Unbelievably enough, 2014 is starting to near its end. But that only means the best is yet to come, according to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council’s eighth annual State of Marketing report. The recently conducted survey reveals that the majority of “senior marketers”—the majority of participants said they are trusted, strategic C-suite members—are looking further down the road and are seeing huge content marketing success.
Some of the top findings from the survey include:
- Marketing is being recognized as a critical department: According to the survey, almost 70 percent of marketers said their stature and credibility among key business decision makers has increased—and they expect it to continue through 2015. This implies that marketing is increasingly being cast in the spotlight as a department that a company simply can’t do without.
- Companies are allocating more resources to marketing: The numbers were quite impressive when it came to seeing more spend all around. For example, over half (54 percent) of surveyed marketers said they will be boosting their budgets in 2015 and 75 percent of marketers got a raise in 2014, with 83 percent foreseeing the same in 2015.
- Marketing employee acquisition, retention rates increase: Not only are more chief decision makers looking to expand their marketing teams (55 percent of respondents said they plan to onboard more team members within the next year) but only 10 percent of marketing leaders are worried about their own job security.
Driven by larger budgets and better analytics, over 80 percent of marketers say they are confident that they will meet their goals for top-line revenue growth and market share in the next year.
We’re pleased to see such soaring goals, but how can marketers effectively meet them in the coming year? Here are two best practices we compiled based on the survey’s findings that can help get your marketing department ready for a successful 2015:
1. Reevaluate what Role Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Should Play Within Your Strategy
Most content marketing plans are SEO-driven, meaning marketers optimize for a set number of targeted keywords in their custom content in the hopes of organically ranking on search engines. SEO may seem like an outdated content marketing tactic, but survey results found that half of marketers consider SEO website marketing as “one of the most effective ways to generate demand in the market.”
Remember that SEO isn’t a “one size fits all” strategy; you can vary the keywords you optimize for, or you could simply use the keywords as a roadmap for crafting compelling, original copy. Also consider the effectiveness of tools such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner, which enables you to search for new keywords, find the competitiveness and searchability of those keywords, and search network campaigns to learn what your customers are searching.
2. Consider Partnering with an Expert Content Strategy Vendor
Only six percent of marketers gave their own digital marketing efforts an “A+” ranking. That means there’s a lot more today’s marketers need to learn, and they’ll be seeking the solutions that can help best meet their needs. An expert content strategy vendor can help improve your digital marketing performance with the right measurement tools, analytics and brand advisory, and support to make your custom content shine brightly in the coming year. In fact, since 2013, up to 50 percent of digital marketing activities are already being outsourced according to research from Gartner.
Looking for a content strategy vendor to help take your marketing strategy to the next level? Check out how we can help you by clicking here.
