www.jbh.co.uk/blog Content marketing has been experiencing a boom in the last couple of years and it’s set to continue. As a marketing agency specialising in content we are experiencing this boom first hand and that’s why we found the 2014 UK research from the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) so interesting… As many of us would have expected their findings revealed that content budgets were due to rise in 2014. But while investment is increasing, many marketers still don’t have a clear content strategy. This contributes to many marketers experiencing the same content challenges. We’ve outlined the main challenges and offered guidance. (There's a Slideshare of the top half of this kicking around on my profile too). Give it a share if it helped :)

1. Marketers are spending more on content marketing than ever before,
but without a clear strategy how can you calculate return on investment?
The top content challenges faced by UK marketers and how these could be overcome
While 88% of marketers in the UK are now implementing elements of content marketing, only 42% actually have
a documented content strategy.When competing for pageviews,click-throughs,likes and shares,companies must
race against the clock or risk being left behind in the content marketing game.Research from the Content Marketing
Institute shows that content marketing is more effective if marketers follow a content strategy.It’s the only way to win.
What must you have in order to come out ahead of
46% of companies engaging in content marketing?
Teatime Teaser
Sources: Content Marketing Institute
@jbh_marketing
jbh.co.uk
Lack of time
67%
We’re all busy; it helps to have someone on the marketing team
responsible for sourcing, curating and distributing content to a
pre-set schedule and budget.
Producing engaging
content
44% Qualityisalwaysbetterthanquantitywhenitcomestocontent;takethe
timetofindoutwhattypesof contentarethemosteffectiveat
engagingyourtargetaudiences.
Lack of budget
38%
It’samyththatyouNEEDabudgetjustforcontent.Contentispartof
themarketingplanandcostsforproducingcontentshouldbefactored
intotheoverallmarketingbudget.
Producing a variety
of content
33% It’sanothermyththatyouneedavarietyof content.Notalltypesof
contentwillberelevanttoyouraudiences,usewhatworksandtest
othercontenttypeswhenyouhavethetimeandmoney.
Lack of content
46%
Marketerscurrentlyneedtoproducemorecontent than ever before.
53% marketers use in-house created content, while 1% use
out-sourced content and 46% use a combination of both.
Budget allocated to
content marketing
Brand
awareness
Customer
engagement
Customer
acquisition
Customer
retention/loyalty
Lead
generation
Website
traffic
CLEAR OBJECTIVES & BUDGET
1 A strategy will clarify content marketing objectives and helps set a budget accordingly.
Key content marketing goals for UK marketers
31%
Predict a rise in 2014
marketing budgets
45%
85% 74% 73% 66% 63% 61%
Design Writing Content Distribution
Most outsourced functions
of marketers rely on in-house
and outsourced content
46%
59% 57% 30%
Outsource
If you don’t have someone to support
this role, content creation & distribution
can be outsourced.
DEFINED RESPONSIBILITIES
Defines who will be responsible for sourcing, curating and distributing content.2
CONTENT & CHANNEL COHERENCE
Ensures integration between content, channel & audience.3
Distribute thoughtfully
When choosing where to distribute content you need to ensure that it will
reach the target audience through the most relevant,engaging channel to
them.For example -Twitter might be the most used platform for distributing
content but is it the best platform for engaging your target audience?
UK marketers use an average of 6 social networks each to distribute content:
Twitter Facebook YouTube LinkedIn Google+ Slideshare
85% 81% 73% 61% 55% 40%
Experiment
Depending on your target market, some tactics work better than others.
The key is to experiment and see which tactics foster the best engagement
and the most conversions – but always keep content relevant and timely.
Most effective content tactics as voted by UK marketers:
In-person events Case studies Articles on your
website
Social media content
– excluding blogs
eNewsletters
74% 70% 68% 67% 66%
Videos Webinars/webcasts White papers Mobile content Blogs
66% 65% 65% 64% 63%
IMPROVED ANALYSIS
Assesses the effectiveness of content types for various target audiences.4
5 metrics to measure content marketing effectiveness:
Website traffic SEO Ranking Social media sharing Time spent on
website
Direct sales
66% 52% 52% 50% 46%
MEASURED PERFORMANCE
Defines KPIs to measure content performance for ROI.5
Leverage Technology
Therearemanytoolsmarketerscanusetomeasureperformance.
MostcompaniesuseGoogleAnalytics,whichnowhasthefunctionality
tosetcontentgoalsandmeasuretheimpactof contentonconversions.
If you’re feeling challenged by any of the above,your company could benefit from
producing a content strategy.
Contentmarketingisabattleof wits.Havingaclear strategyhelpsunderpinallof youractivities,focusing
onobjectives,budget,resources and execution.
7in10 UK marketers have someone who oversees the content marketing strategy
THREE KEY FINDINGS
Marketers don’t have
enough time
CMI findings reveal that content
marketing is creating some major
challenges for marketers.Not only
domarketerslackthetimerequired
to source, produce and distribute
content, they are also concerned
they are not producing enough.
Content budgets
expected to increase
It’s not all doom and gloom for
marketers. 71% have someone
responsibleforoverseeing content
marketing. Not only that, 45% are
expecting their content marketing
budget to increase in 2014.
A content strategy
improves effectiveness
What’s clear is the need for a
content marketing strategy.
Content marketing is a numbers
game.The more you can repurpose
quality content and share on
tested platforms, the more
engaged your audience becomes.
THE 5 BENEFITS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY
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