Recent studies show content marketing is most successful for brands that focus on the right tactics. According to survey respondents, the following 10 tactics will be most helpful to brands in 2021:

1. Improving content quality: 55%
2. Search engine optimization (SEO): 46%
3. Creating more video and visual content: 41%
4. Updating and repurposing existing content: 38%
5. Optimizing the business’ website: 35%
6. Analyzing competitors’ content: 28%
7. Researching our audience and optimizing the customer journey: 26%
8. Publishing more “how-to” and educational content: 25%
9. Adapting to COVID-related changes (e.g., agility): 24%
10. Diversification and publishing new content types: 24%

Content marketing and search engine optimization are closely related. Search engines find your brand through every new piece of content you publish. Thus, the more content that you can publish that is high-quality, diverse, and useful. Then the more consistent your brand promises will be. You will also get more organic traffic from search engines if you meet your audience’s needs.

Most helpful in ranking content organically in 2021:

1. Improving the quality of our content and making it more authentic: 61%
2. Creating more content and posting. 45%
3. Paying more attention to keyword research: 43%
4. Further creating more content with unique research and insights: 32%
5. Improving technical SEO on our website: 28%

For cannabis brands in 2022, the lesson is to create a lot of high-quality content. Further, publish it on your website, and make sure your content is better than your competitors. In addition use keywords naturally, and optimize your website for search.

Structure Your Text Content Strategically

Make text-based content that resonates with your brand’s audience. Inspires people to take action, and further drives traffic to your website. You should include the following elements in your digital content:

• Headings: Use advanced heading structure in text content. (e.g., headline/title uses the H1 tag, subhead uses the H2 tag, sub-subhead uses the H3 tag, and so on.) To further improve organic search traffic to your website
• Lists: In addition to headings, Include one or two lists per 500 words for text content to increase traffic.
• Guides and How To: Always create guides and how-to articles. Also, use the word “guide” or “how-to” in your content title and headings.
• Images: Include images in every piece of content you publish (when possible) to boost organic traffic.
• Videos: Further include videos in your content to increase traffic.
• Length: Always publish content that is more than 500 words. Be sure to publish some content that is also more than 3,000 words.
• Coverage: Ensure your content also fully covers the target topic.

In 2022, cannabis brands should create content with strategic structuring. Design elements, length, and purpose to further generate the most search traffic to your website.

Define Your Content Creation, Distribution, and Promotion Plans

Defining your 2022 content marketing plans requires you to first decide what types of content you’ll create. Further how you’ll distribute it so people know it exists, and how you’ll promote it to get even more views. Companies got the best results from the following 10 types of content in 2021:

1. Video
2. Blog posts
3. Success stories
4. Case studies
5. Webinars
6. Infographics
7. Product guides and manuals
8. Data visualizations
9. Ebooks
10. White papers

In terms of distributing content and promoting it, companies used these 10 channels the most:

1. Social media (organic)
2. Email marketing
3. Social media (paid)
4. Organic search
5. Sponsorships (events, webinars, podcasts)
6. PPC / paid to advertise
7. PR / media outreach
8. Influencer marketing
9. Guest posts
10. Native advertising / sponsored content

In 2022, cannabis brands need to focus on creating different types of content. Creating content for prospects at different stages of the buyer journey and marketing funnel. When you publish content, your work isn’t over. You need to promote it further to ensure people see it. In the cannabis industry, organic social media and email marketing have proven effective. In addition to sponsorships, media outreach, and influencer marketing are some of the best options to test in 2022.