New research from WhitePages shows why you should think twice before letting your brand lead a discussion on something mundane or risky. Through the lens of content marketing, the study also suggests tips for success, such as consistently updating content, sharing stories, creating video and more.

The study included 3,000 creative professionals across the U.S. The group captured a wide range of professions: 82% of the participants were women, with a majority — 84% — in sales, marketing and PR. The majority of respondents (58%) participated in social media and 60% of the participants generated content.

They were split down the middle for age (56%) and experience in the sector. They also skewed heavily female (59%) and contained 61% CPOs, 28% IOs, 26% VPs and CEOs.

This is the latest installment in WhitePages’ Content Marketing series, offering guidance to businesses to create buzz and connect with clients and prospects.

About 35% of the participants described themselves as digital marketing savants. While 46% of the surveyed participants stated that lead generation had become the primary focus for their company, only 37% stated that the big opportunity today was improving brand awareness and engagement.

Regardless of their current focus, content marketing is very important for business success. These are the most important areas of focus for content marketers.

Why the Changes Are a Good Thing

You need to think about why your marketing plan is getting off track:

Trends on the landscape: The biggest inspiration comes from the facts, daily and hourly. If you see a shift in a particular topic area, or industry, then go ahead and pull the trigger. The biggest change in trends is around conversational commerce. Brands are connecting with customers through video (38% of the survey respondents) and social media (47%). It’s important to make an effort to jump on these trends.

Emotional engagement is key: If you’re doing your job well, your customers will develop a connection to your brand and quickly jump to open conversational channels for brand information. You need to create a conversation — in a positive or neutral way — to break through the noise. Responding to your customers’ comments, complaints and even problems isn’t something that you should shy away from.

It’s about reaction: When changing to an era of more conversational commerce, you need to know how to gather the best conversations possible. You need to set up meetings and get involved in conversations. You can start with your first conversation by creating a stronger personalized experience for your customers, such as building a referral program with an offer on top of that.

When timing is right: If you have a fresh company plan for 2020 or beyond, we recommend waiting until early next year. By doing this, you can get the best mix of news and products to drive conversations throughout the year and through 2020.

How to Get Started

“Industry-specific content is super important and everyone has a range of professional interests — it’s how brands can stand out. For example, you’ve got to be obsessed with basketball, and you’ve got to have a passion for the NBA. Or, if you’re a single mother, then content should be pretty specific to that cause. You need to determine what’s your interests before you actually create that content.

Early mornings are a good time to start, but in the morning is when you can most likely have people who will be awake. If you send out content that’s specific to the needs of a person, chances are that people will respond with something. Otherwise, you could wait until the afternoon and more people will have drifted off.” — Clare Flanagan

Investing in content is no longer just about responding to business users. These days, content marketers need to be engaging with the heart of a company. From content vendors to content solutions firms to copywriters to copycats, everybody needs to understand the “heart” of your target audience. Some companies know who they are, some know what they’re creating, and others do it best.

When it comes to content marketing, focus on showing that you know them and you appreciate them.