CMOs agree that content marketing is important to their business, and many expect to see a positive ROI from their content marketing efforts this year. Accordingly, this year they are shifting budget towards content marketing, a new study from Mass Relevance & The CMO Club found.
This group cited four major areas of challenge: developing fresh, relevant, on-brand content to use in these marketing efforts (35.7%), reaching consumers across digital touch-points (24.4%), finding a steady stream of relevant content (17.8%) and understanding how to use social media for content marketing (17.4%). Despite the lack of understanding the use of social, CMOs (87%) agree that social media is the most engaging digital medium for content marketing, even more effective than email or video for marketing to consumers in real-time. This group labeled social media “extremely important” for engaging customers twice as much as sponsored articles, infographics and newsletters. Another concern is finding the resources to help CMOs leverage social media to market to consumers in real-time, and being able to measure the ROI from doing so.
“CMOs want to create fresh, relevant, appropriate content to engage consumers,” the report says. “They are committed to investing in and exploring content marketing this year, and measuring the impact from doing so.”
The study found that 95% of CMOs said that content marketing is important to their business in 2014 with the same percentage indicating that finding new, timely and engaging content is one of the biggest challenges they face this year. “Marketers who can harness in-the-moment trends are able to boost the engagement and shareability of their campaign,” the study says.
Some 66% expect to see a positive ROI from content marketing; a number much higher for B2C companies (71%), than B2B (58%). and 60%+ plan to shift budget in that direction.
Keeping these CMOs counting sheep at night is finding the ROI of their efforts. Many CMOs expressed concern with building a strong content marketing program, needing resources to keep up with the latest technology, and finding “a steady stream of relevant, timely content tailored to each stage of our sales funnel.”
Key Takeaways:
- Increase ROI be enabling long-term social engagement
- Learn how to extend your campaign by maintaining contact with your customers throughout the cycle of the campaign
- Harness conversations in real-time
- Ride the trends, topics, stories that matter most to your audience at that moment
- Amplify your brand by helping customers talk about what they love
- Channel fans’ energy by giving them more ways to create social stories about your company
- The study queried 200+ CMOs at major U.S. brands.
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