Is A High Barrier To Entry To Blame For Making Interactive Content The Lowest Priority Among Marketers?
Content that goes beyond the static pages of yesteryear is slated to take over for 2017 and beyond. One of the most exciting is interactive content, which is on the rise. Interactive content, such as videos, thought leadership articles, white papers and e-books, offer a slew of benefits for marketing, including increased engagement, personalized remarketing and increased email capture rates. However, when challenges occur, it can create a high barrier to entry to even beginning the process of an interactive content program. Moreover, going from deciding to create interactive content to realizing its results can take from six months to one year. In marketing, that can take a long time when time is always of the essence. Interactive content marketing challenges create high barriers when it is not used as a long-term marketing strategy and not prioritized. Therefore, it's vital to understand what may be keeping your marketing team from taking the leap and incorporating interactive content as part of your marketing strategy. Here are some barriers to consider:
1. Deciding On What Content To Make Interactive
Marketers often struggle with deciding what content to make interactive, and this can stop the progress of interactive content implementation entirely. One way to overcome this barrier to entry is by looking at what existing content needs revamping. Existing content may show lackluster results for engagement if it is outdated or creates a "flat" experience. It's worth taking the time to evaluate what content you currently possess that can benefit from incorporating interactive content to increase engagement. Moreover, if you lack a library of content, creating content that solves a problem for your customers or prospective clients is an ideal place to start.
2. Lack Of Expertise
Sometimes, marketers know what content they want to make interactive but don't know how. This is often because their team lacks specialized skills needed to carry out interactive content deliverables. This creates a high barrier to making interactive content a part of the marketing plan, especially when the competition has access to the experts you don't. It's worth having a knowledgeable team that understands what pieces work best with interactive content. An expert team can help simplify the initiation process for including interactive content in your marketing strategy.
Your enterprise does not need a team of twenty to get this done, either. Outsourcing either all or part of the interactive content project can help you save time and money. Whether it be an Austin, Texas advertising agency that offers full services or a digital media agency that specializes in digital media strategy, it's important to ask questions regarding their experience with using interactive content. Explore their portfolio of work and see if what they offer will meet your business needs before committing to outsourcing the project or contracting services.
3. Resource Constraints
Being able to deliver the content that transforms the customer experience requires a unique set of skills. Moreover, the resources needed to write, strategize and promote are higher than they were in the past. Marketing budgets aren't endless, either. That's why marketing managers and business leaders should consider current human resources that have the experience required to start using interactive content as part of the marketing strategy.
Getting started does not have to be complicated. The goal is to get customers or clients engaged by giving them the opportunity to interact with the service or product you are promoting. This can be as simple as incorporating social polls in your content that provide customers with the chance to give feedback on your product or service. It can also be more labor intensive by incorporating video content and storytelling. For instance, you can use responsive design techniques with an interactive white paper that adapts to the screen of the user and moves as the user scrolls down the web page.
Resource constraints can also extend to marketing budgets and capabilities, such as inadequate bandwidth. Therefore, it's key to have access to the resources that will support the implementation of interactive content from the start.
4. Unclear Goals
Understanding why you're incorporating interactive content in your marketing strategy is just as important as actually executing interactive content marketing. Implementing a marketing activity without clarity on the goals you are trying to achieve can be a lost cause and keep you from getting started in the first place. Thus, it's vital to be clear on what you want to accomplish by using interactive content in your marketing strategy. Decide if your goal is to bring more traffic to your site and by how much. Breaking down the goals into tactics that are measurable can also help with creating clarity. Planning before executing a marketing activity can help you take interactive content from the consideration stage to being a part of your marketing plan.
Final Thoughts
Taking advantage of the benefits interactive content offers requires overcoming its barriers. Its possible to get started with interactive content marketing by prioritizing its inclusion in your marketing plan. You don't have to let a lack of an expert in-house team halt you from getting started with interactive content marketing, either. You can partner with an expert brand strategy consulting team that has years of experience using interactive content marketing as a part of SEO content strategy, digital media strategy and social media strategy.
The State of Inbound 2017 Report is out!