You need to build continuous improvement into your software development processes. Standing still won’t allow you to stay on top. That philosophy applies to other areas of your business, especially marketing. You need to keep up with product marketing trends to stay relevant and make your marketing content rise above the noise and get your audience’s attention.
So how can you improve content marketing in 2019? Here are four ways:
1. Tell Your Customers WHY
If you’re like most ISVs, you aren’t interested in just making a one-time sale. You want to build a relationship with your customers that lasts – and that helps build a steady revenue stream. Simon Sinek, author of the bestselling book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, points out that there are only two ways to influence people: manipulate them or inspire them. Manipulation may result in a sale, but to earn customer loyalty, it’s going to take more.
To inspire your customers, you need to communicate the value you can provide them: how your application can increase their efficiency, productivity, or competitiveness. Communicate your WHY. Taking this approach will not only improve content marketing with messaging that will resonate with your audience, it can also help build your customers’ trust.
Take time in 2019 to articulate your ISV’s WHY and make it the focus of your marketing efforts.
2. Bring Content to Life with AR/VR
This year add a new dimension to content marketing that makes your customers active participants instead of mere observers. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can let your audience experience content in new ways, taking flat, static ads and making them three-dimensional.
Consider improving content marketing by adding 360-degree interactive videos. And as the technology becomes more compatible with smartphones, ARvertising will be a trend to watch.
3. Get Serious About Storytelling
Marketing gurus have been advising you for years to not just talk about your products, but to tell a story for your audience. That advice isn’t changing in 2019 – or probably ever. Everybody loves a good story. If you want to find a sure-fire way to improve content marketing, use it to tell a story.
A lot of B2B content is vague or overly technical for your end users. After reading your website, your blogs, or other marketing content, your prospects may wonder what your application really does. Telling a story will give your audience a better idea of the value that your software and your company offers.
Joe Lazauskas, director of content strategy at Contently, says there are four keys to good storytelling: Tension, Fluency, Relatability, and Novelty.
Case studies are an effective way to tell stories your customers and prospects can relate to. Tell the story by beginning with the challenge the business was facing (the tension). The story should have a natural flow and rhythm (fluency), and because you are writing about a real-life business that used your software, the reader can more easily identify with the situation (relatability). A case study should also be a unique story filled with details that capture the reader’s interest (novelty).
4. Get to the Point
Shorter, more condensed content will trend in 2019, which appeals to busy people who have less time to read long whitepapers and e-books. Data visualization and presenting content in infographic form are good bets to improve your content marketing effectiveness.
Make it a Great Year
There’s no getting around the fact that content is king. Improve content marketing in 2019 by making your product the focus of great stories, the centerpiece of interactive videos, and the source of inspiration. 
