Marketers Sound Off: More responses from our 2023 Digital Content Survey
In our 2023 State of Digital Content Survey, we asked marketers,
What's the biggest difference in being a content marketer today from, say, two years ago?
We included many of the responses in our report, but there were so many good ones, we thought we’d share a few more. Three themes stood out:
Increased pressure
The influence of Ai
Changes in what's working
Marketers are under pressure
Content cannot just be 'nice looking & informative', today it must be short, meaningful and fixing a specific customer's issue to be relevant.
It's more of a challenge to get content to stand out and rank well.
The biggest difference is the pressure we have to produce high-quality content faster than ever. I find that my leadership team doesn't understand how AI plays into the creation process, so they think it can do all the work. I'm in a position where I not only need to make the content, I also need to educate others on what's realistic and what's not.
The bar is higher. You cannot stop.
The demand for better content that hits the client's brand guidelines while also achieving the marketing goals. Clients don't always see the end goal and only focus on their brand elements.
You just have to produce better content, faster.
The influence of ai
The flood of shitty content generated by AI (yes, even GPT4) and content farms has only got stronger. And for all that Google claims to reward quality and helpful content, we're still battling for SERP space with absolute garbage.
More people are aware of content thanks to the proliferation of news about ChatGPT. So, I find clients are more informed when we have our initial conversations.
AI has leveled the playing field for smaller and startup companies. Content marketing was often unapproachable on limited budgets but there are many tools now that can increase the speed and quality of publishing content even for niche subjects at an obtainable price.
Everyone is now a content marketer! This wasn't the case a few years ago.
Changes in what's working
We’re becoming more intentional and journalistic in our approach. SEO is hygiene rather than the goal.
Tying content activities to revenue is more important.
It's not all blog posts anymore. We can be creative - in fact, people expect us to be creative. Content has morphed into this world of immersive experience, and it's a gateway to building pipeline. Content feels way more critical now.
You need to prove experience & expertise in a real way these days.
It feels like most companies use a relaxed or chill tone of voice. Not that it's getting less professional, but it's getting more personal.
Distribution is a bigger part of the content marketing strategy. It might be the most important part.
