Beyond Tools, Marketers Must Focus on Content (Altimeter Report)

Marketers, have you ever been in an agency pitch that focuses on the tool and channel and forgets about content? Or, from the other side of the table, have you ever had a client on the brand side ask you for your Twitter/FacebookPinterest strategy –but doesn’t have anything meaningful to say?

Our industry is afflicted with shiny object syndrome, a focus on the new tools, without thinking about the content that will drive it. As we mature and the tools make it easier to share information, companies need to be extra sensitive to the content that will be shared, both that’s created by the brand, and the customer.

Altimeter’s latest report by Industry Analyst Rebecca Lieb, takes that topic head on. This report had a thorough methodology that interviewed over 50 brands, agencies, vendors, and industry experts to find out how the industry is changing. The top six findings include the following trends:

  1. Visual information reigns supreme, from video to images to infographics.
  2. Mobile and location-based marketing are the second most-cited area into which marketers want to expand content initiatives.
  3. Marketers must manage flow and develop the ability to respond in real-time in social channels
  4. Bright, shiny objects, i.e. a fixation on newer channels and technologies, can distract from foundational channels, e.g. search, written content, such as blogs, and educational content, which is often essential in B2B channels.
  5. Budgets must increase to accommodate content channels such as video and mobile that require larger production and development investment.
  6. Marketers’ confidence in and reliance of content marketing is beginning to diminish their reliance on print and broadcast advertising, as well as public relations.


Content Channel Effectiveness & Confidence
Marketers Confident in Future of Online Video, Social, Mobile
What does the future hold?  This report offers an interesting aspiration state (Although the Red Bull case study shows some companies are doing this now) that companies who mature in this space can actually monetize their content –even if they’re not a media company.  That’s right, even companies that sell soft drinks can build a lifestyle culture around their brand, and monetize the content created by their own community.  This is perhaps one of the most powerful promises ever to marketers, to convert the perception of being a ‘cost center’ to a real profit center by developing a strategic content marketing plan.

Open Research: Use it, Share it, and We’ll Create More.
To learn more how companies will achieve this, read the report in the embed below.  We look forward to your feedback as we track how content spreads across multiple tools, channels and mediums.

Content: The New Marketing Equation

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24 Replies to “Beyond Tools, Marketers Must Focus on Content (Altimeter Report)”

  1. This isn’t only true for marketing, but also for support and service as well – which can certainly be used as a marketing driver as well, provided you buy the idea that community powers WOM which in turn is a form of marketing.

  2. By definition; does the idea also = content.  For example, most of the people we are meeting with are starved for a ‘long idea’ that works across their business and the channels that they are typically most comfortable with.  On experience…the order of priority is 1. The idea 2. the content to support the idea 3. the channel.  Surely, this is nothing new…sounds like a lesson from Mad Men 😉

  3. By definition; does the idea also = content.  For example, most of the people we are meeting with are starved for a ‘long idea’ that works across their business and the channels that they are typically most comfortable with.  On experience…the order of priority is 1. The idea 2. the content to support the idea 3. the channel.  Surely, this is nothing new…sounds like a lesson from Mad Men 😉

  4. I couldn’t agree more that marketers need to rebalance to focus on content… and I know  that I’m not the only strategist who has had to talk their clients out of shiny red objects or to invest in video content.

    A fantastic POV on the need to focus on content for future success.

  5. I couldn’t agree more that marketers need to rebalance to focus on content… and I know  that I’m not the only strategist who has had to talk their clients out of shiny red objects or to invest in video content.

    A fantastic POV on the need to focus on content for future success.

  6. I couldn’t agree more that marketers need to rebalance to focus on content… and I know  that I’m not the only strategist who has had to talk their clients out of shiny red objects or to invest in video content.

    A fantastic POV on the need to focus on content for future success.

  7. I couldn’t agree more that marketers need to rebalance to focus on content… and I know  that I’m not the only strategist who has had to talk their clients out of shiny red objects or to invest in video content.

    A fantastic POV on the need to focus on content for future success.

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