Just-Released White Paper Examines State of the Industry

New York, NY (March 2, 2015) – The Content Council has released the results of an exclusive survey, conducted in conjunction with Advertising Age, which examines the state of the content marketing industry’s past, present and future. Survey respondents, whose companies have been involved in content marketing for an average of more than a decade, paint a positive and exciting picture for the future of the marketing discipline.

“Content is the secret sauce to attract customers and build loyalty today,” said Andy Seibert, managing partner at Imprint and chairman of The Content Council. “Content is the way brands have conversations, and increasingly people are investing in that story.”

The Content Council is sharing the results via a white paper titled Content Marketing: Growing and Transforming Customer Engagement. In addition to enlightening statistics, included below, the white paper features insights from content marketing heavy hitters such as General Electric, Bank of America, Cold Stone Creamery, McMURRY/TMG, Pace, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing and Citi.

Highlights

• Content budgets are growing almost threefold, with 12.6% allocated to content marketing two years ago, 23.3% currently and 33.1% estimated two years from now.
• 39.7% of respondents call their commitment to content marketing strong or extremely strong in 2014, up from 17.7% two years ago. 75.9% predicted their commitment will be strong or extremely strong in the next two years.
• Content spending is primarily focused on development and distribution, 31.5% and 23.8%, respectively.
• Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram are all predicted to increase in popularity as content distribution channels over the next two years, while Facebook is predicted to decline.
• 30% of respondents believe that their company / clients are aligning their content goals “extremely well” to their overall business objectives, while only 13% rated the marketing industry as a whole doing “extremely well.”

The Content Marketing: Growing and Transforming Customer Engagement report is free to download, compliments of The Content Council. You may access the report here: /Research-White-Paper.

The full research will be released on the first full day of The Content Council’s spring conference, Content Chaos: Navigating the Path to Customer Engagement, March 22-24 at the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel in New York City. The event features an in-depth conversation about the research findings, keynote presentations from Arianna Huffington – President and Editor-in-Chief of Huffington Post, Sterling Proffer – Head of Digital at VICE Media and Chris Barth – Strategist at Contagious, panel discussions including executives from IBM, The Weather Company, Refinery29, Vine and more.

About The Content Council
The Content Council is the leading organization representing content marketers globally. As the definitive resource for content marketing education, insights and thought leadership, we are focused on promoting the growth and vitality of this dynamic marketing discipline. Our members inspire creativity, promote excellence & elevate content worldwide. www./

Follow The Content Council on Twitter: @ContentCouncil