BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aberdeen Group, the leader in data, analytics and content solutions for the technology market, today unveiled a new report titled, “The Future of Content Marketing: The Age of Content Science.” This report unearths data from a survey of 277 marketing decision makers, influencers and practitioners about their content marketing strategies to reveal that those who develop and execute data-driven content marketing strategies enjoy nearly five times more marketing-attributed revenue than those who do not. The research also uncovered five distinct stages at which content marketers typically mature in their content capabilities. As a result of the study, Aberdeen Group has created a Content Marketing Continuum to assist marketers in their evaluation and assessment of their own content maturity.
Aberdeen Group surveyed marketers from a blend of B2B, B2C and mixed organizations, ranging in level from marketing operations (54 percent) to senior management (46 percent). Using key metrics – percentage of marketing-qualified leads attributed to content marketing, percentage of revenue generated by content marketing efforts and year-over-year percentage change in marketing’s contribution to revenue – the company segmented responders into three categories. These categories include “Best in Class,” representing the top 20 percent of performers; “Industry Average,” representing the middle 50 percent of performers; and “Laggard,” representing the bottom 30 percent of performers.
What sets “Best in Class” performers apart from “All Others” is their ability to personalize content to target buyers using behavioral and firmographic data. Fifty-eight percent of “Best in Class” marketers – versus 23 percent of “All Others” – currently have the ability to track what site visitors are doing in real time. Additionally, 73 percent of “Best in Class” marketers are able to capture this data and store it for future analysis (compared to just 39 percent of “All Others” who do so). Through data analysis, top performers are able to customize their messages and deliver engaging experiences throughout the buyer’s journey, ultimately driving lead gen initiatives and improving revenue.
Other key findings include:
- 52 percent of “Best in Class” marketers align their content with the buyer’s journey – compared to 36 percent of “All Others”
- 80 percent of “Best in Class” performers employ buttons to encourage readers to easily share email campaign content versus just four percent of “All Others”
- 67 percent of “Best in Class” marketers plan to design content that meets the needs of the target persona – compared with 36 percent of “All Others”
While “Best in Class” performers are benefiting from their customer-centric approach to content marketing, there is still room for improvement. Currently, only 25 percent of “Best in Class” marketers have the ability to serve up content to repeat site visitors and the majority of top performers (62 percent) do not enable a linked personalization experience across channels.
“Understanding your target audiences is key to the success of any content marketing campaign, and these survey results prove that,” said Maribeth Ross, chief content officer and managing director, Aberdeen Group. “Those who map content to their audience’s needs at each stage of the buyer’s journey will be successful in engaging leads and bringing them down the funnel. That said, even the best marketers can miss the mark by failing to leverage data and analytics to guide this process. To ensure a cohesive marketing strategy and experience optimal results, it’s imperative that organizations bridge the gap between data, analytics and content.”
To view the complete Future of Content Marketing report, download it here.
About Aberdeen Group:
Aberdeen Group is a technology and
marketing services company that helps tech sales and marketing
executives distill smart data and analytics into actionable moments. We
help companies win through our unique targeting capabilities (using the
CI Technology Data Set), advanced analytics using our own innovative
proprietary and public data sources, and our original and research based
content engine. Learn more about Aberdeen Group at www.aberdeenservices.com.
