In the marketing world, nothing stands still. Even the constants like customer demand and product quality are a fluctuating part of your landscape. As a marketer, whether for a large business, small startup, or something in between, it’s your job to create appealing content. And in order to do so, you must identify with the needs and desires of your target audience.  

There has been a lot of debate about how to update an inbound marketing strategy in order to stay on trend or even get ahead of the curve. Some swear by AI integration for everything, though AIs are not yet compelling content writers–they’re about as warm and fuzzy as self-checkout stations at Walmart. There’s also a lot of focus on social media. While this is important, the fact is that most inbound marketing tactics that work for your website, will also work for your business’s social media accounts. So, what should you be incorporating into your inbound marketing strategy to improve your results? Let’s take a look at some of the central themes taking the lead this year. 

#1 Friendly Online Video Series 

Images alone can be an incredibly powerful tool in your inbound marketing tool kit. Not only do they tend to get more engagement on social media, but they also enhance everything from your blog posts to your services page. That said, if a picture is worth a thousand Tweets, what then is a video worth? 

Online videos are growing massively in popularity and influence within social media communities. And they also tend to do very well on your website. Try putting one on your home page, service pages, blog posts, and as stand-alone inbound marketing content. Whether you want to put together a how-to series or just talk about industry news and advice, make sure to include an engaging and interesting video series in your inbound marketing strategy update. 

#2 Long SEO Copywriting 

If you’re still SEO editing and keyword stuffing, stop. Those tactics lost effectiveness months ago and it’s time to change with the tide. Search engine algorithms are getting smarter. They prioritize both higher word counts and how naturally keywords are used in a page. This means that it’s time to start writing real content with keyword concepts in mind. This is known as SEO Copywriting. Let’s say, for example, you sell security software and your potential customers are looking up how to get rid of viruses. Then you need to be writing long-form copy that contains all sorts of relevant keywords for firewalls, virus scanning, and purchasing bad programs in a logical and conversational way. 

This is known as SEO copywriting–when you write a topic and craft individual sentences to match your SEO keywords and not the other way around. Avoid trying to force keywords into a pre-written piece. For your 2018 inbound marketing strategy, it’s time to embrace the necessity and conversational style of SEO copywriting. 

#3 Guest Blogs are Back 

Currently, there’s a certain amount of debate between industry pros regarding the semantics surrounding guest blogging. The industry isn’t sure whether it’s not alright to post as a guest host or invite a guest host to post with you. Guest blogging and hosting has been discouraged in the past because it was used as a form of link-trading. Since then, search engines have eased up the ban in favor of truly high-quality content that engages, informs, and entertains audiences. Whether you know an interesting person or simply want to trade topics with another business in your industry, guest blogs are becoming increasingly popular. You should absolutely keep an eye out for opportunities, and make sure your content is always super-relevant to your business and target audience’s interests. 

Need Help with Your Inbound Marketing Strategy? 

Whether you’re looking for detailed inbound marketing advice for your business, or you need an inbound marketing strategy and help with implementing tactics, we’d be happy to help and you’re sure to enjoy the experience of working with us. Our team at McAllister Marketing is comprised of online, SEO, social media, traditional and inbound marketing experts, designers and web developers all working together to offer our clients the most comprehensive marketing support that’s on point and on budget. Contact our team when you’re ready to learn more about the benefits of working with us.