6 Content Marketing Trends for Australian Businesses in 2015

As another year wraps up, offices around Australia start to shut down for the Christmas break, but if you’re anything like us, you’re just revving up for 2015!

The digital marketing world never seems to stop, and next year is looking to be bigger than ever when it comes to content marketing.

So, what are the key trends you should be looking for in the year ahead? And how can you make 2015 your best year yet? We’ve researched the biggest trends in content marketing for 2015 to take your business to the next level.

1. Rapid growth in content marketing

In 2014, we saw rapid growth in the use of content marketing across Australian businesses. A huge 89% of marketers now use content marketing and we can be pretty sure this number will rise in 2015.

The Content Marketing Institute redefined the meaning of content marketing this year as ‘a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.’

Moving into 2015, content marketing is becoming more focused on providing valuable and organic content for consumers, ultimately moving away from more traditional methods.

2. Effectiveness of content marketing to rise as marketers become increasingly savvy

During 2014, marketers became increasingly savvy with their content marketing strategies, with more businesses working to a documented strategy. Still, only 29% of organisations claimed to be effective at content marketing this year.

Where does this take us into 2015? Marketers are increasingly moving towards a clearly documented content marketing strategy with specific KPIs. We will likely see more businesses becoming more effective at content marketing and seeing better results accordingly.

3. Engagement and brand awareness to trump sales in content marketing goals

You may think that sales are a content marketers best friend, but according to the latest statistics from Content Marketing Institute, brand awareness and engagement are the leading goals across the board.

We can expect to see a greater focus on brand awareness and engagement for 2015 as content marketing is increasingly leaning towards a more natural approach, with the purpose of providing value to the customer, front of mind.

4. Marketing analytics to boom

During 2014, marketers still had a tough time tracking the ROI of their content marketing campaigns, with only 20% claiming to be successful at it. We can predict that the increase in marketing automation software and content marketing will ensure that new and improved analytics tools will help businesses track their efforts for 2015.

The desire for easier ROI tracking and marketing data will increasingly become more crucial as the rise of content marketing grows. Doug Kessler of Velocity puts it nicely ‘we will graduate from data kindergarten’ in 2015.

5. B2B companies to lean towards more emotional content and richer quality

2015 is going to be a huge year for B2B companies, as we take on our B2C peers. The biggest trend in the type of content marketing that B2B will produce will be an increase of more emotional content. B2B companies are increasingly seeing the need to produce more valuable, emotional content to ensure their marketing efforts are talking on a ‘human’ level to the right consumers.

B2B companies will increase their production of sustainable and reliable content. There will be a stronger focus on producing quality, valuable content, as companies move away from high volume, lower quality content and more towards richer content. Media such as video and audio will become increasingly popular, as B2B companies will aim to stand out from the crowd more.

6. Marketing budgets to increase over next 12 months

Research by the Content Marketing Institute reveals that 63% of companies will increase their marketing spend over the next 12 months. Of the 63%, 73% have a documented content marketing strategy plan.

Companies that use a documented content strategy have led the way in effectiveness and success in 2014. Leading into 2015, we’ll likely see an increase not only in content marketing budgets but also in the use of more specific action plans to ensure the ROI of content marketing is strong and rewarding.

The wrap up

It’s clear that 2015 is set to be big in the content marketing space!

Overall, the leading trend for Australian B2B companies is on creating a documented content strategy that focuses on providing valuable, high quality content. The focus is increasingly leading towards making an emotional connection with your prospect, to both build brand awareness and increase engagement.

What initiatives and planning will you take to boost your company to the next level?