Being ahead of your competitors

In the digital age research and data is king and content is your kingdom. In a game of chess, the content is all the pieces you need to defend your kingdom. If you can predict the next four moves, plan your own move at the right time and adjust to unpredictable moves, your odds of winning will increase. In business, data research and content is what you need to better predict the future. Their is nothing new to this, but there is to the way companies adapt to new trends. The content you publish over time will help you get the data and knowledge you need to move ahead in the future.

How to be ahead with content marketing

I wrote my thesis about content marketing in 2014. Since then I have thought of a model, to better understand companies target group and how to predict their needs. Content marketing creates loyalty, trust and goodwill for your target group. Many believe that content marketing will increase sales at the moment after it has been published - This is normally not the case! It is a long term investment which takes time. Over time you will learn your target group to know better than anyone. Thanks to data from all your digital channels, you will be your company’s customer prediction specialist. This will help you getting ahead of your competitors, and this is why:

In the digital age you have to know what to do, when you’re not sure what to do, and you have to decide quickly. This can only be done if you research the business environment and markets and have the best possible data.

Companies that believe that content is only and all about creating leads and conversions, is wrong! In my opinion content marketing is all about creating trust, loyalty and goodwill - Which will increase brand awareness and lead to conversions over a longer period of time.

Content marketing is like a football team

If you're not sure why content marketing is important, imagine a football team beating their opponents 3-0 in the first of two games. One of the
players scored all 3 goals. After the game the coach is amazed with the player. The coach then talks to the press and explains; “Our top goal scorer is amazing and scored all 3 goals. Goals is what you need to win". In the next game the coach decides to rest the other 10 players from the team. He thinks he only needs the player  who scores the goals (The conversions). The coach have decided to remove all the content. Now their is no one to create the goal scoring chances or assists needed to make the conversions for the coach. The game did not end well for the team. It's the same story about sales which needs the influencers etc.

Be four steps ahead

You need to be four steps ahead to predict the future and to predict your competitors next move. This will help you succeed against the unpredictable. A flexible and adjustable management and organisation will implement the new strategy at the right time. Being four steps ahead doesn’t necessarily mean to jumb over the three first steps... it’s about being a first-mover at the right time - Like in a game of chess. Content published 5 years ago was far more likely to go viral, since the overload of content today has made it more difficult to stand out.

Flexible areas necessary to change and adapt to stay ahead in the future:

• Managing roles to make quick decisions with more reponsibility.
• Adjustable budget control.
• Webshops is always in beta (Testing, optimizing - it will never be finished)

To predict the future and stay ahead of your industry and smart thinking customers, you need superb data collection and a flexible adjustable business. In my opinion, bigger companies will need to act more like startups. Employees needs to make quicker decisions with more responsibility based on constantly changing strategies. This is why internal communication is more important than ever before. The shifting demands and new trends is booming - Can your company adapt and predict the future?

Read about my Power Response Business Model for creating the best content marketing for you company.