A study found 18 percent of companies have content marketing strategies for each channel. Here's why they're winning:

Most companies recognize that content marketing is important to web success. They know web success is critical because their customers are online, looking for information about potential business partners. The Content Marketing Institute reported that 86 percent of B2Bs and 77 percent of B2Cs create content to fuel their sales funnel, and a study by IMN found 18 percent have a strategy for each channel.

That 18 percent represents the minority of businesses that are sophisticated enough to understand search, social and email and need their own strategies to be successful. They’re probably also the companies driving the best results and accurately measuring them.

Even though the vast majority of organizations have embraced content marketing as a valuable way to generate leads and drive sales, they don’t always dedicate the time and resources necessary to do it right.

Having a strategy for each channel means:

  • Developing a content calendar for assets going live on your site
  • Planning in advance to create resources specifically for email sends
  • Promoting re-packaged content on social in a way that sparks engagement
  • Determining goals for each channel
  • Having tools to measure results against those goals

When you look at that list, it’s easy to see why only one-fifth of companies say they’re at this level of detail. In fact, 45 percent say their content marketing programs are conducted on an ad-hoc basis, meaning assets are being created and published on-demand – or inconsistently.

To keep up with cross-channel demands, companies outsource

It also explains why many companies outsource content creation. Brafton recently reported that 38 percent of financial services companies hire third-party content providers to avoid challenges with sourcing and compliance.  

We’ve consistently seen that documented, cross-channel strategies are the best ways to drive results online. In fact, this is one of the characteristics that determines whether marketers are considered modern or not.

Content marketing helps your brand be in the right place at the right time to reach prospects and customers as they’re looking for information online. However, you can’t create isolated resources, publish them sporadically and measure the results infrequently if you want to be effective. You need to build a fluid strategy that flows seamlessly across channels to drive results.

Check out these related resources to learn more about the value of documented content marketing strategies:

Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.