The past 12 months has seen content marketing become a big hitter in the marketing discipline stakes and there are plenty of lessons marketers need to learn for the year ahead to make the most of the growing medium.
2012 has been a great year for content marketing, one that has seen it established as a key discipline as brands look to create a genuine rapport with their target audience.
And there are big names leading the charge; the likes of Coca-Cola and Red Bull both embed content strategy as an integral part of their overall marketing strategy.
Julia Hutchison is head of Content Marketing at Group FMG and former Chief Operating Officer for the Content Marketing Association
Of course, with this new-found celebrity status comes a greater spotlight, and there are three key recurring themes that marketers and brand owners need to get to grips with, if they are to really push forward with their content marketing strategies for 2013:
1. content marketing is no longer a fad, so brands need to get their strategies in place.
2. Marketers need an in-depth understanding of the strong link between content and digital.
3. In terms of content, quality is most definitely king.
In many ways, content marketing has been around from the very beginning of the internet – and even before that, probably as far back as the printing of the first magazines and newspapers. People have always been engaged with content, it’s just now we have a name for it. Content marketing is getting a bigger slice of the marketing pie, and has seen a 13% increase in spending over the past two years, according to Custom Content Council’s report, “The Spending Study: A Look at How Corporate America Invests in Branded Content for 2012″.
On top of this, 79% of marketers are now reporting that their companies are moving into content marketing either at a moderate or aggressive pace, while 52% of companies are reporting that they have outsourced some portion of at least one type of content creation in 2012.
However, Econsultancy’s “Content Marketing Survey Report” highlights a worrying trend, that while 90% of marketers believe content marketing will become more important over the next 12 months, just 38% of companies have a content marketing strategy in place – or to put that another way 62% of companies are just doing content on an ad hoc basis.
Read more: http://wallblog.co.uk/2013/01/04/why-quality-content-marketing-will-be-king-in-2013/#ixzz2H9fCkC3K
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I fully agree unfortunately some companies are a tad slow on the uptake, but I am still seeing plenty of smaller businesses realising content marketing is King
While it’s true that ‘content is king’, all companies need to be aware that content shouldn’t just be produced for content’s sake. Blogs should add opinion or extra value to a subject; whitepapers should deliver new insights into markets; and brand journalism should inform rather than sell.
Chris
I could not agree more that Content Marketing is King and will continue to be so. It is of course critical in the digital arena where without unique, original content you will never achieve the SEO results you need. End users and influencers will continue to engage with quality content, it is therefore vital that this content is made available via as many channels as possible, digital and otherwise.
I do believe however that a company should not just focus on content. We are after all Human and we all respond to visual stimulus including strong logos. Cutting through ‘the hoise’ in todays’ world can be a challenge but a simple, recognisable brand will do that if promoted consistently. Business should therefore not forget to visually promote their brand outside of the internet. Traditional Signs, Flags and Banners still have their place.
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