Put up or shut up: Why it’s time to go all in on content marketing
What ever the naysayers might say, content marketing is one of the fastest-growing segments of the global advertising industry. Lauren Quaintance asks why are some Australian content marketers asleep at the wheel?
Let’s be completely honest: content marketing is this industry’s favourite punching bag. It’s not always the sexiest work, none of what is really “content marketing” is going to win a Cannes Lion anytime soon and money spent on company blogs and social videos means less cash for all-singing, all-dancing above-the-line creative like TVCs.
No wonder everyone was happy to dance on the grave of the industry’s loudest, flashiest player King Content when it was shuttered by iSentia after an ill-fated acquisition in 2015. And yet, despite the many articles suggesting the emperor (or in this case the king) had no clothes, four years later content marketing is literally the fastest-growing segment of the global advertising industry.
How do I know this? A 2018 report from PQ Media – a media analysis firm headquartered in the US used by McKinsey, Google and Credit Suisse – shows that global branded entertainment revenues grew at twice the rate of the overall advertising and marketing in the previous year, surpassing $100 billion. Of that consumer content marketing (all the deeply unsexy stuff including, gasp, white papers) was the fastest-growing segment of branded entertainment globally with a 14.5% expansion to $15.61 billion.
And yet Australian content marketing is really still in its infancy. Traditional agencies don’t really want a bar of content marketing – the creation of written or video assets that put utility and storytelling above a product message – unless it’s part of a bigger campaign. Just search for “content strategist” on LinkedIn and the dearth of results ought to tell you something about the state of the discipline in this market.
And Australian marketers are still hedging their bets: 85% are doing content marketing in some form yet an astonishing 43% of them are doing so without any documented content strategy, which is a lot like throwing jelly at a wall and hoping it sticks. No wonder 76% say they are only “moderately or minimally” successful. Talk about damning with faint praise.
There are exceptions but when you look at Gartner’s Marketing Maturity Model for Content Marketing you’d have to say that most Australian marketers are stuck in Level 1 (Experimental) or Level 2 (Tactical).
Gartner’s Marketing Maturity Model for Content Marketing
In many cases they are doing content marketing because they think they should, to tick a box, but they haven’t invested in the strategy, expertise and technology to make a success of it. They’re still talking about vanity metrics instead of the kind of measures that will have an impact on the bottom line.
Maybe it’s something to do with the state of marketing in 2019 – so many channels, so much technology – everyone is doing a lot of things badly. In which case you really need to ask: why bother? It’s time, friends, to put up or shut up. Start taking content marketing seriously or try something else altogether.
Lauren Quaintance is co-founder and head of content at Storyation.
Yawn. Yet another piece from a content marketer telling us we need to do more content marketing. If someone wants to convince people that content marketing is a good strategy, maybe they should start by doing a better job with their own content.
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Hey @where’s the good content? Always happy to have a constructive debate but there’s really nothing more boring than anonymous sledging.
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This article doesn’t say why you should invest more in content marketing, beyond saying it is a growing segment (Others are doing it). I think that is the issue the original poster had.
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It’s easy to pull a figure from some Gartner of McKinsey report about the size and growth of an industry, but don’t get lured in by the figures as indicative of the “industry” as we know it. Content Marketing has become a bit of a catch-all and includes such a wide range of pixel-stuff from Ch9’s self-made promos for MAFS to the 4-hour doco on the Ghan – much of which is not made by agencies (let alone content agencies) in response to marketing needs of brands. A good portion of the apparent growth will be from new players as more and more brands dive into content, but most brands aren’t increasing their content budgets which is still the ultra thin wedge of their overall annual marketing budget pie chart. And this sliver of spend is furthermore spread extremely thinly over hundreds or thousands of executions, making it nigh on impossible for content producers (agencies like King) to make money. When a brand pays $500k for a TVC, there’s a good 10% fat in there for the agency to either make it better, make more money, or fix a mistake. When the brand pays $500 for a piece of content, your 10% is barely enough to pay for the keyboard the designer is using.
The content marketing industry needs an enema. While we can hold up the likes of RedBull, Old Spice and WillItBlend as great examples of content done right (for big and small budgets), brand marketers are blind to the benefits and still churn out a monthly shopping list of 2 x listicles, 1 x short form video, and 3 x facebook posts – none of which makes a ripple on consumer sentiment, engagement, desire or path to purchase.
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Even best in class content marketers have trouble with commercialisation. Red Bull knows it does wonders, but haven’t yet figured out how to explain that in any quant form. Tricky area.
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The monthly shopping list is a good way to put it. If that’s your approach to content marketing – and you can’t be bothered to write a strategy or get the measures right – then it’s better not to bother at all.
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Content marketing is growing globally – especially in the US – because in those markets it’s a mature industry with a strategic underpinning and clear measures. It works.
Australian marketers are only half doing it, they have no strategy and a tick-the-box approach and as a result most say they are not succeeding.
I’m saying do it properly or don’t do it at all.
Seems pretty clear to me.
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Yes that’s true, Henry. Worth looking at the work David Beebe did at Marriott International when he talks about turning it from a cost centre to a profit centre. Smart guy.
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If anything, this comment supports Lauren’s argument. Having a clear strategy, aligned with real-world business goals and creative execution is where the value lies and from where positive impact will come.
Not just making a long ad for a TV show and calling it content marketing.
And when these real-world outcomes are realised, is when the cautious marketers will jump in, only to find it’s not as cheap as it used to be to get the results they want.
Yes, this coming from a Content Specialist extolling the virtues of content as an effective marketing medium.
Just because others are doing it doesn’t mean we should be investing more. And given the number of clients investing in production but not distribution, perhaps we should be recommending they spend less not more.
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As someone who has worked in content marketing in one form or another for the past six years, my questions to content marketing evangelists are always the same.
1. Define content marketing – what it is and what it isn’t
2. Show a clear business ROI, preferably with case examples
3. Show how content marketing integrates with and supports other marketing activities.
Anyone suggesting marketers go all in on content marketing, without being able to answer these is, frankly, drinking the kool aid. No amount of studies and surveys can replace a solid marketing business case. I don’t care how much other brands are spending (spending money doesn’t mean success), but show me a path to results and I am listening.
* By the way, most people get stumped on the first question. It’s a blog. It’s social posts. It’s video. It’s erm everything – which tends to mean “it’s nothing”. This is also why you would be laughed out of the C suite if you went in asking for more money for your content marketing.
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Why so negative?
“Maybe it’s something to do with the state of marketing in 2019 – so many channels, so much technology – everyone is doing a lot of things badly. In which case you really need to ask: why bother?”
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It’s not a matter of everyone investing more. It’s more that if you are doing it, get a strategy and do it properly. Or don’t do it. That’s fine too. Just don’t do it because you think you have to tick a box to do 2.5 blog posts and a video every month.
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