"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"
Content marketing is growing all the time and now accounts for 12% of marketers budgets. That's according to a new survey from AdAge which also reveals over 50% of marketers plan to up their content marketing spending in the year ahead. The figures are nothing to be all that surprised about - Econsultancy & Outbrain report that 90% of marketers believe content marketing will become more important this year, which by some reckoning equates to 24,555,812 marketers. |
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.
"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.