Five key predictions for content marketing
It’s absolutely huge in the US, and growing fast in the UK – but content marketing is still new territory for many. Newsline asked Kayvan Salmanpour, international VP of NewsCred, to explain how he sees the market evolving over the next year…
Content is now firmly on the UK media and marketing radar and more and more brands are prioritising this as a key marketing tactic to engage with consumers in a more meaningful way. For media owners, this means a new, incremental revenue stream that can’t be ignored.
Meanwhile, media agencies will need to understand not only how budgets are being diverted to content but how they can apply relevant insights and strategic planning to content distribution.
Yet for many, it’s their first foray into this space. So, how will this year play out for what is fast becoming more than just the Next Big Thing? There are five key ways I see the content marketing landscape transforming in 2014:
1. The UK will catch up with the US
It’s fair to say that the US have led the charge in content marketing, with most brands and agencies having already invested in core content strategies and reaping the rewards.
On this side of the pond, we may have in the past been more cautious and more focused on traditional marketing methods; but we are now having more conversations than ever with brands and agencies here who now understand the need for strong content.
From finance to pharmaceutical, there is a growing demand for content across a range of verticals, and best practice and creativity is fast coming from this part of the world.
2. Global brands will get local through content
Executing localised yet on brand marketing strategies has long been a challenge for global marketers, but that hard to reach marriage of scale and focus is now possible. Pepsi, for example, powers a lifestyle content-based site that is tailored to over 200 different markets. Being able to speak a consumer’s language and understand their cultural nuances through carefully selected content will take brands further than ever.
3. A wider spread of media owners embracing licensed content
As we partner with more and more market specific media owners that can provide a diverse array of local language content, brands are seeing the value in developing a global content strategy that can be localised.
Last year, we delivered around $4.5 million in incremental revenue back to media owners, for content that they had essentially already created. We’d like to see this profitability spread to more media owners across more genres and languages than ever.
4. Brands discovering the power of niche content
Brands are realising that, rather than post content that generally relates to their brand, and be all things to all people, that there is much more value in finding a content focus. In fact, the more niche you can go, the more powerful content becomes in defining your brand to your audience.
What you sacrifice in viewer volume is more than compensated by the fact that the audience you attract are highly engaged enthusiasts for your chosen topic. If you are a media owner whose heartland is in specialist content, now is your time.
5) Distribution budgets will get consolidated
The best content in the world won’t reach a wide enough audience without real investment in distribution. In the past, distribution budgets were separate from content budgets, with media agencies controlling the former.
In 2014, I think we’ll see this workflow problem resolved, with agencies and brands getting smarter about consolidating content creation and distribution budgets, making it easy for everyone in the ecosystem.
Kayvan Salmanpour is VP International at Newscred.