One-third of marketers are struggling to establish a content strategy that provides them with the ability and capacity to deliver a regular stream of high-quality and relevant articles, videos and other resources to localised markets.
These are the findings of the new Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery report conducted and published by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council. The general takeaway is that brands are finding it difficult to cut through the noise and provide tailored content to specific cultural, geographic and customer audiences due to the growing complexity of physical and digital channels.
Going global with localised content is vital for engaging with audiences in new markets, but just 32 per cent of the 150 senior marketing execs surveyed said that they are either at an advanced stage or doing well with adapting their creative strategies to meet the needs of different geographies. However, a similar number claimed that they are currently improving their methods. A lack of investment in cross-cultural localisation and adaption appears to be one of the root causes.
There is also a general dissatisfaction with the creative delivery process, as only 20 per cent said that they are happy with how they are generating written pieces and visual clips and images. Speed of execution is posing a major challenge, as the majority of execs admitted that they are unable to deploy targeted content across appropriate touchpoints in the weeks after a campaign has launched.
“At a time when the customer has higher expectations than ever for the relevance and personalisation of content and brand interaction, marketing organisations will need to step up their game when it comes to brand content adaptation to address geographic, cultural, customer and other differences,” CMO Council Executive Director Donovan Neale-May said.
He added: “Past research has shown that adaptation of marketing strategy and content can be a major enabler of sales and brand success. Yet, most companies have a long way to go to get it right.”
Marketers identified five areas where they need to improve, and these include workflow management, ensuring quality in accordance with brand guidelines, shorter turnaround times, delivering creative on time and measuring the appeal and impact of content more effectively.
