Content personalization is great. We know it. You know it. Marketers know it.
But execution is proving tricky, and most marketers are focusing only on half the battle. And if we may be so bold, they’re focusing on the wrong half.
We recently surveyed marketing creatives to better understand the challenges, priorities, measurement strategies, and technology investments associated with today’s evolving content marketing ecosystem. The results clearly show that we’ve reached a turning point where the need for better, more personalized content that can be measured and optimized is here.
Our newest report, The Future of Content: Personalizing the Content Experience, highlights content personalization and deeper engagement as both the top priority and greatest challenge for content creatives.
Personalizing the content, not the channel
Despite the fact that marketers know content personalization is the key to engaging consumers, marketers are leaning on distribution technology and “push” marketing to do the heavy lifting of personalization.
But just because the content is personalized for the distribution channel, that doesn’t mean it is personalized to the audience consuming it.
- 83% say developing content that’s personalized enough is their biggest challenge
- 94% say better content tech is key to creating content that’s personalized and engaging
Investing in the right technology
The majority of content marketers are doubling down on their investment in content distribution and management technologies as a means of accomplishing personalization, instead of turning to content creation technologies that power baked-in customization and drive personalization at the point of creation.
- 81% say increased engagement is key to securing content tech investment
- The majority say their companies are investing in content distribution and management tech
It begs the question: What good is content marketing without a solid understanding of why and how your audience is engaging with it?
Linking metrics with performance
Interestingly, the survey findings also revealed that linking performance data to content was not a priority for creatives and many were not even being held accountable for content performance. (Slightly shocking, right?)
- 77% say linking performance data with content is not important
- 86% say they are not held accountable for business metrics from content they produce
Deeper, more precise audience analytics derived from the content itself (versus measuring content performance through channel distribution metrics) provides creatives with the insights needed to produce even better content for the target audience.
Building personalization into the actual content is a win-win. It offers better, more customized content for the customer, yields deep, meaningful and actionable insights to creatives, and provides the business case to continue to invest in content for the creative.
Download The Future of Content: Personalizing the Content Experience to discover why investing in technology-driven experiences is the key to creating engaging, personalized content.
