A new survey carried out by the Content Marketing Association has revealed that over half of senior marketing managers plan to increase their content marketing budget during 2014.
The survey was carried out in the last quarter of 2013, and questioned 130 marketing professionals, two thirds of which were at senior or director level, in different sectors such as finance, automotive and retail. The results were interesting, with 51% planning to spend more on content marketing this year, and see it as a vital part of their ongoing marketing strategy.
19% of those surveyed spent their budgets on content marketing, in comparison to 15% for events, 14% for TV, 11% for online marketing and just 10% for print.
Managing Director at the CMA, Clare Hill, said: “Content marketing is the single most important channel across the whole marketing mix.”
The marketing practitioners who took part in the survey said that they found content marketing to be very effective for long-term customer engagement, but believed more focus had to be put on customer acquisition.
Although they believed content marketing was an invaluable tool, they also added that there seemed to be three major challenges facing the industry: proving its effectiveness internally, securing enough budget for it, and creating quality content.
Clare Hill, CMA’s MD, agrees: “With any successful content, quality is everything.”
This is the reason so many companies now enlist the help of specialist content providers who have backgrounds in journalism. They can provide crisp, clear content that excites and engages the customer, and are a vital tool for any campaign.
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