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.

According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) report, 86% of companies are investing in content, regardless of size or industry.

The data comes from B2C Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—North America, which is the first annual survey from the CMI about content marketing in the B2C space. 

B2C organizations use an average of 12 tactics, the study shows. Most popular among these are social media excluding blogs (84%), articles on a company's website (84%), eNewsletters (78%), and blogs (77%). 

The results are not too dissimilar to those of B2B marketers. In a previous report from the CMI, 87% of B2B marketers are using social media to distribute content, as compared to the rate of 74% that was reported last year.

However, in the B2C sphere, marketers are using mobile content, mobile apps, print magazines, and print newsletters a lot more.

"It's exciting to be able to benchmark B2C and B2B content marketing efforts and quantify differences by marketing type," says Joe Pulizzi, founder of the CMI.

"One interesting difference is how each group uses social media. For B2C marketers, Facebook is the most popular platform by far, with 90% of respondents indicating they use this for content distribution. This differs from B2B, in which LinkedIn is the most popular platform, with 83% of respondents using this (compared to 51% of B2C marketers)."

B2B marketers are spending a third of their marketing budgets on content marketing, up from a quarter in 2011. Similarly, B2C marketers are investing heavily in content marketing this year, allocating 28% of their marketing budgets on content marketing. Additionally, 55% of B2C marketers are planning to increase their content marketing spend over the next 12 months.

"Another similarity between B2C and B2C marketers is that both groups lack confidence that they are executing content marketing effectively," says Ann Handley, chief content officer of MarketingProfs. "But B2C marketers cite lack of budget as their biggest challenge (23%), whereas B2B marketers are most challenged with producing enough content (29%)."

The online paid content market is set to expand by a huge 65% to be worth £8 billion by 2017, new research shows.

Tablets and smartphones will spur the growth , with consumer spending on digital news set to increase by 77% to almost £250 million, the study from Forrester reveals.

News content spend will grow by 77% from €158m this year to €279m in 2017, according to the data seen by the Guardian.

"While consumer research for years reported that consumers claimed they wouldn't pay for content, the forecast revenues indicate otherwise," Forrester analyst Darika Ahrens told the newspaper.

The study also found the number of people choosing to buy news content online will jump 68% from 4.8 million to 8.1 million. By 2017, 20% of tablet users will pay for online content.

What does this all mean for marketers and business owners? Ahrens explains on the Forrester blog:"You will have fewer chances to reach consumers with traditional advertising."

She explains: "The very services driving growth in digital content consumption are limiting pure advertising opportunity for brands, by adopting payment models that don't require brand advertising for revenue and even driving consumer appetite for more ad-free content."

It also means brands must develop content capabilities to avoid losing ground, explains Ahrens. "It's not all doom and gloom. The growth in Western Europeans buying content shows us that audiences want, and value, content. Marketers can ensure their brand gains presence by developing content capabilities," she adds.