Since 2014, PAN Communications has taken a keen interest in the development of content marketing. Every year we want to get to the bottom of trends, pain points and priorities for the modern marketer. And this year has brought forward a new set of challenges for those creative storytellers trying to engage with their audiences. Marketers remain worried about ways to measure the impact of the content, but their confidence is increasing on how to engage.
At the beginning of 2016, we surveyed approximately 100 marketing professionals with a six question test. With an eye toward “connected content”, we noticed new challenges that surfaced, as well as some interesting trends. We compiled these into our must-read, annual Content Fitness Report.
In this day and age, marketers are being tested when it comes to the pace of content to meet the consumer demands. As stated in a recent Insight with the Experts:
“Today’s marketer is a turbo-charged version of yesterday’s. We need to be faster, more agile and more data-centric because the consumer is moving across screens, devouring content, and even moving between physical locations during their daily activities and purchase journey more nimbly than ever before.”
- Heather Sears, former Vice President of Marketing, National Markets, at YP
This year’s Content Fitness Report proved this statement was on point. Even Jake Sorofman, a research VP at Gartner, talks about how content is now considered to be marketing’s ‘Currency Of Trade’ and as such, brands must earn the attention of their audience. This is why digging further into your content strategy, aligning to your customer’s behaviors and leveraging industry trends has become of the highest importance.
Below is an overview of the five key takeaways from this year’s Content Fitness Report that offers insight into how content marketing strategies, trends and practices are shifting gears.
- In their shift towards personalizing content, modern marketers are significantly realizing the value of customer advocacy and WOM strategies on brand awareness and ROI.
- A strong focus on increasing content creation is causing marketers to lose confidence in their abilities to connect and personalize their programs to meet the needs of their customers.
- Measuring the effectiveness of content and aligning metrics to brand goals continues to be a huge struggle for today’s marketers, despite the advancements being made in marketing technology.
- While marketers are growing more confident that they can handle marketing in a digitally disrupted world, keeping up with the pace of content and multi-device, mobile challenges are still points of concern.
- Transformational marketers are interested in adapting more interactive approaches to targeting their audience (AI, IoT, VR, etc.). As a result, we can expect to see increased investment in technology influencing new marketing techniques and strategies to engage in an “always on” world.
We hope you enjoy the 2016 Content Fitness Report from PAN Communications, and that it provides your marketing teams with another valuable resource to integrate into their next content campaign(s). Keeping pace with today’s customers and building deeper brand loyalty may seem like an endless journey – but maybe some of the tips and trends shared by your marketing peers will help keep you on track to connect – anytime, anyplace and at YOUR pace.
Let’s continue the dialogue further @markcnardone.