The long-term effects of Covid-19 on marketing are yet to be discovered, but it is likely that content will remain king. Content marketing is the fastest growing sector in marketing according to Incite’s State of Marketing 2020: Content and Social Marketing report.

Telling tales

Discussing the importance of content, Alex Hadwick, head of reports at Incite Group and founder of Concise Content Marketing, starts by focusing on stories: “The PR industry should be on a good footing in the medium term according to the trends we have identified in our survey. Brands are looking to tell more complex stories through content marketing, especially in the B2B space. We found that content is the fastest growing marketing format and marketing departments top priority this year is to build brand awareness and storytelling capabilities.

“This will require expertise in crafting and refining messaging that can be utilised across multiple platforms, particularly social, which respondents noted is the most critical piece of their content marketing strategies. Therefore many brands are going to be looking to experienced professionals who can help them build their messaging and creative but they are also going to require help in distributing their messaging to the right channels, as well as understanding its reach and effectiveness.”

Skills upgrade

Hadwick concludes that it is important to understand and implement the right technologies: “We found that many within the industry lack key infrastructure, such as data platforms, and that there is a heavy focus on investing into automation, analytics and business intelligence. Therefore, PR professionals looking to get ahead of the competition should look to make sure they have the technical skills and knowledge to help clients maximise their reach through technology, help them to interpret the results and be prepared to work in rapidly growing fields, such as influencer and video marketing."

Methodology

Incite conducted a survey of self-identified marketing professionals from both its internal database of marketers, but also through external media partners. A total of 954 respondents replied to the survey and 565 completed the survey to end from a spectrum of different company types and global regions with 23% noting they came from senior leadership positions.