A report from Outbrain and Econsultancy suggests that content marketing has become a more appealing and profitable part of a web strategy. Ninety percent of respondents said that their use of content will become more important to their businesses in the next 12 months. However, marketers have not made the necessary considerations to ensure their sites regularly receive relevant content.
Only thirty-four percent of respondents said their companies have directed funds specifically to managing a content marketing strategy. Similarly, just 46 percent said they have specific content writers assigned to create articles, blog posts or other kinds of content for their sites.
The way organizations launch their strategies seems to be out of line with their views on the value content provides. According to the study, less than half of companies dedicate 20 percent of their budgets to the development of content. This is surprisingly low considering that only 12 percent said content marketing doesn’t improve sales compared to web advertising.
Problems areas for content marketers include resourcing issues (42 percent), funding (35 percent) and “company politics” (30 percent).
“A variety of trends have coalesced in recent years to underscore the importance of content marketing,” Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy, said in a release. “People are spending more and more time online searching for information, and Google has made significant changes to its algorithms to emphasize quality content in its search results.”
Other organizations failing to use content effectively said they struggle to train employees adequately and aren’t prepared to develop articles well.
The value of content marketing for sales and lead generation is apparent. The study also found that developing original site content makes other web channels more impactful, with 83 percent saying social media marketing is improved by content. Brafton recently highlighted data from AYTM Market Research that found strong content drives email marketing ROI as well.
