Agencies are in the best position to deliver memorable content for clients as they are more committed and sophisticated in their approach to marketing, a new study published by Content Marketing Institute (CMI) has found.
The annual Agency Content Marketing 2019: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report found that agencies are very much capable of practicing what they are preaching. CMI said that agencies are able to call on an extensive and varied skill set to deliver campaigns that are successful, both for their own company and their clients.
CMI noted that it was “exciting” to find that three quarters of agencies are now “extremely” or “very committed” to content output. Around half are also comfortably within the “mature” and top-level “sophisticated” phases of maturity in their approach, which gives them the authority to create, manage and support clients.
“Agencies are filled with skilled communication professionals who see the value of content marketing as part of an integrative approach,” CMI’s VP of Marketing Cathy McPhillips said. “They see the value and success it brings to their marketing mix as well as their clients.”
Agencies are seeing tangible returns from campaigns as 83% reported success at driving brand awareness during the last 12 months. The only way is up, as two-thirds of the near 2,000 employees polled said that their agency is now better at content marketing compared to 12 months ago.
Other useful findings include the fact that 94% say that their agency places a great emphasis on creativity and craft and 69% are using storytelling either “always” or “frequently”.