- Listen, engage, and participate. Measure social media initiatives and tie these measurements back to business value, but keep in mind: it's not a one-way street.
- Develop a mobile strategy, but realize that mobile is not a channel - it's a platform.
- No mater the medium or technology, marketers still need to deliver relevant and engaging content to customers.
- Heard the terms marketing and ROI used together lately? Take it to heart. With tight budgets, allocating spending and measuring its ROI will continue to be a running battle in marketing departments.
- It's too tough out there to commit budgets without a clear return in sight. Being able to demonstrate value of marketing initiatives back to the overall business objectives is paramount (i.e. what the CEO cares about).
By Jennifer Pricci
According to a recent study by the Custom Content Council and ContentWise, 78% of U.S. marketers plan to shift investments from traditional marketing to branded content marketing. More specifically, 62% are “moderately” making the shift, while 16% are pursuing it “aggressively.”
The study found that branded content marketing spending reached its highest level ever in 2011, just shy of $2 million per company. This accounted for 26% of overall marketing, advertising, and communications budgets for the year, and 30% of marketers expect their content budgets to increase in 2012.
Why content?
The top-ranked reasons are:
- To educate customers (49%)
- To retain customers (26%)
- To increase brand loyalty (14%)
Similarly, marketers believe content marketing is more effective than:
- Magazine ads (72%)
- Public relations (69%)
- Direct mail (69%)
- Television ads (62%)
Is your brand pursuing a branded content marketing strategy?
By Jennifer Pricci
