Content marketers are now devising strategies and campaigns for 2018. With this in mind, CMI and MarketingProfs have just published their newest Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report to provide an overview of the latest trends among other useful information to help B2C brands plan and budget accordingly for the next 12 months.

Content is becoming more of an asset to modern enterprises with each passing year, so brands will be heartened to hear that two-thirds of B2C marketers believe they are achieving either “somewhat more” or “much more” success with their content marketing endeavours compared to a year ago. Almost nine out of ten respondents said they are now leveraging content in some form to achieve critical goals and objectives.

One of the most interesting takeaways is that the craft required to create high-quality content is now valued much higher by brands, as a sizeable 79% agreed that their organisation now places a greater emphasis on creative and production, which is a notable uptick from the 69% that said so during last year’s report.

Previous reports have cited a strong link between the most successful content marketers being more committed to the practice alongside having a documented strategy in place, and this again rings true. 93% of the top performers said their enterprise is either “very committed” or “extremely committed” to content, and of this successful group, 59% have a written strategy. In contrast, just 18% of the least successful marketers have a documented strategy.

However, the growing value of content appears to have resulted in an emerging trend of unrealistic expectations, as just 55% said their organisation has set realistic goals and targets for what can be achieved, which is well below the 68% that said so 12 months ago. Despite this, more than three-quarters believe their overall approach can be considered as anything from “moderately successful” to “extremely successful”.

“66% of B2C marketers surveyed said they’re more successful with content marketing compared with one year ago,” Content Marketing Institute’s Research Director, Lisa Murton Beets said. “At the same time, fewer B2C marketers than last year agreed that their organization has realistic expectations about what content marketing can achieve. One of the best ways content marketers can set appropriate expectations is to document their strategy. This will help stretched teams — even those that perform very well — focus on the priorities that matter most to their organization, and give teams that want to do more a starting point for building a business case for additional resources.”

MarketingProfs Chief Content Officer Ann Handley added: “Our research shows that B2C content marketers are placing a higher value on creativity and craft in content creation and production compared with one year ago.”

Marketers are using a variety of content formats to drive engagement, but social media posts topped the list of most popular resources, while videos, illustrations and photos, infographics, interactive tools and white papers rounded out the top six. Meanwhile, 79% agree that these resources have increased audience engagement during the last year, while 68% and 58% say content has driven lead generation and sales, respectively.