This slide should blow your mind. (And not because of the funny angle or the guy’s head in the bottom-right.)

Not only do 38 per cent of respondents say they have a defined content marketing strategy but 55 per cent say “No, but we are planning to.”
With that kind of buy-in the remaining eight per cent sound like a statistical error.

The figures (and gorgeous photography) come from an event last week launching research carried out for Outbrain. Econsultancy surveyed 1,300 digital marketing pros for them in July and August this year.

At Collective Content (UK) we know all about the shift to content marketing as a way to reach audiences and ultimately drive sales. Just this morning we retweeted eMarketer numbers proving sponsored content’s share of marketing spend is on the up just as display ads share decreases.

Publishers such as BuzzFeed, Forbes, Gawker and the Huffington Post all get this in spades. It is also central to the Atlantic’s new publication, Quartz.

But at last week’s launch it was interesting to hear a direct take on this from brands – brands who these days don’t have to use publishers to reach their audiences, we should add. For example Gatorade manager for Digital, Technology and Content Arif Haq (@arifhaq) spoke about PepsiCo’s close relationship with Team Sky, conquerors of the Tour De France this year, for engaging with customers through content while throttling back any reliance on banner ads.

And McLaren Automotive’s James Keady (@McLarenAuto) grounded the whole debate with a simple mnemonic that sports car-maker uses: DISC – does it sell cars?

Full report by Econsultancy is here (paid content).
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