The Content Revolution

Content marketing; it’s a thing right? From the Content Marketing Institute’s latest research Content Marketing in Australia 2016: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends, there’s some confusion afoot.

I’m not going to solve it here, but let’s try and shine some light – ‘content’ is not ‘content marketing’, and ‘content marketing’ is not ‘content strategy’. Essentially content tactics do not a content strategy make. We’ve all been doing ‘content’ for some time now – think those images of images of paintings on cave walls. There’s also been some content marketing happening for some time too. But content strategy as a methodology has really only been around for about seven years now, and it is still evolving. Really, it was born with the advent of digital, was accelerated by the explosion of social media and has been anchored by Google’s omniscience and the data we now have on customers and audiences, and their reactions to content. Data did it.

Content marketing is an evolution of traditional marketing techniques and a content marketing strategy is the revolution you need to have, so you’d better find your rebel alliance to fight for change before market forces drive you out.

The research is a continuation of the patterns since the first study in 2010. The use of content marketing is increasing, budgets are increasing and understanding ROI and what or how to measure effectiveness is still in confusion.  I fear the misconceptions about content, content marketing and content strategy may be corrupting the validity of the survey. The responses appear to be more about content and to a certain extent content marketing, with strategy lacking. These misconceptions are mostly semantics, but damn they are important ones at execution and when you are trying to measure success.

The results suggest answers senior (traditional) marketers might give, rather than content marketers with a deep understanding of the methodology. This is evidenced by the focus of the responders on SEM, which is not a content marketing tactic at all. Customers have already made their decision by the time they click through on paid SEM; content marketing influences the customer journey to the point where audiences become customers by deciding to buy or act. Also the focus on leads and ROI by the responders points to sales as their main goal. Sales is but one goal, what about the rest of the strategic goals of an organisation? Although the obsession with financial ROI is an obvious one for businesses, there should be a range of goals set by a content strategy to measure success. Sales may be one of them, but other goals like audience engagement and growth could be measured as well.

Alongside these issues with sample quality is sample size. ‘Around the globe’ 3714 responders completed the survey, with just 146 responses across B2B and B2C in Australia, which is less than ideal to give a true industry snapshot. A statistician would shudder with such a low sample size, as all sorts of anomalies can come into play. I would suggest that the low response rate is further evidence of the lack of understanding of what content marketing is. I’m also curious at the breakdown of responder job titles – the ‘content creation/management’ job title from last year’s research saw just 8% - the replacement job title ‘Content Marketing overall leader for overall program’ has now jumped to 61%. That’s a mighty leap plus that title is now very broad. Where are the content strategists, content managers, content marketers and other roles that are working specifically in content marketing? It looks like we are surveying a range of people who have heard of the methodology, but do not have enough of an understanding of the practice to supply credible answers.

There’s a lack of knowledge about what a content marketing strategy is, and then how to drive the necessary changes to start a genuine content marketing program that will focus on audiences and make them central to all activities, rather than a campaign-led, sales-focused approach. We’ve always been producing content, but aligning these stories with the overall business strategy, providing techniques about how to do that consistently, plus target and engage audiences where and when they are, and then measure and grow, is the new challenge. It is up to the industry leaders, bodies and training institutions to provide thought leadership, education and training to upskill the industry so that change can be driven from within. Content marketing is a technique, and it needs to be integrated across the business with an understanding that it aligns with strategic business goals. Without this, marketers are going to continue producing content under the guises of content marketing using their old techniques and channels and hoping for new results.

Traditional marketers need retraining, consultants or outside smarts to drive the cultural and structural change required. This means re-education, hiring experts or working with a specialist agency. If you don't make this cultural change, the change will be made for you by way of reducing market share, brand awareness and sales. It is time to evolve.

Some other points I think are interesting to note, as we listen to the industry: Content marketing strategies are not stagnant. They are living and breathing beasts that need to be fed so they can grow and develop, and although they are agile by nature, they are not about short bursts of activity. They are about dedicated, committed, sustained and consistent execution and careful listening, testing and learning. Did I say commitment already? That’s time and financial resources. In one respect distributing content is a form of research as it is designed to cause a reaction from audiences which we can now measure and learn from, and you’d better be listening and you’d better be ready to adapt and change or the dark side will get you.