Even with the advent of AI, Machine Learning, and everything shifting to digital, Content Marketing is one of the age-old marketing tactics that has survived the turbulence. In fact, even now it is held in high regard with 75% of marketers committed to increasing their investments in Content Marketing, and voting for it ahead of powerful upcoming areas like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Marketing Automation and Mobile Marketing.
“Content is yielding results in driving business and delivering leads. Strategy and technology coupled with measurability create the secret sauce of success,” stated Jessie Paul, CEO, Paul Writer.
“This year’s Red Book of Content Marketing shows that almost 70% of clients put customer acquisition as the No. 1 goal of any content marketing program.” Peter Yorke, CEO & Founder, Yorke Communications added.
Now that we’ve established that Content Marketing is still big in the game, what does the future of content marketing look like?
According to Vishwas Anand, Head of Content and Thought Leadership, Aspire Systems, we’re living in the Golden Age of Content Marketing. “In the next 12 months, I see brands creating more original content with greater Authenticity, Accuracy and Agility, that I prescribe as my 3 A Content Model,” he said. However with the amount of content being generated nowadays, it becomes important to understand the value of differentiated storytelling. This is especially important considering that Content Marketing rakes in six times higher conversion rates than other marketing methods.
According to the Red Book of Content Marketing, since 2017 the Content Marketing budget has gone up by 10% for more than half the survey respondents as 67% cite it as the primary reason for customer acquisition.
Ayushman Baruah, Head of Content Strategy & Marketing, Mindtree Ltd, believes that Content Marketing of the future will be less text and more multimedia. “To appeal to the Gen-Y consumers, Content is already taking on a more modular and bite-sized look. I think we’ll also see more of niche content that provides a more personalized customer experience as well.”
Jyoti Makhija, Content Marketing Head at Sify Technologies stated that her focus for the future is to experiment with content formats, integrate social media strategies with content strategies, set goals using metrics like Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per Lead (CPL), but also Cost per Pilot (CPP). “Content Marketing is neither restricted to the Marketing department of an organization anymore nor is it simply an outsourced activity entrusted to an agency,” said Jyoti.
While the report showed that over 60% of survey respondents have in-house Content Marketing teams, brands seem to prefer to outsource their content to experts as it brings in more tangible benefits like:
- The freeing up of resources for core tasks
- Access to cutting-edge tools
- And quick, on-demand scalability
Brands are making significant investments in content distribution, focusing on improving strategy, and promoting content on various social media channels.
