Why more businesses are spending on content marketing

The mere act of having a content marketing strategy used to be what made businesses stand apart from their competitors. Now, with more recognising the value in content, standing out has become about the type of content strategy. A string of blogs, industry news articles and LinkedIn posts isn’t enough anymore. Nor is just printing a publication. The understanding of content as a tool for marketing a business means that each individual piece of content a business puts out – whether internally to employees and stakeholders, or externally to a wider audience – needs to be part of a well thought-out, clearly defined strategy, and measured to guarantee it is delivering against the objectives set.

This is becoming a big ask for content and communications teams, so to address this, businesses are spending more on content marketing.

The budget for content marketing is increasing – in some cases by more than 25%

The State of Content Marketing 2022 Global Report, by Semrush, an SEO specialist whose software we use for our clients’ content audits, provides data from a survey of 1,500 marketers in companies of all sizes, across 20 industries and 40 countries. The results reveal not only that 97% use content as part of their marketing strategy, but that 72% will be increasing their content marketing spend in 2023 –and 15% have allocated an increase of more than 25%.

Which businesses are spending on content marketing?

With 42% of respondents stating that their content marketing strategy was in its early stages, and with “what is content marketing?” and “why is content marketing important?” in the top three content marketing-related Google searches, it’s clear that businesses whose content strategies are in their infancy are ramping up their efforts up to get competitive.

And this isn’t just about the big businesses with eye-watering profits. In fact, small businesses are the ones who are investing more, as they’re seeing content marketing as a key generator of revenue for 2023.

Where to focus your content marketing budget if you’re just getting started

The world of content marketing is fast-moving, and can be overwhelming for people and businesses who are trying to take those first steps, whether you’ve decided to use a content marketing agency or not. Here are some tips:

• If you already have a substantial amount of content but don’t have a content marketing strategy, we’d recommend a content audit. (Read our top tips for a good content audit). This is a great way to get to grips with how well your existing content is working for you, and an excellent way to create the foundations for a content strategy.
• If you have very little existing content, you can still build a content marketing strategy – and this is exactly what we’d recommend. Think about the goals of your content: do you want to drive brand awareness, position yourselves as leaders in the market, or is there a tangible goal in mind that you’ll be measuring against? And once you’ve set those goals, establish about what you need to do to achieve them.

Where to focus your budget if you’re a seasoned content marketer

If having a successful content marketing strategy is old news, and you have the budget but you’re looking to do something different, start talking. Have conversations with those in the know. Speak to your peers, speak to agencies you’ve worked with – and those you haven’t – to find out how the market is changing and how you can shape your strategy around the future of content.

To find out more about how Wardour can help with your content marketing strategy, whether you’re just getting started or are seasoned pros, pop us an email at hello@wardour.co.uk – we’d love to hear from you.