You may already be using content marketing to promote your business whether you know it or not. Indeed, it is estimated that approximately 60% of online companies use some form of content marketing in their bid to increase profits. When you do it right, content marketing gives customers the kind of tailored information that they seek; it makes them feel as if you are talking directly to them rather than at them.
The whole point of content marketing is to build brand awareness and ensure customers are more in tune with your business. It is possible to be perceived as an industry leader as customers look to your content because it provides value. I’ve been through what content marketing consists of in a previous article so today; we’re going to look at what 2014 holds. This will be a bit different to this post which focused on engagement, mobile, the rise of physical businesses and the failure of automation to take hold.
Businesses Will Finally Understand What Content Marketing Means
While a majority of businesses use content marketing, I’m willing to bet that relatively few of them can actually define what it is. In most cases, you’ll get fairly vague answers as CEOs adopt their ‘politician stance’ which of course means that they talk a lot without saying anything. This will all change in 2014 as these businesses will be forced to explain their concept of content marketing in order to tie it in with their long-term business goals.
Increased Investment & Importance
I believe that content marketing will become so important that there will be an increase in the hiring of content managers who will be dedicated to spreading the news about the company on social media, blogs, articles, press releases, emails and much more. Businesses will finally realise that it is a specialist position and in order to be successful, they will need to apportion an appreciable level of manpower to content marketing. Creation and distribution will be of paramount importance and I hope this means that content mills and low quality writing will be obliterated from the face of the Earth though I doubt it!
The Rise of SAAS Software
It is not easy to analyse the impact of content marketing since it is a process that takes time; this means that determining its Return on Investment is a tricky task. This is where Software as a Service (SAAS) companies come in; you can use a company like Salesforce to help you accurately discover your content marketing ROI over the course of time. This is essential as business leaders will demand to see tangible evidence of the campaign’s success. The SAAS market will be worth an estimated $22 billion in 2015 and its ability to track and analyse content marketing campaigns will be a key to its rise to prominence.
Ultimately, 2014 needs to be the year when online businesses up the tempo and investment when it comes to their content marketing campaigns. The most successful organisations will appoint specialist content managers to breeze through any potential issues faced during the campaign. Better writers will be hired and companies will finally understand what they are trying to achieve.