APA (The Association of Publishing Agencies) has rebranded to become the Content Marketing Association (CMA) in order to better reflect the work of its members and highlight the importance of content in today’s marketing strategies.
The overarching aim of CMA is to promote the use of editorialised content as an effective marketing tool to client-side marketers and showcase the range of channels that can be used to editorially engage customers from digital – such as smart phone apps, tablet-enabled microsites and branded TV – to the more traditional customer magazines. To reinforce this CMA is launching the Content Marketing Consultancy, which will be a free advisory service for clients to support them through the pitch process from compiling a brief to providing effectiveness benchmarks.
CMA expects its membership to increase, particularly looking to attract digital and broadcast agencies, as content continues to dominate brand-side budgets. New OnePoll research commissioned to mark the rebrand shows that content now accounts for a fifth of marketing spend and 73 per cent of marketing directors expect their content budget to stay the same or increase over the next 12 months. Furthermore, it will be invaluable to have a one-stop shop for content as currently finding up-to-date research and case studies is not for the faint hearted.”
Adds Julia Hutchison, COO, CMA:
“This rebrand marks a turning point for content marketing. which today encompasses the full spectrum of marketing disciplines from pure play content marketing agencies through to digital agencies and direct marketing agencies. No trade association has successfully owned the content space and as the research shows, with large proportions of budget now being spent on content marketing, brands side marketers want a dedicated resource.
