To Create Engaging Content, Marketers Need Tech

Engagement is at the heart of content marketing. April 2015 research by Pulsepoint and Digiday found that brand engagement was the No. 1 marketing objective supported by content marketing, cited by 66.8% of UK and US agency and brand professionals. Similarly, in a March 2015 study by Ascend2, 52% of marketing professionals worldwide said improving customer engagement was an important content marketing goal.

As marketers focus on streamlining efforts to engage consumers, it’s important for content to be relevant across channels. However, Pan Communications polling conducted in March 2015 suggests marketers are struggling to do this—and they’re hoping that marketing technology can help.

Among US marketing professionals polled, nearly half (48%) weren’t confident that their marketing content drove customer engagement at all. The most-cited challenges to engaging customers through content were maintaining a two-way dialogue and measuring business results. Pan Communications noted that these were related, as marketers’ inability to determine content’s business impact meant they couldn’t tailor interactions as they jumped from one communication channel to the next. Similar to solid dialogue, one in 10 respondents also struggled to execute omnichannel campaigns—a “glaring concern,” according to the study.
Ascend2 found similar results; 33% of respondents cited the inability to measure effectiveness as a challenge to achieving content marketing success, and 27% said the same about lack of cross-channel integration.

Technology will change content marketing and help address these issues. When Pan Communications asked marketers which trends they envisioned having the largest impact on marketing over the next five years, 38% cited the convergence of marketing and technology—the No. 1 response.

Adoption of such tools should allow marketers to ensure content creation is tailored to specific customer personas based on data and insights, as opposed to just taking a shot in the dark on each channel, and continuously engage consumers.