69% of Global Marketing Teams are Increasing Spend on Content Creation in 2023-Survey
Majority (69%) of global marketing teams have increased or maintained their spend on content creation, management and distribution as a tactical decision to safeguard their finances during uncertain times, according to a research from Bynder’s inaugural State of Content report.
Together with independent research firm PureSpectrum, the report surveyed marketing and creative professionals from various functional and executive roles, across a number of countries in the technology and consumer goods industries. This report aims to offer mission-critical insights that address some of the most important challenges marketers face in relation to the creation of content, breaking down team and system silos, the distribution of content experiences at scale, and gaining the agility necessary to respond to changes in the global economy.
The survey showed that 76% of surveyed CMOs within tech and 75% within consumer goods companies expressed strategic interest in investing in content. Notably, companies operating in both the B2B and B2C sectors report the highest rates of strategic investment in content, with 86% of CMOs planning to maintain or increase investment.
When asked about the significance of content in driving their company’s objectives, most CMOs cited the delivery of product and services information to customers as the primary benefit and stressed that by leveraging content to provide engaging experiences, companies are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors and showcase their unique value proposition to the market, drive website traffic, generate leads, and ultimately, increase revenue for the organisation. In fact, over half of marketers globally (58%) recognise content as vital to present product information and/or demonstrate competitive differentiation, said the survey.
Furthermore, CMOs across industries are planning to consolidate their existing martech stacks by identifying and removing redundant or unused services and investing in technology that unites various systems into a single, integrated environment, as revealed by the survey. By doing so, they aim to develop an effective integration strategy that drives consistency and engagement across the customer journey, while reducing operational costs.
This is further coupled with the figures that showed the vast majority of marketers (83%) across industries are focused on consolidating their technology systems and/or reducing agency spend by bringing part of the content creation process in-house and enhancing internal teams’ productivity. The interest is even higher among CMOs in specific industries, with 94% of those in tech companies and a remarkable 100% in consumer brands planning to consolidate technology systems and/or become less reliant on external agencies.
In addition to this, streamlining the creation of digital content experiences was also the first priority, with a staggering 98% of those surveyed prioritising faster time to market and the delivery of content experiences across multiple platforms this year. In particular, speeding up time to market was noted as a top priority for two thirds of marketers worldwide.
The data also revealed that 85% of marketers intended to invest in a digital ecosystem powered by digital asset management (DAM) solution.
Scott Brinker, editor at Chiefmartech.com, said: “It’s no longer okay to say that digital transformation is around the corner. The digital reality is what we are living and teams are starting to look in the mirror and not love what they see.
Furthermore, the report also delved into the attitudes of experienced marketers towards content goals, challenges, and future investment.
The majority of marketers recognised the cost-saving benefits of repurposing content, particularly during tough economic times, with 84% of marketers planning to reduce inefficiencies and save costs by repurposing existing content on owned channels.
Over half of marketers (54%) identified improving localisation and personalisation efforts as key objectives in 2023. The survey revealed that enhancing personalisation is perceived as more mission-critical at an executive level, with more than half (60%) of CMOs across industries prioritising this.
Warren Daniels, CMO at Bynder, said that content is a strategic business asset, and despite tough economic headwinds, the State of Content report has shown that global marketing teams are increasing or maintaining their spend on content creation, management and distribution, as this is where they believe they will see the most return on investment.
“The demand for targeted content across a number of touch points is also growing at a faster rate than ever before, so having a single source of truth in the form of a digital asset management system is the key to unlocking better content experiences for customers as it can provide efficiencies and insights that can really fuel marketing efforts,” Daniels shared.
Creative director at Nautilus, Michael Robinson, shared: “As we’ve had new disruptors come into the market, we now have a ton of content we need to make to keep up. Every single market channel requires new content; from TV to the website, emails and, obviously, social media.”