Content Marketing in the UK: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends [Research]

In many respects, content marketing has taken a stronger hold in the UK than it has anywhere else.

The premier study — Content Marketing in the UK: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — conducted by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA), shows that marketers in the UK are planning to increase their content marketing budgets more over the next 12 months than their North American and Australian peers are. UK marketers also use more content marketing tactics than their international peers do, and rate themselves as more effective at content marketing.

Content Marketing in the UK: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends from Content Marketing Institute

NEW VERSION OF THIS RESEARCH NOW AVAILABLE: Content Marketing in UK 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends

Other key highlights from the research report, which includes more comparisons with North America and Australia, include:

Nearly all UK B2C marketers have adopted content marketing

While 94 percent of UK marketers (overall) are using content marketing, 97 percent of UK B2C marketers have adopted it, compared with 95 percent of their B2B peers. Furthermore:

1. More UK B2C marketers use content marketing than their North American (86 percent) and Australian (89 percent) B2C peers do.

2. This trend is opposite of what we see in North America and Australia, where B2B marketers use content marketing more often than their B2C peers do.

Overall, 64 percent of UK marketers are increasing content marketing budgets

On average, 27 percent of marketing budgets in the UK are allocated to content marketing. However, 64 percent say they will increase the amount they allocate to content marketing over the next 12 months (compared with 54 percent in North America and 61 percent in Australia).

1. More UK B2B marketers (72 percent) than UK B2C marketers (45 percent) plan to increase their content marketing budget.

2. Even the UK marketers that rate their efforts as least effective plan to make significant investments in content marketing, with 71 percent saying they will increase spend.

When compared with their international peers, UK marketers rate themselves higher in terms of effectiveness

Thirty-nine percent of UK marketers rank themselves as “effective” or “very effective” at content marketing. By contrast, 37 percent of North American and 29 percent of Australian marketers rate themselves the same way.

Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are the most popular social platforms Overall, UK content marketers use an average of four social media platforms, the same number that most of their international peers use (the exception is North American B2B marketers, who use five).

UK B2B marketers use LinkedIn (87 percent) the most, while their B2C peers use Facebook (91 percent) the most.

UK marketers face similar challenges as their international peers, most notably producing enough content and producing engaging content

Twenty-one percent of UK marketers say producing enough content is their biggest challenge. And while UK B2C marketers are less challenged with producing enough content than their B2B peers are, they are more challenged in every other area cited below:

Want to learn more? Download our full report to get answers to more questions:

1. What goals and metrics do UK marketers use?

2. What percentage of UK marketers tailor content?

3. Do UK marketers outsource content creation or keep it in-house?

4. What does the profile of a best-in-class UK content marketer look like?

NOTE: Special thanks to the Press Association for their assistance as a survey distribution partner.

What do you think of the findings? Are they consistent with what you are experiencing? Let us know in the comments!