI-powered tools to analyze audience data and identify patterns. Create personalized content journeys based on these insights. Implement dynamic content that adapts in real-time based on user behavior.

Create content that's responsive to breaking news or trending topics, ensuring your brand stays relevant and top-of-mind. Experiment with interactive elements like polls, quizzes, or live Q&A sessions to foster direct engagement and gather immediate feedback.

Your content is a piece of your brand. Your brand is the majority of your reputation. Your reputation is the most important thing you have. Takes years to build. Minutes to destroy.