Over half of businesses today use content marketing in some way. And that number is only going to grow, according to the latest survey conducted by The Manifest. The study traces the concepts roots back 300 years, when Benjamin Franklin used Poor Richard’s Almanack to actually promote his brother’s printing business. Content format has evolved over the years, but the concept has remained the same. Here are some interesting findings from their data:
* “Companies produce a variety of content, but videos (72%), blog posts (69%), and research and original data (60%) are the most popular.”
* “Nearly two-thirds (62%) of companies with more than 5,000 employees publish content daily.”
* Businesses are also publishing a variety of content to appeal to different audiences
The field is only growing; a recent study by Technavio predicts that the content marketing could be worth nearly $413 billion by 2021.
“In recent years, legacy publishers such as Atlantic Media, The New York Times and Time Inc. have spun off agency-style units that create branded content for clients that mimics editorial,” observed The Marketing Insider in a recent post, “to engage in compelling new ways with their ad-blind customers, major brand marketers turned to them, as well as to their ad firms, to compose everything from native articles to explainer videos to social posts.” However, they noted that many brands are setting up their own editorial shops, poaching journalists and art directors, to create their own on-brand content internally.
This is welcome news for those who began their careers in newspaper publishing and other media. According to this chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in newspapers declined from 457,800 in July 1990 to 183,200 in March 2016. More than 50,000 periodical jobs have also gone away during the same time period.
These are interesting times for those in the “content” field indeed.
