Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute and author of Epic Content Marketing, is regarded as one of the industry’s earliest evangelists. We welcomed the chance to get his take on the future of the industry, and we share his determination to help brands realize that content should be an important asset of every organization.
1. What content marketing trends should we expect to see in 2015?
Even though content marketing, as a practice, is hundreds of years old, this is pretty new for most organizations. In the next 12 months, I expect to see the continued evolution of the marketing department. It will begin to look and feel more like a publishing operation. The vast majority of journalists, editors, storytellers and producers will be hired by brands. With that, you’ll see a number of brands make content marketing “bets” and experiment in the area.
2. In your experience, what are companies’ biggest challenges when it comes to content marketing?
Measurement. According to our research, about one in five are successful at measuring their content marketing. After that, it’s creating engaging content and developing consistency in their delivery and not looking at content as a campaign only.
3. What advice can you offer to companies struggling to effectively measure the results of their content marketing efforts? How should we (publishers, brands and agencies alike) be measuring success?
There are two critical differentiators that separate the most effective content marketers. First, effective content marketers document their content marketing strategy. Second, they constantly refer to that strategy and share it with their team. These two things may seem like small things, but these are the two building blocks that can most predict success with content marketing.
4. What advice can you offer a company considering outsourcing some or all of their content marketing needs?
There is no one way to set up your content marketing practice, but most companies do outsource some portion of their content marketing. The most important thing is to not outsource the strategy. The actual execution can be outsourced to a number of different agencies and freelancers, depending on what kind of content is needed.
The Godfather of Content Marketing Shares Tips, Predictions and What Not to Do
