Content marketing spending has more than doubled in the past ten years, and new research from ContentWise and the Custom Content Council reveals that North American marketers spent over $40 billion in content marketing in 2011. Print content still dominated content marketing budgets in 2011 with 58.7% of budgets directed at the print medium. However, within electronic content, video is a critical focus for many marketers in 2012.
Following are statistics from the study that provide insight into which content opportunities brands focused on in 2011 (via eMarketer):
- Print = 87%
- Website updates = 82%
- Email newsletters = 71%
- Branded video = 52%
- Virtual events = 38%
- White papers = 38%
- Podcasts and other audio = 24%
- Ezines = 15%
In 2009, just 37% of survey respondents were creating branded video. Two years later in 2011, 52% were creating branded video. If budget reports hold true, you can expect to see a lot more branded video over the course of 2012.
54% of respondents to the survey indicated that they plan to increase spending on video content in 2012. Virtual events are also getting attention (35% plan to increase budgets for virtual events), and podcasts and other audio will also get a bump in budget dollars (31% expect to increase budgets for audio content).
It could be argued that the interest in branded video content has little to do with marketing foresight and everything to do with cause and effect. In this case, the cause came from two sources — the need to reduce budgets and the consumer behavior shift to the online space. The effects were for brands to shift their budgets to the online space where their audiences now spent time. Since content marketing online is typically less expensive than print content marketing, budgets also decreased.
While branded video is the hot thing these days as more people use smartphones and tablet devices for more aspects of their lives, including watching video content, the smart marketers will be using foresight rather than reacting to cause and effect. Consumers are already shifting to the mobile space. Brands need to adapt their content marketing strategies to match that shift. Will your brand be leading the way in the mobile content space or still catching up with video content?
Video is certainly not dead, but if video were a teenager, it would already be losing its level of cool. Of course, marrying video and mobile is the ideal solution, and it’s what consumers are going to expect in the near future.
What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: Boulanger Julien
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
