Content publishers face competition from a wide variety of sources, including content marketing agencies which publish content for brands and companies around the world. The Content Marketing: Benchmarks from the Agency Perspective report from SharpSpring and Ascend2 provides insights from interviews with 521 sales, marketing, and business professionals related to content marketing, which Authoritative Content publishers can learn from. You can follow the link to request a download of the full report.Here are some lessons that Authoritative Content publishers should keep in mind as they develop their content strategies for the future.

1. Content agencies' challenges are not much different from Authoritative Content publishers' challenges

When asked what the most challenging obstacles to achieving their content marketing objectives are, one in two survey respondents reported that a lack of internal content creation resources is their biggest challenge. Ranking second was writing original articles and blog posts. Surprisingly, nearly one in three respondents indicated that a lack of an effective content marketing strategy was their biggest challenge. This is an area where Authoritative Content publishers should be able to excel and effectively compete against the deep pockets of content agencies' clients.

2. Content agencies primarily create four types of premium content.

Survey respondents indicated that the types of premium content that their agencies have created for marketing purposes are dominated by white papers (61%), case studies (56%), e-newsletters (56%), and videos (50%). Authoritative Content publishers have a few choices in competing with their own premium content: make it better, make it more focused, or create different types of premium content to fill gaps.

3.Content agencies believe that two types of premium content are most effective.

Despite creating a variety of premium content, when asked to identify the types of premium content used that are most effective in achieving important objectives, two types of content rose to the top: e-newsletters (21%) and case studies (21%). Notice that only about one in five respondents indicated that these "most effective" types of content actually worked for them in terms of helping them reach their goals. Authoritative Content publishers should consider the experiences of content agencies when formulating their own premium content strategies.

4. Authoritative Content publishers can differentiate themselves from branded content.

According to the survey report, content marketing agencies' clients typically, "prefer that their marketing agency uses fast and easy methods over what may be more effective methods." This presents a significant opportunity for Authoritative Content publishers to gain traction doing what they do best---creating high-quality, effective content.

Final Takeaway

Competing with content marketing agencies and their clients can seem intimidating in the world of digital content publishing, but there are always opportunities to exploit. Research studies such as this one provide a wealth of data to help your Authoritative Content stand out from branded content. Use the data to your advantage!