Content
Marketing
PREDICTIONS
FOR 2014
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To heck with the vague predictions...here’s three specific predictions:
 Microsoft will buy one, maybe two, media companies in certain industries. The
outcome will pave the way for further media purchases throughout the year by
non-media companies.
 Red Bull will announce a series of daredevil movies to be produced by Amazon.com.
 At least three Fortune 500 brands will hire a Chief Content Officer.
JOE PULIZZI
@JoePulizzi
FOUNDER
CONTENT MARKETING INSTITUTE
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2014 will be the year of short form sound, sight and motion... gifs,
vine and instagram videos will deliver greater viewership and higher
engagement than long-form. Agencies will compete over who can
tell the shortest stories with the biggest impact. Consumers will be
charmed as their attention spans continue to deteriorate!
Julie Fleischer
@jfly
Director, Media & Consumer Engagement
Kraft Foods
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The strategies behind paid, owned and earned content will
merge even more - and 2014 is the year that companies finally start
to proactively and formally create internal organizations for the
management of content marketing strategies.
ROBERT ROSE
@Robert_Rose
Chief Strategist
Content Marketing Institute
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Sadly, brands will struggle to do more than shill their wares.
Hopefully, the smart ones will start seeing content as an engine to
extend the brand narrative beyond advertising. Content as means
of brand personalization will be key. We will also see new tools (like
Buffer app) to help automate and organize this mass content as well.
MITCH JOEL
@mitchjoel
President
twist image
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Bigger success, less content. That’s the motto I expect to see more
and more content marketers embrace in 2014. With more and more
organizations taking a more strategic approach to driving sales
and higher-quality leads, we’ll see brand marketers create content
brands designed to build subscription-based relationships with a
loyal audience. Subscriptions that demand higher-quality content,
delivered consistently and shared widely.
ANDREW DAVIS
@TPLDrew
Author of Brandscaping & Marketing Speaker
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In 2014, more brands will partner with publishers beyond the ad buy.
I am not talking about “native ads” that consumers ignore but true
content partnerships where brands and publishers will co-create
sponsored content for both the publisher and brand websites and the
social web (paid, owned and earned).
Michael Brenner
@BrennerMichael
VP, Marketing and Content Strategy
SAP
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Content becomes the currency of the Modern Sales professional.
Sales people will use content to be part of the buyer’s learning
party (57% of the buying process is done prior to engaging Sales).
The modern sales professional is a content connoisseur and an
information concierge with a strong personal brand.
Jill Rowley
@Jill_rowley
Social Selling & Social Business Evangelism
Oracle
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Brands begin to realize visibility is a commodity. Everyone wears a
content marketing hat. Brands double down on the evangelist from
the magic middle rather than the thought leader. Longer content
will seek out the longer tail which will come at a longer price, but
also with longer results.
FRANK STRONG
@Frank_Strong
Communications Director
LexisNexis
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As the market continues to mature the role of technology
will play an increasingly critical role. Content strategies will
include technology recommendations to ensure the
proper outcomes are measurable.
Craig Hodges
@king_content
CEO
King Content
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The volume of content necessary to earn and keep attention will skyrocket,
as more brands creating more content produces more brands creating
even more content. Thus, short-form, mobile-friendly micro content will be
the new strategic darling, with Instagram, Vine, SnapChat and other tiny
executions leading the way. In an effort to have some editorial rationale
for this avalanche of micro content, we will see an increase in brands
trying to ride the real-time marketing wave, with most of them looking
exceptionally vain and foolish while doing so.
JAY BAER
@jaybaer
PRESIDENT
Convince & Convert
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Real-time content marketing will become the new goal as companies
strive to participate in conversations versus just sending content to
people on their own schedule.
Mike Weir
@mikedweir
Global Head of Category Development - Technology
LinkedIn
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There is a definite trend toward small. If we can’t get big chunks of
content through a limited “pipeline” of brain cells, maybe we can get
grains of sand through. This would explain ideas like Vine (6 second
videos), infographics and even Pinterest, which is simply easy on the
eyes without a lot of processing.
Mark W. Schaefer
@markwschaefer
Excutive Director
Schaefer Marketing Solutions
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I predict that the need for translated content will increase, perhaps
exponentially, into 2014. More customers are translating more content
into more languages all the time. It is no longer acceptable to reach
international markets with an English-only strategy.
Val Swisher
@contentrulesinc
Founder & CEO
Content Rules, Inc.
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The “distribution” slice of the content marketing pie will grow in 2014.
As brands begin to create a surfeit of content, the meritocracy
(if one even exists) will shift from the “best” content to the
smartest distribution. Solutions designed to increase content
reach will rise in popularity.
JOE CHERNOV
@jchernov
VP CONTENT
HUBSPOT
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Brands maturing their content marketing efforts from increased
quantity to better quality will expand beyond providing useful
answers to customer questions in 2014. More brands will publish and
promote across channels integrating owned, paid and earned media
emphasizing a customer experience that attracts, engages
and converts across the customer lifecycle.
LEE ODDEN
@leeodden
CEO
TopRankMarketing.com
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Content marketers will discover that it takes more than publishing
content to move the needle.
ARDATH ALBEE
@ardath421
B2B Marketing Strategist
Marketing Interactions, Inc.
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In 2013, organizations got serious about content production.
In 2014, they’ll get serious about building out their teams.
Structuring and hiring around content marketing and
“content operations” will be a huge topic.
JESSE NOYES
@noyesjesse
Senior Director of Content Marketing
KAPOST
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Content marketers will become more adept at marketing automation
and analytics, enhancing their ability to maximize performance and
connect content campaigns to business results.
PAUL ROETZER
@paulroetzer
CEO
PR 20/20
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Last year I predicted that Brands will get serious
about planning content marketing.
While not enough did, I hope I wasn’t completely wrong.
For 2014, I predict tremendous growth for marketing automation.
Acquisition and consolidation in the space, along with the drive to
truly measure content marketing will fuel this.
WILL DAVIS
@willdavis
Chief Marketing Technology Officer
Right Source Marketing
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We predict that brand marketers will use video and other multimedia
formats to create deep and rich engagements with their customers.
Social media, tweets and other short-form mobile messaging will
not be used to carry brand messages alone but rather to promote
engagement with video content and other rich media formats.
Barry Harrigan
@BarryHarrigan
CHAIRMAN
Pure Incubation
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Marketers will begin to be smarter about creating one body of
content and distributing it in a variety of short, easily digestible
formats. The research, preparation and effort that goes into writing
one 16-page white paper will be re-directed into short-form videos,
infographics, blog posts, LinkedIn updates, executive quotes,
survey snippets and shorter form information bits.
MELISSA CHANG
@mchang16
PRESIDENT & CEO
PUREB2B
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Marketers will embrace persuasive messaging as the best
way to make their content more relevant and influential.
Michael Cannon
@MessagingMatter
Silver Bullet Group, Inc.
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By now, many brand marketers have enjoyed some success with content. But, how do
you repeat that success reliably, across a large organization? You have to scale. So, in
2014, I predict brand marketers will focus more on scaling their content creation and
distribution. That means smart brand marketers will start focusing more on the 3 Es:
 Evaluating whether their content is effective and refining their strategy and tactics.
 Engineering their marketing automation, content management, and other
technology to make distribution faster, easier, and more agile.
 Empowering their in-house teams and outside partners with training, templates,
and guides.
COLLEEN JONES
@leenjones
PRINCIPAL
CONTENT SCIENCE
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In 2014, content marketing will be more closely tied to demand
generation. We already understand that more content doesn’t
equal better content and quality wins, so there will be a shift to the
distribution side of content marketing to ensure all content is
reaching the right audience and driving results.
AMANDA MAKSYMIW
@amandamaks
Content Marketing ManageR
Lattice Engines
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I think we’re going to see consolidation of efforts, both in channel and in
how brands choose to manage content marketing. People are suffering
from fatigue, and yet there’s this sense you have to feed this hungry
content machine. We need to be more strategic so we
don’t overstay our welcome.
A good way to do this is really align content creation with business
objectives and get stakeholders on board with these efforts. Once you have
a clear road map, you really are following a strategy.
Ahava Leibtag
@ahaval
PRESIDENT
Aha Media Group
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We’ll start to see technical content marketing strategists
differentiating themselves from editorial/brand content
strategists by focusing on demand generation.
Furthermore, content creation as part of lead capture/nurturing
programs for customer acquisition and retention will become
more mainstream as pressure from management requires
an ROI on content.
Alana Fisher-Chejoski
@aussiegoldy
Content and Social Media Strategist
AMP
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As more companies embrace content marketing, those who
build larger, more engaged, direct audiences will see far better
results than those who rely solely on the kindness of Google and the
amplification of others. For that reason, my hope is that 2014 will
be the “Year of Audience” in content marketing such that we’ll see
companies invest as much in proprietary audience development
as they do creating quality content.
Jeffrey K. Rohrs
@jkrohrs
VP, Marketing Insights
ExactTarget
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Companies will put customer-centric content strategies and execution
plans together and stop random acts of content creation.
Sarah McIntyre
@brightinbound
DIRECTOR
Bright Inbound Marketing
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In 2014, the PR profession will no longer be a silo under marketing
but be fully integrated into the content marketing workflow as
owners of a brand’s story.
Heidi Sullivan
@hksully
SVP, Digital Content
Cision
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I think that all types and sizes of organizations, whether B2B or B2C,
will start focusing more on doing business person-to-person.
They will embrace the idea of being more transparent and authentic
in the content they create and overall conversations they
have with their customers.
Debbie Williams
@debwilliams23
Co-FounDer, Chief Content Officer
SPROUT Content
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In the past, quantity of content has been a large focus -- trying to
publish as much content as frequently as possible. In 2014, there
will be a large shift to quality driven both by Google’s algorithm
changes to reward unique quality content, as well as a greater need
for marketers to differentiate from each other as content marketing
goes mainstream. As a result, we will see a heavier emphasis on being
unique, adding value, annotating, and ultimately the convergence of
curated and created content.
Pawan Deshpande
@TweetsFromPawan
CEO
CURATA
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This will be the year of Content Marketing Operations as companies
bed down their people, processes and plumbing. Look for Centers
of Content Excellence that help big companies spread the
content gospel internally.
Plus the rise of content marketing technology as integrated
platforms eat up the point solutions. Game on.
(Bonus Prediction: Joe Pulizzi sues Fanta for use of orange).
Doug Kessler
@dougkessler
Co-Founder
Velocity Partners
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What will separate the long remembered from the quickly forgotten
will be the ability to connect all brand activities into a positive-sum
experience. Winner brands will be Secretaries of Understanding,
Champions of Network Smarts, and Meaningful Actions Agents
who master the ability to draw relationship between relationships.
Valeria Maltoni
@ConversationAge
Founder & CEO
Conversation Agent LLC
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Brand marketers, whether B2C or B2B, will need to focus more on impact
and less on reach in 2014. While studies show that most brand marketers
believe their content can, and should, drive new leads, successful brand
marketers are already having influence on the majority of the
new business they obtain.
In regards to distribution, brand marketers will continue to rely less on
search as they realize that not only is Google a competitor, but their
prospects and customers are smarter and more empowered.
Rob Yoegel
@robyoegel
Content Marketing Director
Monetate
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PR will finally put traditional tactics such as press releases and media
outreach in their place as part of a bigger content marketing plan.
They will push back in favour of PR that puts them in the role of
publisher and facilitates true storytelling.
Maggie Patterson
@magspatterson
PRESIDENT
Maggie Patterson PR
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Acquiring valid email addresses will be THE most important goal
of content marketing. Not Twitter followers, not Facebook fans,
not G+, not the number of downloads or visitors to a landing page,
and certainly not RSS subscribers.
2014: The target is the inbox and the killer app is email.
John Fox
@b2bmarketing
CEO
Venture Marketing
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More content marketers will realize that “story” is everything. Without
a coherent story to bring together the message, all they have is more
disconnected dots, more noise, and more confusion.
Related prediction: Realizing this, more laid-off journalists will recreate
themselves as brand journalists.
Related prediction: A few enlightened content marketers will see that “less is
more” and free themselves from their onerous editorial calendars. They will
publish less but more substantial content that works harder and lasts longer.
Gordon Graham
@WhitePaperGuy
white paper writer
ThatWhitePaperGuY
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Next year, personalization will be the name of the game.
Much like Pandora learns from music choices, brand marketers will
curate and create content that learns from reader choices.
That’s why the most effective content curation solutions will
make use of machine learning technology that delivers an
individualized, content-rich experience.
Patricia Hume
@Trapit
President
TRAPIT
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Next year sees the rise of much more quality and long-form content.
Sites aggregating masses of low-value keyword-stuffed articles
for SEO is over, thanks to Google. We’ll see content mill and revshare
junk-article sites continue to plunge in search rankings and traffic.
Many such platforms will die, merge, or go in new directions
for content development.
Carol Tice
@TiceWrites
CEO & Janitor
Make a Living Writing
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More companies will hire a cross functional editor-in-chief
in charge of all editorial content produced by the company.
Joakim Arhammar
@jarhammar
Content Strategist
KW Digital
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I think the main trend will be towards more. I don’t mean that in terms
of quantity, but rather more formats, posts that pack in more useful
information and an acceptance that good content marketing requires
more time and effort than some previously realized.
Kristen Hicks
@atxcopywriter
Freelance Copywriter and Content Marketer
Austin Copywriter
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New visual and video tools will make it easier for marketers to create
easily viewable content, and social plugins will make it possible to
share across multiple channels at once. To really win though, these
tools will need to provide detailed analytics.
Andrea Bridges-Smith
@abridgessmith
Content Marketing Manager
Spanning Cloud Apps
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As the surge for great content continues to pull for brand marketers’
time, 2014 will see more brand marketers outsourcing at least some
of their social media efforts. Or at least purchasing more social media
conglomeration, posting and analyzing, services or platforms.
Heidi Rust
@hlrMN
Web Marketing Specialist
@Esultants
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As brands develop content marketing strategies (and they will),
they will scale back the number of channels they use and the amount
of content they push. This will streamline the lead generation
process and improve overall quality.
Mike Mooney
@michaelmooneyy
Marketing Communications Specialist
SRI International
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Inbound-only approaches (and the hype surrounding them) will
lose some of their shine as they struggle to get noticed over the
deluge of competing content. Outbound content marketing and
content-based nurture campaigns will drive the majority of
tangible revenue-generating performance in 2014.
Jason Ball
@ConsideredB2B
Chief Content Officer
Considered Content
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Real-time content marketing will emerge as a new tool for marketers
to take advantage of live events
Andris K. Berzins
@akberzins
CEO
BUZZTALE
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I believe we’ll see much more collaboration in the vein of
brandscaping. Influence marketing will also be a huge strategic
focus. On the channel side I think Slideshare will become a powerful
tool for repurposing, atomizing and distributing content
in epic proportions.
Greg Elwell
@gregelwell
Principal
B2B Inbound
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Content Marketers will embrace their sales teams having them
personally use content to help develop and close opportunities.
Cliff Pollan
@cliffpollan
CEO
POSTWIRE
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Marketers will learn that they will not succeed with their content
marketing efforts without a solid content strategy! And therefore
companies really need to establish a powerful content department
dealing with all content issues in daily business. So hopefully in 2014
companies stop spreading the content work via various departments
that are not communicating with each other and start getting content
marketing into a solid, centrally-organised framework.
Miriam
@TC_ThinkContent
Consultant, Lecturer
Think Content!
contentmarketinginstitute.com
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In companies across the globe, social content marketing will start
to become widely disseminated in-house, with employees
contributing to the content needs of large brands. Marketers
will also continue to pervade the mobile space, where new
technologies like augmented reality and 3D printing present
new marketing opportunities for innovative brands.
Carla Dewing
@Carladewing
CEO, Social Content Strategist
Contrast Media
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