The UK is a world leader in content marketing, with the method attracting increasing chunks of marketing budgets, according to a new landmark report.
Over the next 12 months, marketers based in the UK are planning to increase their content marketing budgets more than their peers in countries such as the US and Australia, the study suggests.
The report – entitled Content Marketing in the UK: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – was produced by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA).
It reveals that UK marketers are not only devoting an ever greater slice of their budgets to content marketing, but that they are also deploying a wider range of content marketing tactics than their international counterparts.
Marketers in the UK also express the belief that they are more effective at content marketing than those operating in other countries.
The report reveals that the vast majority (94%) of all UK marketers are using content marketing.
There is an even higher proportion of UK B2C marketers (97%) using it, while it is also proving hugely popular, if not quite so widespread, among B2B marketers (95%).
This is a reverse of the trends seen in North America and Australia, where content marketing is more likely to be used by B2B marketers than their B2C peers.
Almost two out of every three (64%) UK marketers are increasing their content marketing budgets, the study shows, whereas 54% of marketers in North America and 61% in Australia say the same.
There is a notable gap between B2C and B2B marketers in the UK in terms of plans to expand their content marketing budgets, with significantly more B2B marketers (72%) than B2C marketers (45%) expressing that intention.
As previously noted, the report indicates that UK marketers are relatively confident about their content marketing abilities.
While 39% of UK marketers rank themselves as “effective” or “very effective” at content marketing, 37% of North American and 29% of Australian marketers put themselves in the same bracket.
The report also reveals some interesting insights into the use of social media by content marketers.
Overall Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular social platforms, although there are slightly varying international preferences.
Internationally, marketers overall tend to use an average of four social media platforms – UK content marketers included – although North American B2B marketers are the exception to that rule as they favour five platforms.
LinkedIn is shown to be the most popular option for UK B2B marketers, while Facebook is the most commonly used platform among their B2C counterparts.
Quantity and quality are of course always at the forefront of minds when it comes to marketing output, and those buzzwords are, it turns out, pertinent to both UK marketers and their international peers.
Delivering enough content and producing sufficiently engaging content are the two most notable challenges faced by marketers.
The study shows that 21% of UK marketers say producing enough content is their biggest challenge, although it is more of a concern for B2B marketers than their B2C peers.
Adam Rock, Managing Director of specialist content marketing agency TAN Media says – “The findings of CMI’s survey reflect many of the challenges we are being asked to address for our clients. It is great to see that UK marketers are leading the way in content marketing adoption and innovation”.
As the first major investigation into content marketing trends in the UK, the eagerly awaited report provides plenty of food for thought about where marketers are at now and where they might be looking to find more success in the future. The full report can be seen here.