There is a great scene in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when the wealthy investor, Walter Donovan, tries to convince Indy to follow the Holy Grail. “We are about to complete a mission that began nearly 2,000 years ago,” he said. We are only one step away. ' Indy replied, 'That's usually when the ground falls out from under your feet.
When we release 2021 B2C Content Marketing Research , I note that the data shows the “urgency to develop direct, digital relationships with customers” becomes more important. But the pandemic makes us all feel a bit like Indiana Jones: “We are creating this as we move on.”
The pandemic and other events of 2020 have given marketers confidence in elevating the importance of content marketing. But, I note, the responsibility that comes from that power is important. If content marketers want to succeed, scale, and grow, they need to help their businesses understand how to recognize their gut feeling that better content is needed through a strategy. smart and functional .
Well, CMI .'s B2C Content Marketing : Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – 2022 Insights points out that B2C marketers still grapple with some classic content marketing challenges.
What challenges await 2022?
Well, let's explore .
We are only one step away
According to the latest research by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, one in four (26%) of B2C marketers rate t as extremely or very successful content marketing heirs. That was a huge drop from the previous year when a third (34%) reported the same.
About a quarter of B2C marketers (26%) say their #ContentMarketing is extremely or very successful. That's less than a year ago (34%), according to @CMIContent #B2C #research via @Robert_Rose. Click to post a Tweet
Yes, the pandemic continues to have a lot to do with this struggle. Talent acquisition has become more difficult. Priorities in digital transformation to support sales, e-commerce, and other customer experiences have stripped away some content marketing initiatives.
Content marketing strategies for 79% of B2C marketers have changed at least slightly since the pandemic, while 20% of marketers say they're implementing extreme or very different strategies.
In fact, everything is the same and very different.
Make sure the ground doesn't fall
Indiana Jones has always survived the ground falling below because he always knew it could. He prepares.
That's why what I said in last year's research repeats: “(I'm) no longer good enough for content marketers to simply understand how to create blogs, infographics, or other media assets. other convenience. We need to understand solid planning content activities (across ALL marketing and communications) fits our ongoing approach. That means understanding technology, administration and how to structure content so it can be reused, repackaged, and leveraged across silos. ”
We see content marketers wearing more hats and this will only continue in 2022. As content marketing evolves as a multi-field activity and becomes an important part of our business strategy For us, detailing the “planning” and “preparing” sections of that strategy is how we maintain a strong foundation.
Data from this year's study point to the way for some of those preparatory processes.
Invest in videos here to stay
As they did last year, short articles/articles top the list of content types used by content marketers. Most other types of content have remained stable from a few years ago, with the obvious exception of live events and one less expected difference – long-form articles, almost doubling usage (42% versus 22% a year ago).
According to this year's budget, 61% of marketers said their 2022 content marketing budget will higher compared to 2021 budget. Where will they spend the money? Seventy-two percent expect to invest in video, followed by paid media (51%).
Certainly the rise of TikTok as the most popular site on the internet and the continued trend of live video replacing live events has largely fueled this trend. This is something we've seen across both B2B and B2C – most notably with companies like Salesforce, launched a video streaming platform as a marketing initiative.
72% of #B2C marketers plan to invest in #video in 2022, according to new @CMIContent #B2C #research via @Robert_Rose. Click to post
With all the companies that have received this memo, it has become harder than ever to distinguish and cut through the noise. So, paid media has become extremely important in content marketing.
Increase advertising on paid media
More than three-quarters (78%) of B2C marketers say they have used paid methods to promote content in the previous year. Forty-three percent said they've increased their paid ad spend 12 months ago.
Where do they buy? Paid social media advertising / promoted posts at the top of the list (80%) followed by search engine marketing/pay per click (66%). Rounding off the top five involves a significant drop down sponsor (39%), native ads/sponsored content (36%), and partner email content ads (24%).
# B2C marketers often use #SocialMedia posts/advertisements as their top method of delivering paid content, according to the new @CMIContent #research via @Robert_Rose. Click to Tweet
The results here are not surprising. As we've discussed for years, social media strategies are clearly becoming paid media strategies – and we've seen many companies move most of their paid advertising to traditional networks. social media.
Time to double down on content activities
As I mentioned at the beginning, we are close to reaching the Holy Grail. Content marketing has been recognized as an operational and functional strategy. While we don't see marketing-related media, such as Adweek or Adage, cover the practice as much as we would like, we are seeing the effects of this strategy. If you need success stories, just ask us.
Whether it's building a media company in your business or 
Branded content or build your content studio, content marketing is increasingly important part of B2C marketing strategy.
Although most B2C marketers report success with content marketing, the challenges remain the same as they once were. The two most frequently cited ways are creating content that appeals to different segments of the target audience (42%) and internal communication between teams/silos (039%).
Both of those top challenges speak to the internal workings of content and development. Our research points to the constant changes that make content marketing an ever more important part of the integrated marketing mix.
In today's modern business, everyone creates content – from web teams to team products, brand teams, on-demand executives, even frontline account representatives. Probably easier to count who are not creating content-driven experiences for today's customers.
But we must realize that this explosive trend is really our mission. Our efforts to accomplish it require us to develop not only great content , but one active strategy supports all assets. Without a strategy, an inconsistent voice, and an inability to measure success will lead to the collapse of the ground beneath us.
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Keep an eye out for the real prize
My advice? Prepare.
It's not the most exciting part, but scalable, successful, and differentiated content marketing makes it easy to create, manage, activate and measure digital content. You will determine success by how well an empowering content marketing strategy is everyone on the front lines (sales, account reps, executives and even accountants and legal) to tell your stories – and the best “follow-up stories” – to your audience .
In many ways, we have to learn the same lesson as Indiana Jones at the end of The Last Crusade. He was so close to the award that he became obsessed with it. He saves himself from the ground falling beneath him by letting it all go and realizing the quest is not his prize. The journey is to save everyone around him.
A strategic content marketing activity is not the storyteller of the business. That's what allows everyone else to be the storyteller.
Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski / Content Marketing Institute
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