New study finds brands still lack expertise in deploying effective content marketing campaigns.

Brands missed content opportunities in 2012, could it be time to outsource?

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As the end of the year approaches, new studies will surface showing trends that shaped the marketing world over the past 12 months. Most recently, IMN released its “How Engaged Are Your Customers?” report, which evaluated specific promotional channels to determine where business professionals funneled their attention this past year. The data overwhelmingly showed that content marketing remains a tactic used by a significant percentage of companies.

Editorial CalendarHowever, the report also indicates that organizations must improve their deployment of content creation efforts to drive deeper audience engagement and build brand awareness. Perhaps most impacting was IMN’s discovery that finding relevant content and internal resource remains the biggest cited constraints to effective audience targeting and content marketing campaigns, regardless of industry.

The industry breakdown

IMN reports the credit union (33 percent) and direct selling (31 percent) sectors have the highest volume of marketers saying that their employers have developed thorough content strategies.

As for the most-advanced fields, the financial services (75 percent), insurance (50 percent) and software (50 percent) sectors have unique content and lead generation programs for each channel, spreading social media content and website content across the cybersphere. The automotive (14 percent) and banking sectors (14 percent) continue to show lack of knowledge, with fewer organizations using content to reach new and existing customers.

Businesses that developed editorial calendars had more advanced content marketing campaigns, study says.

More, the financial services (50 percent), insurance (50 percent) and banking (43 percent) business sectors also developed editorial calendars more often than other niche areas, which could be why credit union and direct selling markets have more advanced content efforts in place.

However, the insurance (50 percent), credit union (33 percent), financial services (33 percent), banking (29 percent) and automotive (19 percent) also reported that marketers are concerned about the regulatory compliance demands of the branded content they publish to the ‘net.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Businesses, no matter their industries, can use custom content to engage with prospective and current customers. But certain sectors require greater attention to detail to toe the compliance line, which could be effectively executed by professional content marketing services, especially when expert content writers dedicate their expertise to crafting unique industry-centric media. In the new year, brands that want to improve their deployment of content should outsource efforts, as strategists can help guide programs down ideal avenues.

Ted Karczewski

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