SYDNEY: Most marketers in Australia and New Zealand plan on maintaining or increasing their content marketing in 2015, with almost two thirds making use of video, a new survey has revealed.
Castleford, a content marketing agency, canvassed the experiences and opinions of marketing professionals and decision makers at 152 organisations based in Australia or New Zealand, via phone and email interviews.
It reported a "significant shift" in their mindsets, as content marketing moved away from being regarded as an add-on to become a central driver of organic search traffic, social engagement, brand building and lead generation.
Fully 97% said they planned to maintain or increase the time and resources they commit to content marketing in 2015, and 64% said they would be spending more, up from 47% in 2014.
While social media (81%) and press releases (64%) remain the most popular online marketing tactics, 61% were making use of video in 2015, up 13 percentage points on the previous year.
Video production is also moving in-house, with 21% reporting they now have this capability, up from 13% in 2014. More generally, 58% used in-house resources to deliver content marketing campaigns while just 28% used a content marketing agency, proportions that had moved little from the previous year.
Video was also among the top future priorities, cited by just under half (49%) of marketers surveyed, marginally behind blogging (51%).
The study reported widespread buy-in for content marketing from the top level, with 76% of respondents saying their superiors were either very or quite positive about it.
And the KPIs they were using to judge its effectiveness included traffic (62%), leads (62%) and sales (59%).
Despite the increased attention and resources being lavished on content marketing, this has yet to filter into work designations. Only 16% of those surveyed had someone with a dedicated "content marketing" job title in their organisation.
"Aussie and Kiwi marketers still wear a lot of different hats," observed Rob Cleeve, Castleford's business development director.
Castleford, a content marketing agency, canvassed the experiences and opinions of marketing professionals and decision makers at 152 organisations based in Australia or New Zealand, via phone and email interviews.
It reported a "significant shift" in their mindsets, as content marketing moved away from being regarded as an add-on to become a central driver of organic search traffic, social engagement, brand building and lead generation.
Fully 97% said they planned to maintain or increase the time and resources they commit to content marketing in 2015, and 64% said they would be spending more, up from 47% in 2014.
While social media (81%) and press releases (64%) remain the most popular online marketing tactics, 61% were making use of video in 2015, up 13 percentage points on the previous year.
Video production is also moving in-house, with 21% reporting they now have this capability, up from 13% in 2014. More generally, 58% used in-house resources to deliver content marketing campaigns while just 28% used a content marketing agency, proportions that had moved little from the previous year.
Video was also among the top future priorities, cited by just under half (49%) of marketers surveyed, marginally behind blogging (51%).
The study reported widespread buy-in for content marketing from the top level, with 76% of respondents saying their superiors were either very or quite positive about it.
And the KPIs they were using to judge its effectiveness included traffic (62%), leads (62%) and sales (59%).
Despite the increased attention and resources being lavished on content marketing, this has yet to filter into work designations. Only 16% of those surveyed had someone with a dedicated "content marketing" job title in their organisation.
"Aussie and Kiwi marketers still wear a lot of different hats," observed Rob Cleeve, Castleford's business development director.
Data sourced from Castleford; additional content by Warc staff
