It’s becoming a truism that content marketing and native advertising are on a major growth trajectory.
But what could help? Research from PulsePoint and Digiday, which found that the growth rates for both will outpace other formats within two years, suggests it’s automation technology.
“When the study asked agency and brand professionals in the UK and U.S. about barriers that were preventing them from doing more with content marketing and native advertising, lack of resources and budget to deliver high-quality content efficiently was the biggest issue, cited by 55 percent,” explains eMarketer. “Difficulty measuring and proving return on investment (ROI) was second, at half of respondents. Coming in third was the inability to target and distribute at scale.”
That’s something new technology can address.
“Six in 10 agency and brand professionals and publishers said automation tools would allow for more precise data-driven targeting, and a close 58 percent would be able to resolve the ROI issue with better measurement and optimization techniques,” notes eMarketer. “Distributing content at scale and creating quality content more quickly were also expected to be results of marketing automation. In all, just 11 percent of respondents said such tech wouldn’t improve content and native.”
While content marketing and native advertising are separate categories, they both depend on updated modes of analysis and measurement — as well as the tech that fosters better engagement and response.
“Content marketing is the message. Native can be the envelope it is delivered in,” noted the researchers. “While marketers must indeed treat each as its own, content marketing and native advertising’s strong relationship means tech will reshape both simultaneously.”
