Content is one of the top digital marketing channels for brands, according to a new survey by Clutch. The findings also indicated that the vast majority of respondents now believe that their strategies and campaigns are successful.
Over 500 digital marketers in the US participated in Clutch’s annual Digital Marketing Survey, and more than half said that content was a top priority for them. Social media and websites, both of which link well with content efforts, also featured heavily as brands believe that they resonate well with consumers.
Recent studies have largely focused on how marketers are still struggling to derive real value from their strategies, but Clutch’s report suggests that brands may be performing better than expected as 83% say that they are achieving their goals and driving sales and revenue.
A few respondents noted that this confidence is being driven by the central role that digital is now playing in people’s lives. While traditional marketing and ads were often the domain of large corporations with substantial budgets, digital channels are empowering brands to tap directly into their audiences at a much lower cost.
“That number is high because digital marketing is where customers are,” Online Optimism’s CEO Flynn Zaiger said. “Walking down the street, people aren’t looking at billboards or checking newspapers – they’re staring at their phones.”
Brands are struggling in one area though: SEO. The sentiment from the report is that marketers believe that optimising for search engines is a laborious undertaking, despite the fact that it is crucial to elevating the effectiveness of content and other digital endeavours.