• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 3, 2024

Content marketing may be front and center for most brands. But that doesn’t mean they are doing it well, according to Content Marketing & AI, a study by Ascend2.

Only 23% consider their content marketing to be very successful, while 73% say it is somewhat successful. 

Granted, they face numerous challenges:

• Generating enough traffic and leads — 55%
• Finding and targeting the right audiences — 46%
• Improving content engagement — 37%
• Lack of budget and resources — 34%
• Integrating AI into content strategy — 26% 
• Implementing the right technology to execute — 25% 
• Measuring ROI/attribution — 24% 

Metrics are very critical. Companies use these measurements to determine success, some of which are tied to email marketing: 

• Social media — 43% 
• Website traffic — 42% 
• Conversion rate — 42% 
• Return on investment (ROI) — 41% 
• Engagement — 40%
• Lead generation — 34% 
• SEO performance — 16%

Which channels are they using? Email can be utilized to drive most of them: 

• Social media posts — 70% 
• Videos — 45% 
• Infographics — 28% 
• Blog posts — 22%
• Webinars — 18% 
• Podcasts — 15% 
• Ebooks/whitepapers/research — 13%

In general, brands do the following to keep content relevant and engaging:

• Regularly updating existing content — 70% 
• Using feedback from sale/customer service teams — 50%
• Analyzing content performance data — 49%
• Following industry trends and news — 43%
• Conducting audience research and surveys — 31%
• Collaborating with influencers and industry experts — 27%

How has AI affected content? Of the companies polled, 56% see moderate improvement, and 22% significant after using AI. But 22% say quality has decreased.  

Still, that is not preventing firms from using AI in their content marketing. They now deploy it for: 

• AI-powered content creation — 30% 
• AI-driven content personalization — 24% 
• AI-based content distribution and scheduling — 23% 
• AI-powered analytics and insights — 36%
• We don’t use AI at all — 23%
• We don’t use AI but plan to in the next 12 months — 16%
• None of the above — 8%

What does the future hold for AI? The respondents predict:

• AI will become essential for content marketing — 36%
• AI will complement existing strategies but will not be essential — 36% 
• AI’s role will remain about the same as it is today—8%
• AI’s roll will diminish — 4%
• Unsure — 16%

Ascend2 surveyed 333 marketing decision makers. Of these, 20% are in B2B, 53% in B2C and 27% in both equally.