A new report has revealed the shift in content marketing strategies for business in North America, with the results revealing useful insights for marketers around the globe. The 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends (North America) report reveals some interesting shifts in content marketing. Most notably, more marketers are realising the value of quality content for successful promotion.
One of the key findings of the report was that marketing departments that have a clear content marketing strategy to implement see much more regular and positive returns than those who have an ad-hoc approach. While only 32% of respondents actually had a regular strategy for content marketing, 60% of these said their strategy was highly effective. This was almost twice as many as those who did not have a clear content marketing strategy.
The report also revealed that 84% of businesses use content marketing primarily to build brand awareness, understanding the new sales approach of sharing content to establish a reputation instead of relying on more traditional broadcast sales channels.
More content than ever is being created, with 70% of survey respondents creating more content than in the previous year. However, this reflects the difficulty that companies face in attracting and retaining skilled content marketing staff, due to the specialist skills required to create engaging content that stands out in the increasingly saturated market.
Social media was top of the list as the information channel for content marketing, with an unprecedented 92% of respondents including it in their strategies. E-newsletters and blogs were next, with usage at 83% and 81% respectively. Interestingly, content marketers weren’t so sure of the budget spend for their content distribution strategy – 23% had no idea how much it had cost. Only one in four respondents spent 1-9% of their budget on content, with a further one in five companies spending between 10-24% of their marketing budget.
This is great news for companies thinking about investing in content marketing for their business – the market is thriving but there is still room for your voice to be heard. To learn more about how content marketing and social sharing can boost your business, get in touch with Crowdbait today.