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A shopper walks past a small retailer selling clothing which is located in the center of a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, February 19, 2016. Reuters/David Gray

HubSpot and Survey Monkey’s Asia Pacific Content Marketing Report has revealed that 22 percent of Australian marketers perceived that content marketing is the single most effective tactic when it comes to driving sales and leads in 2016. Big data, including market/customer insights and predictive analysis, ranks second with 14 percent. Marketing automation, including email marketing and CRM, ranks third with 13 percent.

There were respondents who answered conversion rate optimisation, social media marketing, communities, mobile marketing, partnerships, paid search marketing, online PR and IoT marketing applications were also considered to have a commercial impact on business.

It also revealed that there was a content shock situation were more content was being created than consumed. When businesses produce more content, the competition grows leading to the audience perception that the content is less valuable than before. The participants knew that the solution to the content shock situation is to do content marketing well. However, they also perceived that producing high-quality articles as a key delaying their success.

“There are a range of challenges in the development of great content. But the issue is that the more content businesses produce, the more competitive the market becomes, and suddenly the target audience sees individual business content as less valuable than before," Ryan Bonnici, HubSpot’s Director of Marketing in Asia Pacific, according to B&T Magazine.

“However, this glut of content marketing provides opportunities for businesses to stand out, if they can implement the right strategy. With most of the market feeling overwhelmed by the challenges of content marketing, those that are successful will find themselves in the top quarter of marketers in Asia Pacific,” Bonnici said.

The study also revealed important data based on the views of APAC's foremost marketers and sales people.

  • 63 percent plans to create more content in 2016 than they did in 2015
  • 28 percent invest more in creating and distributing content via new hires
  • 21 percent invest more in creating and distributing content via increased agency resources
  • 56 percent rated quality content as their biggest content marketing challenge
  • 48 percent of marketers don't have a defined strategy or plan

“While content creation comes with its own challenges, the report shows that the key tenants of any marketing strategy still reign supreme: having a plan, investing in the process and amplifying it through paid media,” Bonnici said.

There were more than 720 marketers in the Asia Pacific Region who participated in the survey. The study also revealed that 70 percent of Australian marketers believe their content marketing is limited, inconsistent or basic.

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