Communication professionals are seeing a high return on investment from implementing a content marketing strategy, according new research published by Waggener Edstrom.
The Content marketing: Puncturing the hype and getting practical found that of the 82 per cent of organisations with a content marketing strategy, over 90 per cent see it having a significant business impact through increasing web traffic and sales leads.
The report surveyed 150 marketing and communication professionals, including 80 per cent working within the B2B industry, with decision-making responsibilities across EMEA.
Some 85 per cent of those surveyed said they are currently using their content marketing strategy to promote awareness of their brand, closely followed by increasing engagement with customers (79 per cent) and generating sales leads (77 per cent).
However, while 70 per cent of marketers understand content marketing helps drive sales leads more effectively, 18 per cent still have no plans to implement a strategy and over one third (38 per cent) still question whether it can deliver measurable ROI.
Meanwhile, lack of staff resources was identified as the number one challenge in implementing an effective content marketing strategy (63 per cent), closely followed by lack of budget (48 per cent) and lack of content creation expertise (41 per cent).
Seventy-nine per cent of those surveyed believe a strong content marketing strategy will help them use social media more effectively, followed by video and animation (70 per cent) and news articles (62 per cent)
The report also reveals that businesses are setting metrics to track success and prove the value of good content. Over three quarters (83 percent) measure the effectiveness of content through web traffic, while 67 percent measure through media coverage and just over half (56 percent) through click analysis.
Chris Talago, executive vice president and general manager EMEA at Waggener Edstrom, said: “Content marketing offers a way to engage your audiences and proves your business’ worth as a trusted source of information. It has had a transformative effect on the way brands reach and retain their customers, but with so many voices, getting to grips with content marketing best practice is not easy. Our research suggests that businesses are starting to understand the potential ROI content marketing can generate, but before this impact is fully realised, factors including budget and staffing need to be addressed.”
