As we´re already well into the final quarter of the year, marketers are looking at trends and developments for 2014. I recently came across The Content Marketing Institute´s new report, outlining key tendencies for content marketing next year. These results can potentially help marketers build more efficient strategies over the coming months, so I thought I would share them with you.
According to the report, 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing, compared to 91% last year. What is more significant, though, is the fact that more marketers are now confident about their strategies, with 42% of those polled saying that their content marketing plans are effective. In comparison, last year just over one-third of those polled were of this confident opinion. The Content Marketing Institute predicts that confidence and optimism in the field of content marketing will continue to grow in 2014, allowing B2B marketers to create better content.
The report also looked into the nature of content marketing strategies developed and found that 44% of marketers had a documented strategy, with some 49% stating that they lacked a documented strategy. Interestingly, marketers that did have a documented strategy were six times more likely to assess their content marketing activities as effective, Business 2 Community website reported.
The Content Marketing Institute also found that content marketing strategies in small companies were typically overseen by somebody, while bigger businesses tended to deal with content themselves. Those that assessed their strategies as most effective were found to be using an average of 15 different tactics, while those that thought their strategies were the least effective used just 10. This comes to prove the importance of diversity in content delivery, the report noted.
What does all this boil down to? That a solid content strategy for businesses of all shapes and sizes is a must. However, this content must be frequently updated, and it must be engaging and well-written. Many companies we speak to know the importance of content for their business, both in terms of search engine ranking and customer engagement levels, yet they simply don´t have time or expertise to sit down and write it themselves. That´s where we come in. M2 Bespoke are content generation specialists and work with a variety of clients from all different industries. We are good listeners; we sit down and go over a detailed brief with you in the initial stages to get to know you and your business. Then you can hand the content reins over to us. Imagine having peace of mind, knowing all your content was being taken care of in one place. Please give one of our friendly team a call today to find out more about our services.
By Ben Hollom