It has been a busy start to the summer in the world of content marketing, and our copywriters have noticed an uptick in the news media covering our industry and its major players. The following is a rundown of some of the more interesting stories over the past week or so:
Cleveland Plain-Dealer: Content Marketing Institute Sold for $17.6 Million
The Cleveland-based Content Marketing Institute has officially been sold to UBM PLC, a London-based company, for $17.6 million. CMI has become known throughout the content marketing industry for its thought leadership and events—including the well-attended Content Marketing World. According to the new owners, the event will continue to be held in Cleveland for the foreseeable future.
AdExchanger: Content Marketing a ‘Calculated Risk’ for Regulated Brands
For companies operating in highly regulated industries, there may be some risk associated with content marketing. Federal regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission all have rules governing what they define as “unfair” or “misleading” practices—and those rules could apply to how these brands position themselves online.
In fact, the FTC has recently released native advertising enforcement guidelines, requiring regulated companies to maintain stringent standards of transparency.
O’Dwyer: Don’t Forget Multiculturalism in Content Marketing
Jose Villa had an interesting piece in which he reminds us all that although most content marketers are focused on engaging Millennials, some are missing the fact that nearly half of Americans in this age group are Hispanic, African-American or Asian. Further, even if they are paying attention to these target audiences, marketers tend to reach out to them in all the wrong ways.
KO Marketing: B2B Brands Beef Up Content Marketing Teams
A recent study has found that more B2B organizations are ramping up their content marketing efforts—and their hiring more talent to make happen. According to the report, from Curata, about 42 percent of companies now have an upper-level executive in place to oversee content creation, and that rate is expected to increase to more than half by the end of 2017.
Business2Community: False Assumptions Lead to Failure for Too Many Content Marketing Strategies
One of our favorite blogs, B2C, ran a story this past weekend on the 11 false assumptions executives make when it comes to content marketing—and how those assumptions often lead to premature failure for their content creation efforts. It’s a great read, especially if you’re relatively new to content marketing.
As content marketing continues to become a dominant strategy for both B2C and B2B brands, we expect to see the mainstream media place more emphasis on it in the months and years to come. Stay tuned for more updates from our team of copywriters and editors.