Content marketing vs. COVID-19. Trends for 2021

Coronavirus decimates global and European economies, but how does the content marketing industry fare?? The International Content Marketing Forum study looks at the current state and future prospects of the content marketing industry. Expenditure was estimated in European terms for the first time; the study is also the first on the Polish market, whichóre shows the full outlays on content marketing – oprócz production, distribution and promotion of content, also includes analysis and strategy development.

517 marketers participated in the study 2021 Content Marketing and Content Distribution: Current State and Perspectivesóof companies in nine European countries. According to estimates, in 2020 the value ofóThe total budget for content marketing amounted to EUR 13 billion. The largest market is Germany – EUR 7.83 billion (60.2% share), followed by Sweden – 930 million and Switzerland – 920 million (about 7.1% each).

The value of the Polish content marketing market was estimated at 420 million (3.2%). The Danish market is slightly larger, at €440 million (3.4%).

The highest annual budgets are held by companies from Switzerland (EUR 760 thousand), Germany (640 thousand) and Norway (620 thousand). In Poland, the average budget for content marketing is the smallest and amounts to 310 thousand EUR, which gives the amount of 1.4 million per year.

Expenditure on content production, content distribution and promotion accounts for 65-83% of the total budgetóin content marketing. As you can see below, Polish companies spend the largest part of their budget on promotion – 30% – The survey is also the first one conducted on the Polish marketóof the surveyed marketsów, production – 26% and content distribution – 22%. Relatively and actually the least – 11% – our companies spend on strategy and content design.

This determines the strength of Polish companies

Despite the aforementioned financial disparity, domestic content marketing is making up for it in fields such as content strategy, production and distribution, where it ranks among European leadersów. The strength of Polish companies is determined by developed strategy, production of high quality content and its effective distribution.

It is clearly visible focus on long-term strategy – as indicated by 80% of respondents from Poland, characterised by clarity and transparency – 74%, whichóThe implementation is supported by a range ofóboth managers and employees – 66%. Creating high quality content depends on regularity – 94% and maintaining high journalistic standardsóin quality – 75%. These are some of the highest indications in the entire survey.

In the field of content distribution, the use of róThe most important is in Austriaów. Polish companies wyróThey are using more of their own media, which is whyóin (owned digital) – 97%, organic social – 92% and paid social – 84%.

The most popular distribution channel in social media is Facebook – used by as many as 94% of Polish companies, which is the highest score in the entire study, followed by Instagram – 81%, YouTube – 63% and LinkedIn – 51%.

It draws attention to relatively high popularity of TikTok – 14% of marketersóIn Poland, this social network, which originated in China, is usedóThe percentage of respondents who support content marketing is the lowest.

The challenge for the Polish content marketing industry is undoubtedly organizational. Although 50% of companies have dedicated departments, only 23% employ a sufficient number of specialistsó(lowest result). The percentage of companies using content marketing platforms in Poland is low – 31%; for cfóIn Germany, 61% of the companies in the survey and 56% in Denmark – from Austria and 51% of – Denmark is using IT tools much more extensively in content marketing.

Content marketing? It works!

The following index valuesóThe results of COVID-19 confirm the high effectiveness of content marketing: it increases engagement, effectively builds trust and increases the value of brands. Polish companies are among theód of those who rate the effectiveness of of such actions (range of indications 76-95%).

Trends for 2021

Despite the coronavirus Most companies intend to invest significantly more in content marketing in the next three years; most in Austria – 89%, Poland – 87% and Belgium – 80%.

In terms of distribution, the role of podcasting is expected to growów – This is what marketers in the Netherlands think – 74%, Germany – 56% and Austria – 53%.

Companies in the industry want to supportóction with a smaller number of partnersóThe Polish content marketing industry is facing a number of challengesób. 69% of companies in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden plan to do so – 64% each.

The nature and role of content marketing will change. The importance of activities supporting the management of companies and integration of employees will increaseóIn, mainlyólowest rate in Poland – 52% and Austria – 50% and primarily in Germany – 69%. In Germany – 70%, Switzerland – 59% and Netherlands – 53% of companies use content marketing in HR policy (e.g. when recruiting an employeeóin), in Poland – only 26%, which is the lowest score in the survey.

Most countries surveyed believe that content marketing should include social, political and environmental issues (content activism). They are convinced of thisóMostly the marketing managers of German companies – 76% and Netherlands – 71%, in Poland The percentage of such indications is the lowest in the survey – 40%.

Impact of COVID-19 on industry

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic more companies focus more on using social mediów, in Belgium – 75%, the Netherlands – 63% and Poland – 59%.

It would seem that during a pandemic, companies should devote more effortóin supporting sales in krówithin a short timeframe – 48% of companies in Norway and 46% of companies in Poland still do.

However, it is not as significant a change as this: the pandemic has encouraged companies to build brand image through content marketing. Such activities, which are by nature long-term, are undertaken by 64% of companies in Denmark, 57% of – the Netherlands and 56% – from Belgium.

Polish companies are just behind the podium in this ranking – 47% of companies are more focused on long-term brand building, which goes hand in hand with the fact that 80% of companies surveyed focus on a long-term content marketing strategy.

COVID-19 has led to some changes and shifts, although has not paralysed content marketing, has not knocked it out, on the contrary, companies are showing great flexibility in adjusting their content marketing activities to the current situation, and forecasts for the coming years are extremely promising and encouraging – As many as 87% of Polish companies intend to increase spending on content marketing on the Polish market. Of course, our companies are not free from challengesód któhe biggest issues will be organisational and the relative infrequency of IT tools in content marketing, but how does this mówi: there is room for improvement.

Sorry to burden you with so many numbers, I couldn’t do it any other way (this is only a part of the report content) – that’s one thing, and two – Once you digest them, you will see how powerful these numbers will be! 🙂