Sunday, March 16, 2014

Big Data Is Driving Content Marketing Strategy

Big Data Is Driving Content Marketing Strategy image Big Data Content Marketing

According to a new report by Gartner, one-third of companies face an information crisis within the next 3 years.


Direct Marketer News reports that big data, social media and the proliferation across customer touch points due to the today’s social-mobile consumer is causing huge headaches for businesses across every industry


And because there is a massive amount of technologies in the marketplace and more coming online every day, there is a total “lack of maturity” within the enterprise on how to manage and govern all this information. They claim that more than 75% of information management projects within organizations are isolated from one another.


3 Steps To Avoid The Information Crisis


Gartner prescribes that in order to gain competitive advantage and turn information into actionable insights that companies need to follow 3 steps:


  1. Identify business outcomes that can be influenced by data

  2. Work with the leaders of the highest impact processes across the business

  3. Create a strategic EIM (Enterprise Information Management) program to achieve the business goals

According to Gartner Vice President, “In a digital economy, information is becoming the competitive asset to drive business advantage, and it’s the critical connection that links the value chain of organizations.”


This puts Marketing in the driver’s seat for helping the business get ahead with strategic customer insights.


CMOs Shift Budget To Content Marketing


My last article made a direct connection between Big Data and Content Marketing. And I’m not alone. Data is a core element to the success of any content marketing effort.


So in another report released last week, Mass relevance reports that Chief Marketing Officers are shifting their budgets to content marketing. Some of the key findings:


  • 95% of CMOs report that content marketing is important to their business

  • 87% say that social media is an effective medium for delivering real-time content

  • 66% of CMOs expect a positive ROI from their content marketing efforts

According to the report, CMOs “are committed to investing in and exploring content marketing this year, and measuring the impact from doing so.”


But I’m not so sure…


Most Marketers Aren’t Ready For Content Marketing


In a couple of posts from some of the top influencers in our industry, many CMOs just aren’t ready for content marketing.


Gilad De Vries, head of strategy at Outbrain talked about this last year. He cited the common practice from the big agency pitching the “big idea” and with the marketing “campaign brain.”


He also talks about the different and isolated objectives of the search, the display, and the social teams separately driving conversion, awareness and amplification.


He likens campaigns to sprints but content marketing is more like a marathon that requires new skills, continuous slow-and-steady performance and a long term approach.


Newscred released this article last week on Digiday titled “You’re Not Ready For Content Marketing.” I was honored to be quoted as encouraging brands to thing and act like publishers creating content that our customers actually want.


The best way to do that?


Aside from the publisher or customer-centric mindset, brands need data and insights to create effective content. This includes social listening, data integration and reporting that defines where customers are consuming content, which content works and what topics are interesting to your customers.


And this is how the looming information crisis leads us right back to content marketing!


Big Data drives both the need and the practice of content marketing.


Let me know what you think in the comments below.


Source: B2C_Business



Big Data Is Driving Content Marketing Strategy

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