Almost two-thirds of marketers believe administrative tasks are taking up too much of their time and are frustrated that they cannot fully focus their efforts on more important content marketing processes according to new research released by London Research.

More than 700 executives at large tech vendors and brands were polled for their opinions on content marketing and the findings were collated in a report titled ‘The State of Universal Content Management 2020’.

The study took place over two months, concluding four days before the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic became clear in early March, but there are insights that remain relevant for marketers as many pivot to cost effective content creation during a crisis.

The main takeaway is that many are getting bogged down in tasks that have no direct impact on the quality of output. Nine in ten respondents say they wish they had more freedom to explore new ideas.

Three quarters of those surveyed believe the admin work they have to complete, often on a daily basis, is preventing content marketing campaigns from reaching their full potential.

The vast majority say if content-related admin was reduced, they would be confident in personally adding “significantly more value” to the business.

The scale of admin is highlighted by the fact that 52% of a marketers’ time is spent ticking boxes and completing mundane tasks. Marketers say the planning and production phases of content marketing only take up 48% of time.

The need to create and publish excellent content marketing materials is also being undermined by a haphazard approach to content management. Two-thirds revealed that they do not have a centralised hub for content.

This lack of structure makes it more challenging for marketers to manage content effectively, which makes admin tasks take up more time and resources than otherwise would be necessary. It also slows the pace of content processes considerably.

When asked what they would do to improve the situation, it is no surprise that the number one recommendation would be to create a centralised hub.

Marketers also believe management content by each single channel is a mistake as this leads to a range of integration problems and makes collaboration more difficult. An omni-channel approach should be the target for brands in 2020.

“Content creation and distribution has quickly become a mature market, but the management of content still lingers in an awkward, immature phase,” Censhare cmo, Mathias Wurth said in a statement.

He added: “Not being synched up from message-to-message and region-to-region only creates doubt and lack of trust in a businesses’ products and services.”

The lack of structure, already a problem before the outbreak of the coronavirus, has been felt more keenly during the last two months as brands struggle to get everything together and keep marketing campaigns on track.

The study also noted that content marketers are grappling with messaging issues as some campaigns hit the right tone with customers while others fail.

For the time being at least, outsourcing content management to an agency may be the best course of action.

Digital transformation schemes have been put on hold by the majority of UK-based businesses despite its importance for supporting remote working schemes and advanced tech that will shape the workforce during the next decade.

A new report published by Global Data Centers found companies are finding it difficult to untangle a web of multi-cloud services and online tech.

While cloud computing has helped many companies to improve the quality and efficiency of core operations, the disparate use of providers and services has created an additional major barrier that leaders are struggling to overcome.

Any failure to deploy digital transformation has been brought into sharp focus by the global pandemic which has forced companies to rely on digital infrastructures and tech for even the most basic day to day processes.

The report did not cover the potential impact of Covid-19 but the findings are worrying as companies that have failed to digitally transform may find it much more difficult to adapt and change amid a real world crisis.

A quarter of the respondents said their IT team’s time and resources are often wasted in attempts to get digital transformation projects up and running.

The stop start nature of these projects costs a business a staggering $2.48m every single year.

It does not appear to be for the want of trying either as projects are often greenlit with the goal of deploying new tech that could transform business prospects.

Many say cutting edge tech like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and software-defined networking (SDN) is being used.

However, 50% say projects are either “regularly” or “always” delayed, which is setting businesses back and wasting time and energy.

Two-thirds of businesses say they are now “heavily reliant” on a wide range of cloud services but that this is increasing the difficulty of integration.

Global Data Centers CSO, John Eland says connecting the dots between multi-cloud services and other tech is not easy and is one of the main reasons why transformation projects are not getting off the ground.

He added: “Adding further strain, there’s the risk that even just a Proof of Concept could have a negative impact on live production systems, leading to service failures that result in reputational or revenue damage.”

Eland believes all of these problems has created a phenomenon known as the “hesitancy gap”.

This is where IT teams are so focused on keeping everything in order that they forget to embrace new projects that can drive innovation.

As businesses try to make sense of a post-pandemic world, reducing this hesitancy gap and embracing digital transformation will be key to not only surviving but gaining an edge on competitors.

A couple of other findings from the report include the fact that UK enterprises delay transformation by nine months on average if they decide that they don’t have the time to build the right infrastructure to support.

The vast majority (94%) also say the only way to be truly “supercharged” in transformation is through the deployment of multi-cloud partners, services and connections without the need to bring it all together internally.

Marketers are still creating project-focused content in response to requests from internal decision makers rather than the needs of a particular audience or customer journey according to a new study released by the Content Marketing Institute.

While numerous whitepapers and reports have espoused the virtue of managing campaigns centred around the demands of target audiences and key personas, 43% of content creators still admit to creative being dictated by internal staff.

This means content marketing is by and large, acting in service to the wider business and the needs of specific departments rather than attempting to serve up articles, videos and blogs that audiences actually want and need.

CMI noted that this is typical of the “urgent” being given greater value than what’s important for the business in the long term.

Some enterprises are taking the right approach though. 30% of respondents said they have a persona-focused outlook where content is created for a particular audience. However, just 12% say their content is tailored for a specific stage in a customer’s journey or buying cycle.

CMI’s study, titled ‘2020 Content Management and Strategy Survey’ was fielded at the start of the year before the outbreak of the coronavirus.

CMI’s Robert Rose noted that the “disruptive change” forced by COVID-19 will require “fast and intelligent innovation”.

The good news is that 78% of those surveyed said they were already taking a strategic approach to the management of content in January and February this year, and 60% have a documented strategy in place.

For those not taking a strategic approach, a few of the issues that are preventing them from doing so are ‘lack of processes’ (63%), lack of urgency from leadership (57%) and a lack of investment in resources (52%).

Four in ten also blamed ‘organisation culture’ and a third said leadership does not see content as something that requires strategic management.

72% of respondents said their business does view content as core business strategy but the issues listed above have made it more difficult to achieve success.

The business-centric outlook to content is more surprising considering that marketers said the single biggest factor contributing to success is the ability to “understand and connect” with audience paint points, interests and values.

A sizable 50% of respondents said this was a top factor putting it way ahead of clear roles and responsibilities for content creators (25%) and the ability to extract insights from campaigns (10%).

Finally, when planning content, marketers are most likely to consider how best to drive their brand’s value proposition and show empathy to customer needs and interests.

These two values are not incompatible but it can be challenging to closely align the interests of the company with customer’s values when creating content.

Mr Rose said things could look different after the pandemic, especially as 73% of respondents admitted that their company is not making full use of content management tech.

He concluded: “Will that change in a post-COVID-19 world? As the shift to more remote work expands, will we see more collaborative content management and strategy features integrated into classic software suites?”

Triggering the right emotional responses with ad content can help brands to engage and connect with audiences amid the challenges of the global pandemic according to a new study released by video ad tech enterprise Unruly.

More than 2,260 consumers in the UK were analysed through their emotional responses to ad content, more specifically campaign ads centred around the response to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus.

Unruly used its own content measurement tool to gauge the emotional impact of advertising with a ranking between one and ten. The results were then ranked and compared to thousands of other general ads.

Brands have been rolling out their own coronavirus campaigns during the last few weeks and some have triggered a greater emotional engagement than others.

ITV’s ‘Apart, But Never Alone’ campaign topped the list after Unruly found that 40.50% of viewers had an intense emotional reaction to the content.

The NHS and UK government’s ‘Stay At Home’ was second with a 39.90% intense reaction share, just ahead of Jack Daniels’ ‘With Live Jack’ (37.30%). Nike, EE, Lego, Tesco and Facebook also featured in the top ten.

While not every brand will launch coronavirus-centric campaigns, the study shows that audiences are very open to content that can trigger more heartfelt reactions from audiences.

These ads can have a lasting impact too. Four in ten respondents said they had a more favourable view of ITV after seeing its ad campaign.

ITV used a variety of “familiar faces” to deliver its uplifting message which gave viewers a sense of continuity and reassured them that everything would be okay.

However, Unruly’s global vp of insights and solutions, Rebeeca Waring believes viewers could eventually become fatigued by content with similar messages and emotional tones.

She added: “To avoid this, brands need to ensure their ads are strongly branded and their brands are central to the storyline, not an afterthought. People are looking to brands to provide a sense of continuity, and your distinctive brand voice has an important part to play.”

Unruly carried out another consumer survey soon after the lockdown was put in place in the UK. It asked what content they would like to see from brands during the pandemic.

Ads showing warmth and happiness were the most wanted overall but around half of respondents said they were eager for more informative content as they looked to make sense of new working and social norms.

Brands who have missed out on the first round of content campaigns may want to tap into the desire for more informative ads, as well as articles and blogs, as the government prepares to outline new measures as social distancing guidelines are eased.

Regardless of the emotional triggers, the studies highlight again how important content is for audiences even if they are not in a position to purchase products or services at the current time.

Brands that can create memorable campaigns and support customers will generate goodwill when things eventually get back to some sort of normality.