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"Content marketing is rising exponentially." The 13th Annual Content Marketing Survey that was conducted by Content Marketing Institute in July 2022 cemented this statement by the results of their survey of B2B marketeers, “More than 70% say that importance of content marketing to their organisation has substantially increased in the past year.”
Businesses which realise importance of content, are investing more in ‘content marketing’. A Hubspot survey which interviewed 1500 marketeers showed investing in content marketing has moved from 70% in 2020 to 82% in 2021, and is rising every year.
The reasons for this could be many, but the most obvious one is the change in mindset due to the pandemic. The lockdowns drove even the most stringent offline business and people to the virtual mode. Today most people and businesses are comfortable with online options, be it interviews, training, education or information.
And, this is where content marketing takes precedence!
But the crux here is to have a content marketing strategy in place. Most companies just put out content, on the blogs or on their webpages without a thorough research into SEOs, keywords and the like. However, creating a content strategy needs a level of expertise, a bird’s eye view of the market and a hold over creating content buckets and topics that resonate with the right audience.
To create credible content, just strategy is not enough. Another important factor to be considered here is subject-matter expertise. For example, a healthcare company that wants to promote its lifestyle and health related products cannot have a content creator who doesn’t understand the science behind the products.
Considering this, it was not really surprising to note that early 50% of marketing survey respondents said that their company would be hiring or contracting professional content producers with teams in place to create targeted content pieces that work to increase online visibility and generate business. Content marketing budgets are also set to increase in 2023, which will make provisions to hire agencies or resources who create content.
Once the right content is created, its success needs to be measured. Improved sales, web traffic, social engagement, lead generation, onsite engagement, SEO success and on ground conversions are a few ways to measure the benefits of a well-executed content marketing strategy.
