The Art of Content Marketing [Infographic]

Source: http://www.dmnews.com

A lack of speed and collaboration can inhibit the craft.

When it comes to creating content, not all marketers share the same aesthetic. Some prefer a more humorous approach, while others enjoy producing educational information. There are also a number of mediums content marketers can explore, ranging from blog posts to videos. But even if marketers don't share the same content style, they often struggle with the same challenges: mainly, speed and collaboration. 

Actually, 31% of senior marketers say creating content faster is a major challenge for their marketing teams, according to a recent report by marketing software provider Percolate. The study, “2014 Senior Marketing Executive Insights Survey,” listed the same percentage for senior marketers who deem collaborating with their teams and partners on content creation as a chief concern. Other obstacles included creating a greater volume of content (29%); having a single place for planning, content/media, and publishing (25%); and knowing what everyone else is working on (24%).

Indeed, content planning isn't something that marketers can simply brush over. In fact, 37% of senior marketers say that planning is critical to a digital marketer's success, followed by conversion (24%) and inspiration (21%). Thankfully, planning isn't exactly an abstract area for marketers. Many marketers have planning processes already in place. For instance, 51% of senior marketers use topics—like “design” or “healthy living”—to help plan their content, and 14% of those who don't intend to develop them in the next six months. Some marketers even have plans for how to determine what kind of content their audiences are interested in. Consider the following: 31% of senior marketers look at past performance data from previous content or campaigns and another 31% regularly monitor activity on social channels. Still, more than one quarter of senior marketers (28%) base this judgment on personal intuition. Although, some channels require more planning than others. According to the study, one quarter of senior marketers plan content a month or more ahead of time for Facebook; however, just 16% do the same for Twitter.

Of course, to succeed today, marketers have to master several mediums. Email newsletters (57%), images (49%), and short-form content like tweets (43%) are the most popular content forms senior marketers say their companies currently create. And different forms require different levels of approval. For instance, 60% of senior marketers say that written content typically goes past two to three people before going live; 51% say the same for visual content. Granted, not every company has the resources to have multiple people create and review its content. Therefore, some companies rely on external resources to help get the job done. In fact, one quarter of senior marketers say that externally sourced content is a viable option for their marketing teams, and nearly half (49%) consider it useful in some situations, but not all.

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