Despite this clear rise in budgets for content writing and content creation, there are some still some very basic questions yet to be answered, says AdAge.

"More and more clients and brands are realising they need content to be part of the checklist, but they haven't figured out how or why," commented Kyle Monson, chief creative and founding partner at Knock Twice, a content strategy and PR agency.

Indeed just 8% of marketers told Ad Age they are "very satisfied" with their ability to understand the effectiveness of content marketing.

Slightly more encouragingly, 48% say they are "somewhat satisfied".

Content marketing adding to workloads

What the survey also highlights is that companies are simply adding content writing and content creation to existing workloads, either because they are not outsourcing content market to agencies effectively or they lack the resources to do it in-house.

The survey reveals 30% of marketers say they spend their content-creation budget on internal staffing, while the same proportion say content creation is handled by third-party partners or suppliers.

That leaves around 40% that's simply being picked by workers and business owners and added to their own responsibilities.

"We struggle with content creation and marketing, because people see this as something that they have to do over and above their current job responsibilities or," said one respondent

"It gets pushed to the side as people have to carve out time from their current work responsibilities. It's a problem with the perception of this concept."

What's the solution to content marketing time pressures?

Companies have a choice; they have can either take on new staff to handle content marketing duties; they can reallocate resources from an existing marketing channel to content creations; or they can employ a content marketing agency to produce what they need.

With budgets rising for content creation rising, it's more important than ever for companies to have the content strategy in place, whether that's in-house or outsourced, to make the most of their investments.

Because otherwise, they are simply throwing money at something without really understanding what it's for or why they are doing it.

When you look at the value of the ecommerce market in the UK, it becomes obvious that companies need to tune into the benefits of content writing services.

According to IMRG, the UK online retail market in 2013 is estimated to be worth £87 billion. Within that mobile commerce is growing at a rate of 300% a year (see previous article on importance of mobile content).

Gurd goes on to note that with social media in the picture as well, web content has multiple uses. "It's not just a one-channel entity," he says.

However, he cautioned businesses about pinning all their hopes on content marketing, explaining that "content is not by itself the saviour". 

"For content marketing to work, the inputs need to be good," he said. Indeed one thing we can see happening already is that with so many companies taking a stab at content marketing, there are a lot of poor efforts.

"Content has to serve a purpose and provide a value to the end-user. I personally think there is too much content being produced at the expense of a focus on quality," adds Gurd.

Instead of just "throwing up" blogs, articles and buying guides on to a website, there should be a "coherent" content marketing strategy.

Internet advertising attracted the biggest increase, with a positive net 5.6 per cent of marketing executives saying they had upped their online marketing spending over the final quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, 2013 could also be the year that online marketing loses its preface and becomes simply 'marketing'.

In its 'Trends for the B2C CMO to watch in 2013' report, global researchers Forrester claimed that digital channels are mounting assaults on even the most established traditional media.

It cites the example of YouTube's rise against the advertising bastion of television.

The report argues that ‘digital marketing’ will simply become known as 'marketing' as the various barriers are broken down and the sector becomes more mainstream.

Forrester expects the online sector to be worth around 20 per cent of the total marketing industry, valued globally at £31 billion.

What does it mean for businesses?

Companies will need to think about integrating channels and coming up with a content strategy that applies across various outlets, from websites and blogs, to social media, press and television.

Forrester CMO Corinne Munchbach, told Marketing Week: "Consumers switch from in-store to online, to mobile – sometimes all at once.

"Having separate budgets for each is counterintuitive to what customers are actually experiencing. Logical brands will be able to join this together in a functional way to deliver the experiences customers expect from them."

Find out more about how content writing services and content marketing consulting can help your business.