The state of CONTENT MARKETING. HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE: a blueprint for marketers

The state of CONTENT MARKETING HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE: a blueprint for marketers

Contents Foreword................................ 2 Introduction............................... 4 Definition................................. 5 Key challenges............................. 6 Vision.................................. 8 Strategy................................. 9 Planning and ownership........................ 12 Personalisation............................. 14 Measurement.............................. 16 Distribution............................... 18 Resource and execution........................ 20 Budget and investment......................... 23 Conclusion............................... 25 ADMA / EDGE 1

Foreword Content marketing is on a path of significant growth in terms of the level of investment made in content-led marketing strategies, and in the extent to which organisations have embraced the engagement model in place of sales communications. Content marketing is here to stay, and the organisations doing it effectively will reap the rewards. For that reason, starting this year, ADMA has committed to tracking the trends and growth of content marketing on an annual basis. To further this aim, we partnered with the US-based Content Marketing Institute to conduct a groundbreaking survey of Australian marketers to benchmark the state of content marketing in Australia. The resulting Content Marketing in Australia: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends has given us new insight into how marketers are using content marketing to engage with customers and prospects. From these beginnings, ADMA has worked with Australia s leading content marketing agency Edge to convene a roundtable of the country s most experienced content marketers, to pressure-test the survey results and enhance the research findings. This process has produced invaluable insights into how Australian organisations are approaching content marketing, increasing customer engagement, structuring for success, getting buy-in at C level, resourcing appropriately and measuring ROI. Content marketing is an ever-evolving discipline. The opportunity to increase effectiveness will grow as companies use relevant data and insights to develop better strategies for engaging and nurturing their customers. However, it comes with challenges too. This white paper is intended to highlight and address some of the key issues facing today s content marketers. We don t yet have all the answers, but hope that this document will provide a framework within which to tackle everyday challenges, and information that sparks new approaches. I hope that, like me, you will enjoy the insights contained within these pages and find value and inspiration in the guidance it provides. Jodie Sangster ADMA CEO ADMA / EDGE 2

The future of marketing is content marketing. A bold statement, but there s no denying that the content marketing revolution is changing the way marketers are thinking. The congruence of new data and CRM technology, changing consumer media consumption habits, social media and digital distribution means that the business case for content marketing has never been more compelling. Traditional, disruptive one-way advertising messages are being set aside in favour of working to develop a deeper two-way relationship with customers. The trend is clear: 61 per cent of Australian marketers intend to increase their spending on content marketing. There s a new set of opportunities out there, but with it come a new set of challenges: only 29 per cent of marketers feel that the content marketing they re creating is effective. Producing persuasive content requires new ways of thinking, from the initial strategy development and planning processes to the skills and creative resources required to drive efficient and effective executions. Creating the business case, setting the goals and implementing appropriate metrics requires a different, more publishing-oriented mindset. The battle for consumers attention is on and the ADMA/CMI research, combined with these roundtable insights, provides marketers with further food for thought. As Jodie says, we do not yet have all the answers, but we believe that this white paper is a good starting point for any organisation looking to improve the effectiveness of its content marketing activities. Fergus Stoddart EDGE Commercial Director ADMA / EDGE 3

Introduction PLANNED SPEND ON CONTENT MARKETING IN AUSTRALIA OVER NEXT 12 MONTHS What is content marketing and how can businesses use it to create profitable customer relationships? In early 2013, the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) and the US-based Content Marketing Institute (CMI) conducted a survey of 216 marketers to evaluate the state of content marketing in Australia. The findings, published in the Content Marketing in Australia: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report, provide fresh insight into how marketers are using content to engage with their target audiences. To validate these findings against in-the-field experience, the ADMA, in partnership with content marketing agency Edge, convened a roundtable of senior B2B and B2C marketers in March 2013 to discuss the survey results. A broad range of industries was represented, including telecommunications, banking and financial services, entertainment and technology. A key goal was to enrich the research findings with deeper insights from these marketers. This document shares the key outcomes from that discussion, bolstering the statistical research with experience-based insights and offering practical solutions to key challenges. ADMA / EDGE 4

Definition Over the past 18 months, the term content marketing has been employed more widely across the Australian marketing industry. As organisations focus more on content and data-driven methods of customer engagement, the value of developing a clear definition and a thorough understanding of content marketing has increased. Despite this new focus, there is little consensus to date on what content marketing means, or on the types of activities the term covers. The CMI uses the following definition: Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action. The roundtable participants were in broad agreement with this definition but offered these additional insights based on their own experiences with the discipline: Content marketing is about helping, not hyping, about showing rather than telling. In other words, it provides useful information, tips and help to consumers rather than traditional sales messages. Content marketing is about storytelling explaining or revealing the brand in a way that resonates with its target audience. Content marketing is about building relationships over long periods of time (as opposed to being campaign-centric). Content marketing is an invitation to engage, in contrast to the traditional disruptive advertising model. Content marketing operates predominantly through owned and earned media channels. ADMA / EDGE 5

Key challenges THE BIGGEST CONTENT-MARKETING CHALLENGES FOR AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES ADMA / EDGE 6

Sentiments While ADMA s research identified creation of engaging content and creation of enough content as the two top challenges faced by Australian content marketers (with 53 per cent of marketers struggling with the former and 51 per cent with the latter), the top challenges identified by the roundtable participants were: delivering to one vision and strategy; C-level buy-in and the creation of a business case for content marketing; structuring and resourcing for success; distribution challenges; and effective measurement. 29% Only per cent of Australian marketers believe their content marketing is effective. ADMA / EDGE 7

Vision Sentiments Although this was not identified as a key outcome of the research findings, participants strongly agreed that an organisation requires a clear vision before it embarks on developing a content strategy and content creation. Vision was defined as a focus or a story that provides a consistent theme in the content a business produces. The majority of participants agreed that without having a clear vision or story, content lacks focus and consistency, thereby presenting a confused message to the consumer or worse, creating brand noise rather than a clearly articulated message. Participants also agreed that this vision needs to be set at a senior, strategic level and must then permeate the business. In particular, it must be clearly understood and embraced by all departments that play a role in content development. This means not just the marketing department but also, for example, the communications and public relations functions. Although representatives from the larger-enterprise organisations believed that they had a clear vision and story against which to deliver content, three-quarters of the roundtable participants felt that their business had not clearly articulated its vision or that a vision did not currently exist for the business. Solutions As content marketing tends to be a longer-term play than other types of marketing, it is essential that such content is built around a clear vision or overarching story. In contrast to an organisation s overall vision which should, of course, guide all its activities a business specific content marketing vision should focus clearly on the value and relevance of the content to the target audience. This means that a content marketing vision should be simple and provide a clear focus for strategy, planning and content creation. The vision must be aligned with, and support, the brand DNA. Once a vision statement has been created, companies that have been developing content for a number of years should audit and, where necessary, adjust their current content approach to ensure alignment with the new vision. ADMA / EDGE 8

Strategy CONTENT MARKETING OBJECTIVES FOR AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES 80% of B2C marketers cite customer retention/loyalty as their top marketing goal. Statistics The ADMA/CMI research discovered that the top three objectives for content marketing among Australian marketers were brand awareness; customer engagement and customer retention; and loyalty. Australian B2B marketers cite brand awareness as their top content marketing goal (75%) while their B2C peers cite customer retention/loyalty (80%). Sentiments All roundtable participants agreed that the development of a clearly defined content marketing strategy is critical to ensuring that content marketing delivers against business objectives. However, there were significant differences in opinion with regard to: (a) where responsibility for development of a content strategy sat within a business; and (b) the extent to which a clear content strategy exists. ADMA / EDGE 9

The discrepancy in opinion as to who should assume responsibility for developing a business content strategy suggests two findings. First, the majority of businesses are still grappling with where content marketing fits within the traditional business structure. Second, there are a variety of workable approaches a business can adopt in relation to where content marketing sits within its specific business structure. Solutions Creating a successful content marketing strategy relies on developing deep insight into an organisation s customers and a clear perspective on its business and marketing objectives. Clearly, the outcome of successful content marketing is positive change in customer behaviour, whether that means changing their views, perceptions, actions or activities, ultimately resulting in increased sales; or greater acquisition of, retention of or revenue from customers. An effective content marketing strategy needs to outline how these shifts will be driven using content. Without understanding your customers, it s impossible to make meaningful connections with them. As such, a business content marketing strategy should incorporate a number of detailed audience profiles that include attitudes, habits and media consumption patterns, and expected behavioural changes that the content will drive in each target audience. A thorough understanding of the customer journey allows a business to identify how content can be tailored most effectively to influence a specific audience s behavior at each stage. This base work will provide the foundation for creating content themes that will underpin content development. But knowing what will engage a particular audience is just the first part of the puzzle. This understanding must be built on by the creation of a central brand story, around which the company has authority to publish. The story should be developed by considering brand archetypes and key brand metaphors. By matching audience needs with your company s brand story, you get the key story pillars that will support all future content development. Well-articulated engagement goals play an important strategic role in effective content marketing. Along with measures for desired behaviour change, such goals need to indicate suitable measures of ROI. ADMA / EDGE 10

The strategy must make clear that while content marketing can involve campaigns, it is fundamentally a long-term play, intended to elicit positive behavioural change in target audiences over time and that the best long-term results come from adopting a continuous, always on approach. This means that as well as specifying monthly and annual goals for content marketing, the strategy should justify the business case for it over a two- to three-year time frame. A content marketing strategy workshop is often the best way to establish a business content marketing strategy and objectives, but however it is done, it is critical to ensure that a broad range of stakeholders is present during the development of the strategy. This will help ensure it is customer-centric and that, as responsibility is disseminated, a clear understanding of the central principles and framework is maintained. Creating a successful content marketing strategy relies on developing deep insight into an organisation s customers. ADMA / EDGE 11

Planning and ownership CONTENT OWNERSHIP AT A GLANCE Statistics Just eight per cent of respondents said they were in content creation/management while 58 per cent worked in a marketing, advertising, communications or PR function. Sentiments Discussion among the participants revealed four approaches currently practiced with regard to ownership of an organisation s content marketing strategy: 1. It is owned by someone at a central point of responsibility. 2. It is developed on a department-by-department basis, according to business needs. 3. It is developed and executed by the organisation s marketing department. 4. Currently, the business has no single owner for a content marketing strategy and/or no strategy. ADMA / EDGE 12

Solutions As noted, an organisation s overall content marketing strategy needs to be set at a senior marketing level to ensure alignment with the overarching business and brand objectives. A clear framework must be created to control the communication agenda, ensure quality, drive efficiency and deliver economies of scale. Similar to having an editor-in-chief at a newspaper or magazine, companies need to appoint a senior executive to drive the content marketing strategy across the company. This central functionary needs to have the seniority to be able to effectively align company resources across digital/it, marketing, data, customer service and sales departments, so as to maximise the content marketing results. ADMA / EDGE 13

Personalisation HOW AUSTRALIAN ORGANISATIONS TAILOR CONTENT Statistics 97 per cent of Australian B2C marketers tailor their content in at least one way. 88 per cent of Australian B2B marketers tailor their content in at least one way. Only 25 per cent of Australian marketers personalise content to individuals. ADMA / EDGE 14

Sentiments The survey results showed the differing degrees to which Australian marketers personalise content to consumers. Participants confirmed that what constituted personalisation and the degree to which content is being personalised varies dramatically from business to business. Although three-quarters of roundtable participants segmented their databases so that communications were sent only to interested individuals, less than a quarter of the attendees said they specifically tailored content to particular audience segments. Highly personalised content, delivered dynamically, was considered the marketing nirvana ; however, none of the participants was currently delivering against that goal, nor did they consider themselves close to being able to deliver on it. The reasons given by participants related back to data, with recognition that the data held by most organisations was not sufficiently centralised to allow personnel to derive the insights needed to deliver highly personalised communications, or that the company lacked the internal expertise and/or resources to deliver such data insights. Participants also agreed unanimously that justifying the resources needed to deliver the volume of communications that would be required for hyper-personalisation would be difficult, especially given the impossibility, at this stage, of determining ROI. Solutions In this rampantly digital age, personalisation is expected. What s more, we know that the more relevant the content, the higher the engagement, and the greater the likelihood that such content will change customer behaviour. Once again, the right foundations need to be in place for a business to achieve this. Companies need clear customer profiles and data-driven insights in order to implement the content segmentation they require. Each customer segment will have clearly defined content needs and individual content pillars that need to be addressed and mapped across the customer journey at the strategy stage. Although the overall goal of content marketing is sustainable sales uplift through engagement, rather than short-term sales, personalising product and sales messages alongside editorialised content can provide that instant result. Data integration and flexible automation software ensures the correct, timely distribution of relevant content to the appropriate audiences and easy measurement of its effect. ADMA / EDGE 15

Measurement MEASUREMENT CRITERIA FOR CONTENT-MARKETING SUCCESS Statistics 62 per cent of the Australian marketers surveyed say they use website traffic as a measurement criterion for success. ADMA / EDGE 16

B2B and B2C content marketers, whether they are from Australia, North America or the UK, consistently rank website traffic as their top measurement criterion. Only 33 per cent use increased customer loyalty as a measurement metric. Sentiments Marketers reported having difficulty measuring ongoing content engagement programs. As a result, most participants reverted to using page views, content downloads or content engagement as measurement tools, partly explaining why the survey showed that 62 per cent of Australian marketers most often use website traffic to measure marketing success. Participants agreed that none of these approaches provide definitive ROI, and that it would be beneficial to establish more concrete measures, thereby creating an industry benchmark and providing a framework within which to report content marketing ROI to the C-suite and encourage content marketing investment. Solutions The key for any business wanting to make the most of its content is to build measurement into the overall strategy, recognising that content marketing needs a clearly defined measurement structure and system built into it if it is to demonstrate results. When devising a content marketing strategy, creating clear data-capture programs, lead nurturing systems and conversion tools should be considered from the outset. Of course, the simplest way to build these measures in an effective, responsive way is using a digital content marketing platform. Ongoing measurement of content engagement is available through standard web analytics, social listening and survey tools, but proof of effective ROI requires deeper data integration. Implementing CRM capabilities allows for this step change, and integrating customer data allows marketers to see the impact of content on customer behaviour, in the short and longer term. Using data and test-and-learn campaigns, marketers get to see the impact of different content on different customer segments at different points of the customer journey. This will help demonstrate effectiveness and provide proof points for further investment. ADMA / EDGE 17

Distribution DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS Statistics B2B and B2C content marketers in Australia and the UK, along with B2C marketers in North America, use an average of four social media platforms to distribute content, whereas B2B marketers in North America use five. Australian B2B marketers use LinkedIn (76%) the most, whereas their B2C peers use Facebook (85%) the most. Sentiments The content marketing research identified the creation of engaging content and the creation of enough content as the two top challenges faced by Australian content marketers, with 53 per cent ADMA / EDGE 18

of marketers struggling with the former and 51 per cent with the latter. Indeed, only 29 per cent of Australian marketers believe their content marketing is effective. Although roundtable participants agreed that both these issues presented business challenges, they noted that content distribution presented a challenge that matched or exceeded their concerns around content creation. They agreed that a singular focus on content creation can cause businesses to overlook the need to distribute content effectively. Although a small number of roundtable participants said their companies had defined strategies for both distributing and amplifying content, the majority said their organisations had no such strategies in place. As one participant put it, creating content without also considering distribution addresses only half the challenge: It s like throwing a party without sending out the invites. Solutions Once again, a clearly defined approach to both distribution and amplification of content is critical to any content marketing program s success, and should be specified in the strategy. It s also important to factor in the resources required to achieve this. To maximise ROI and promote consistency, any content created should be distributed across as many relevant channels as possible. An organisation s owned assets, including print (magazines, white papers, industry reports), digital (company website and microsites, social channels) and person-to-person (events or in-house communications) are all potentially valuable channels. Social media and PR channels are increasingly important for distributing content through earned media. The key is to understand how your organisation s audience plays and interacts through the various channels. Thus, arriving at a successful solution for your business comes from knowing where, when and how to distribute certain pieces of content. In other words: where does any given piece of content fit best into our target audience s everyday media-consumption habits? Beware, however, of saturating your audience with too much or poorly created, ineptly targeted content; including a content calendar within your overall strategy and specifying minimum/ maximum frequencies of contact will help prevent this. ADMA / EDGE 19

Resource and execution CHOOSING THE RIGHT AGENCY Statistics Overall, Australian marketers (57%) outsource content more often than their North American (45%) and UK (55%) peers do. Australian B2C marketers (74%) outsource content more often than their B2B peers (54%) do. ADMA / EDGE 20

CONTENT PUBLISHING AT A GLANCE Sentiments To insource or outsource that is the question. The research findings showed that the top challenge faced by Australian content marketers was being able to produce engaging content, with 53 per cent of those surveyed struggling with this, while 51 per cent reported being unable to produce enough. It comes as no surprise, then, to find that 57 per cent of Australian companies outsource content creation. This finding was backed up by the majority of roundtable participants, who considered outsourcing the better option. Reasons for this are twofold: first, agencies typically have the skills required to produce engaging content; and second, they are better able to ensure that content generated for a company reflects that company s brand and stays consistent to the company vision. The accountability that an outsourced relationship creates is also important. It appears that having an in-house content team, a growing trend overseas, is not yet prevalent in Australia. Representatives from the smaller companies said they generally had one or two internal resources responsible for developing ongoing content such as blogs and video. But typically, content-led campaigns were outsourced to agencies. Interestingly, a proportion of companies that had internal resources responsible for content still chose to outsource content creation, to maintain brand consistency with other content produced. This highlights the disconnect between production skills and marketing expertise. ADMA / EDGE 21

Solutions Content marketing is not a traditional marketing skill; it has more in common with journalism and communications than with marketing, as it is conventionally understood. Moreover, the mix of content required by today s companies is expanding to include a spectrum of different styles, from high-value, relatively timeless content to high-volume content programs. A smart content marketing strategy calls not just for a foundation of regular, planned content, but also the capacity to be highly responsive to your market, events and media trends. Accommodating these varied needs is usually best achieved via a mix of in-house and outsourced resources. Successful content strategy creation and execution are the domain of skilled editors, journalists, filmmakers and other creatives, and companies can either recruit in-house staff to fill some or all of these roles or, more likely, employ the services of an agency that will deliver as required. Outsourcing to professional journalists and creatives is a highly effective solution for high-value, planned content. Social media content and low-production execution will usually be more costeffective in-house. Once again, having a central owner of the company s content marketing, with clear visibility of the content calendar by channel over time, is essential if you re to effectively oversee resource allocation, rationalise the agency mix, and ensure accountability and consistency throughout the process. ADMA / EDGE 22

Budget and investment TOTAL MARKETING BUDGET SPEND ON CONTENT MARKETING IN AUSTRALIA Statistics Just as in North America and the UK, Australian B2B marketers allocate a higher percentage of their budgets to content marketing (25%) than their B2C counterparts (20%) do. Sentiments The ADMA/CMI survey results suggest that 25 per cent of Australian companies marketing budgets are being allocated to content marketing. Two issues arose when the roundtable participants considered this finding. First, the fact that defining content marketing and what falls within that remit becomes critically important when a company is trying to determine the percentage of marketing budget to invest in this area; and second, the importance of considering whether the company s investment in content marketing also covers investment in infrastructure and technology that underpins it. Interestingly, roundtable representatives from the large-enterprise organisations concurred that the survey results appeared largely accurate with regard to budget allocation, and noted that they invest approximately one-quarter of their marketing budgets in content creation alone. It s also ADMA / EDGE 23

noteworthy that these representatives were in the B2B space, focused on developing a thoughtleadership position in the market. Representatives of the B2C companies and smaller B2B-focused businesses also agreed that 25 per cent accurately reflected the percentage of their budgets that were typically spent on content, in this case taking into account the technology investments required, and all the elements of the content market process, from design through to creation, execution and distribution. Solutions Clearly, a company s decision to invest in content marketing and the amount that it should allocate to this investment are decided by a number of factors. Ultimately, these decisions should be driven by how well a content marketing strategy supports a company s overarching business objectives and the likelihood of return from that investment. What is apparent is that content marketing needs to be considered and integrated with abovethe-line awareness and acquisition campaigns. Data-capture methods and ongoing engagement strategies should be considered carefully to ensure they form part of these campaigns; a proportion of brand advertising budgets should be set aside to ensure these opportunities are captured. ADMA / EDGE 24

Conclusion Content marketing is a complex and evolving discipline. And as both the quantitative and qualitative findings of this research show, it is not a discipline with which Australian marketers yet feel entirely comfortable. Uncertainty abounds. In this white paper, we ve sought to break down the key statistics and sentiments to yield solutions to several of the core challenges faced by content marketers. From the bedrock of a clear corporate vision and strategy, through to ensuring excellence via smart distribution, resourcing and ownership, we trust that the steps and tips detailed here provide a blueprint from which every marketer can develop an approach that s right for his or her organisation. But if there s one thing that is certain, it s that the rewards are there for those who embrace the challenge. ADMA / EDGE 25

For more information please contact: ADMA EDGE www.adma.com.au edgecustom.com.au (02) 9277 5400 +61 2 8962 2600 m: 0414 867 622