Content marketing will increase sharply as a proportion of international marketing budgets over the next four years.

That's according to data from UK-based research firm Technavio, which sees global content marketing spending rise at a compound annual growth rate of 16% through 2021. 

“The effectiveness of traditional marketing is decreasing by the day. Companies must adopt the latest marketing trends to enhance their business and increase their consumer base," said Ujjwal Doshi, a lead analyst at Technavio for media and entertainment services research. 

Technavio's findings come as the major ad holding companies continue to experience a rocky financial year. WPP notified markets earlier this quarter it was lowering its earning expectations for 2017, with CEO Sir Martin Sorrell blaming the revised downward forecast on a "relatively low growth world" with very little inflation leading to a greater focus on cost.

WHY CONTENT FIRST

While the financial share of marketing budgets taken by advertising spend is complex and prone to fluctuation, the trend toward greater investment in content marketing programs is looking relatively firm. A survey from Bizible found that 70% of responding companies intend to keep increasing their investment into content marketing into 2018.

But why does everyone continue to talk about the importance of content? Why put content first in your marketing plan? What is so necessary about content anyway?

It's a fairly simple proposition. Content not driven by your products and services is, on balance, more interesting to your customer, both existing and future, than content led by your products and services. In the same way, advertising, which is a form of content, is less interesting to consumers than well-rounded, less promotional content that offers some degree of value to its audience beyond a simple attention grab.   

Of course, your products and services will interest some of the people some of the time, just as advertising will continue on occasion to grab their attention. But engaging content will serve value to more of the people more of the time.

It really is as straightforward as that. Put content-first marketing above ad-first, product-based marketing. Invest smartly and wholeheartedly in content, with a clearly documented strategic plan in place, and you will set your business up for long-term success.