With the holiday season around the corner, it’s time for the King Content team to take a break from the last-minute client push for content, reflect on the year that was and look to the future with our content marketing predictions for 2014.

1. PRESENTS…
14 Content
marketing
predictions for
2014

2. Looking beyond the buzz
Having lived and breathed content marketing for the past four years, I could
make any number of predictions for 2014 – from new tech platforms and the
increasing importance of audience segmentation and personalisation to the
growth and transformation of the Australian content marketing industry as a
whole. I could go on and on.
If I were to really forecast the next 12 months in content marketing, however,
I would say that 2014 will be the year that we, as content marketers, stop
being the darling child of the marketing industry and become just another –
although critical – component in any effective marketing strategy.
Craig Hodges,
CEO, King Content
The spotlight on content marketing has certainly been exciting, energising and validating, but I’m
looking forward to this next stage. Looking beyond the buzz, brands will begin to really come to
grips with the tactics and mechanisms required to drive results and ROI. They will realise that in
order to be effective in today’s highly competitive digital marketplace, they need a dedicated
content marketing strategy.
This level of adoption and integration has always been our goal. While 2014 may not be as
exciting as the whirlwind of 2013, I think it will be more rewarding. In 2014 we won't have to
educate our clients – just deliver results for them.

3. Cameron Upshall,
Commercial Director,
King Content Melbourne
Content technology
In 2014, content marketing will become even more reliant on the
effective use of technology platforms to drive business results.
Next year’s content marketing superstars will be those who
master highly integrated technology platforms to plan, automate,
amplify, measure and refine their content marketing strategies.
We will also see the number of content-influenced software
platforms explode. A high number of specialized niche platforms
will come on the scene, solving a number of key challenges for
content marketers. This will see a very fragmented content
technology landscape in late 2014, with lots of smaller software
platforms doing only one or two things very well. Late 2014 will
see the start of a frantic consolation of these smaller players
though mega-vendor acquisitions.

4. Content marketing in Asia
Although still in its infancy, content marketing is rapidly growing to become the most influential
marketing discipline at both the client and agency level across Asia.
Marketers in Asia face a unique need for multi-language, multi-channel and multi-cultural
content creation and amplification, so a full spectrum of content marketing services – including
social media marketing – is in high demand.
The key challenges content marketers in Asia will come up against in 2014 will not, therefore, be
client acquisition, but the development and management of multi-faceted online channels using
a range of widely different languages and cultural norms. Existing content technology platforms
and social media marketing tools do not currently offer comprehensive solutions to these
challenges. Unless these come online soon, fragmentation will continue to prevail into 2014.
Peter Bakker,
Commercial Director,
King Content Singapore

5. Kye Mackey,
Senior Content Strategist,
King Content
ROI and lead generation
ROI, ROI, ROI! Making a return on your efforts is a fundamental business objective, but sometimes
marketing projects fly under the radar in the guise of ‘brand awareness’.
Now that content marketing is no longer seen as a nice-to-have, marketing teams will need to show
real, measurable returns on investment in their content marketing strategies. This skews the focus
towards lead generation and further highlights the need to set measureable content targets.

6. It’s time for
social media
to grow up
Paul Gilbert,
Social Media Director,
King Content
We are still very much in the infancy stage of social media development. Just as is the case with any
baby, as the days go by, we can start to see the type of adult it may grow up to become. In 2014 I
believe we will start to see less of the new start-up tantrums from previous years and more of the
established behaviours that come from large corporations with the ability to plan for the long term
with a level of certainty. I predict that the digital channel will move from being seen as an ‘addition’ to
traditional marketing spend to becoming the centre for brand campaigns and content engagement.
As Google, Microsoft and Apple continue their moves to control or own the online experience from top
to bottom, we will also see a consumer lead backlash in some areas where the online may split into
those who still see the internet as a free and open playground for information and sharing and those
who have grown up knowing it as a highly controlled, tracked and overly monitored public service
network – not dissimilar to a telco or gas company.
I predict we will see more buy-ups from the big three as well as the emergence of some more
traditional players attempting to acquire companies and networks of which they have little
understanding in the search of new lucrative revenue streams.

7. Amplification will reign
Where is your audience coming from?
This will be a key question for content strategists in 2014, as the market in Australia continues
to mature and brands enthusiastically embrace owned assets. It’s no longer enough to produce
great content and host it on a microsite ‘in the desert’. Visibility is key.
We’re increasingly seeing the benefits of a combined approach to amplification using social
media, SEO and SEM. Amplification tactics will form a key aspect of content marketing strategy
going forward.
Nicole Stevens,
Content Strategist,
King Content

8. Jo Sharp,
Sub-Editor,
King Content
Your customer is king
(not just your content)
As content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi said earlier this year, “There was a time for more, but that time
has passed.” Between 2010 and 2013, the volume of content on the internet is estimated to have
tripled and will only grow exponentially from here.
Moving into 2014, smart brands will seek to cut through the clutter by putting their customers at the
heart of their content. Relevance is a given: to get under the skin of their audience, they’ll find
innovative ways to inform, educate, amuse and inspire them, while providing real opportunities for
engagement. In so doing, they will be the ones who succeed in changing behaviour.

9. Brand journalism arrives
2014 will see the arrival of additional – and formerly traditional – media companies on the
content marketing scene. As this influx and evolution happens, we’ll see an associated increased
demand for and rise in employment of skilled former newspaper and magazine journalists in the
space, many of whom will find full-time work within content marketing agencies or marketing
divisions within large companies. The companies already in this sector will continue to hone
their brand journalism skills, new companies will look to the leaders for guidance and the
market for brand journalists will really begin to explode.
Kasey Clark,
Online Editor,
King Content

10. The rise of the content strategist
Using content to capitalise on our understanding of how brands, businesses and customers
engage, buy and sell online is the way forward for the digital marketing revolution. As we all
know, at the core of all good content lies a strategy. Enter the content strategist. The content
strategist is forecast to be an even greater asset to a company’s digital marketing approach in
2014.
Aside from the need to develop smart content strategies that go above and beyond the content
trends we’ve seen over the past three years, the role of the content strategist is imperative for
leveraging the impact of each customer’s and brand’s journey along the digital landscape. It’s
not enough to use content to engage customers on a superficial level – someone needs to be
watching, learning and optimising for success every step of the way.
Haylie Pretorius,
Online Editor,
King Content

11. Embracing real-time data
Gone are the days of producing a batch of 10 blogs and hoping for an organic search boost.
In 2014, real-time data capture, contextualisation and analysis will become critical to online
content marketers. Utilising content technology platforms marketers are now able to access
data on the performance of content across multiple channels and audience demographics in
real time. The availability of this data will mean that there is both little excuse for poorly
performing content and an amazing opportunity for marketers to adapt for increased success.
It’s time to embrace the data beast!
Elizabeth Penning,
Digital Marketing Coordinator,
King Content

12. Snapshots into 2014
Content will become more personal. Personalisation technologies will
increasingly be employed in order to present the right content to the right
audience at the right time. Highly targeted EDMs and website
personalisation, among others, will ensure well-crafted content will not fall
on deaf ears.
Content marketing and education will flirt. The educational aspects of
content marketing will become increasingly prominent. With marketers
focusing on how to best educate their and customers, opportunities for
collaboration with the new generation of online education providers such as
Khan Academy and Udacity will arise.
Content marketing will become more validated as a practice. Expect to see
the titles director of content and chief content officer spring up.
Content marketing will become an essential part of every agency. Just as
every agency now ‘does social’, soon the same will go for content.
Consolidation will continue to occur. With large media companies dipping
their toes in the water, it’s likely that we’ll see some interesting M&A activity
in the next 12 months.
Charles Jacobson,
Chief Technology Officer,
King Content Melbourne

13. Hummingbird and a new type of SEO
The introduction of Google’s Hummingbird means a complete revamp in the way search will
function in 2014. While some black-hat SEO folks won't like the idea of being unable to access free
keyword metrics, Hummingbird is cause for content marketers to celebrate.
Google is deliberately changing the way search works in order to provider better content, and
thus a better user experience, for consumers. We will likely see a huge surge in content marketing
services as companies big and small realise the importance of having high-quality, entertaining
copy on their website in order to boost their Google search rankings.
Simon Jones,
Senior Sub-Editor,
King Content

14. Social surge
Just as social media has infiltrated marketing, existing staff have been tasked
with these responsibilities. In 2014, I would expect to see more social media
specific roles and specialised outsourcing.
After the surge in visual content on social this year, I predict that creative video
content marketing will continue to evolve to be at the forefront of content
strategies.
Platforms to watch
Google+ is currently dominating search engine results, suggesting this will
become the leading channel for business content sharing next year.
Claire O’Dowd,
Community Manager,
King Content
As the fastest-growing social network in 2013, Pinterest will sky rocket next
year. It has recently introduced rich pins, personalised pin recommendations and
promoted pins. Watch this space.
LinkedIn has also had a year to remember, but I predict that the platform will
double in size next year to become even more of a content hub. The recent
introduction of Sponsored Updates will both facilitate this transformation into a
content hub in 2014 and provide a critical tool for brands who want to grow
professional brand advocacy and become industry influencers.

15. Know thy audience
The Content Marketing Institute's 2014 report on the state of content marketing in Australia
showed that only 52 per cent of marketers have a documented content marketing strategy.
Admittedly that’s better than the 44 per cent of B2B marketers and 39 per cent of B2C marketers
in North America that do, but now is not the time to feel in the dark for that blog post that
happens to be a hit.
In 2014, content marketers will have a serious look at their audience and figure out what makes
them tick to have a better chance of coming up with content that suits their needs and will keep
them coming back for more.
Lucy Sutton,
Content Strategist,
King Content

16. Do you have a prediction about
content marketing in 2014?
Share your predictions in the
comments section below and
tweet using #CMP2014

17. Presented by King Content, Australia’s most-awarded digital
content marketing agency.
Check out our blog for more content marketing insights and advice.
www.kingcontent.com.au
@King_Content