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 engagingcontent

44% Quality is always better than quantity when it comes to content; take the time to find out what types of content are the most effective at engaging your target audiences.

Lack of budget38% It’s a myth that you NEED a budget just for content. Content is part of

the marketing plan and costs for producing content should be factored in to the overall marketing budget.

Producing a varietyof content

33% It’s another myth that you need a variety of content. Not all types of content will be relevant to your audiences, use what works and test other content types when you have the time and money.

Lack of content46% Marketers currently need to produce more content 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 tocontent marketing

Brandawareness

Customer engagement

Customer acquisition

Customer retention/loyalty

Lead generation

Websitetraffic

CLEAR OBJECTIVES & BUDGET1 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 2014marketing 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%

OutsourceIf you don’t have someone to support this role, content creation & distribution can be outsourced.

DEFINED RESPONSIBILITIESDefines 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%

ExperimentDepending on your target market, some tactics work better than others. The key is to experiment and see which tactics foster the best engagementand 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 TechnologyThere are many tools marketers can use to measure performance. Most companies use Google Analytics, which now has the functionality to set content goals and measure the impact of content on conversions.

If you’re feeling challenged by any of the above, your company could benefit from producing a content strategy. Content marketing is a battle of wits. Having a clear strategy helps underpin all of your activities, focusing on objectives, budget, resources and execution.

7 in 10 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 do marketers lack the time required 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 responsible for overseeing content marketing. Not only that, 45% are expecting their content marketing budget to increase in 2014.

A content strategyimproves 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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