Within the report, you can see how companies’ marketing budgets compare to the previous year, what streams of content marketing are getting prioritized and what areas executives are hoping to bone up on for future expansion.

Because I love a good graph, here’s one from the report that gives you a better idea of what companies and brands are putting their attentions toward:

This information isn’t just helpful in understanding the  current landscape – it’s also great for identifying opportunities. For example, you might want to get ahead of the pack and learn more about mobile content (it doesn’t need to involve reinventing the wheel – in fact, there are lots of ways to take your existing content and make it mobile-friendly).

Understanding where you want to put your efforts is important – knowing how to do it right (like through proper content optimization) is imperative. Check out our free SEO tools to get an idea of what’s involved. If you like what you see, consider contacting a content marketing company (like ideaLaunch!) to improve your efforts.

Luckily for us, Joe Pulizzi compiled a bunch of these predictions last year in one convenient spot: Social Media and Content Marketing Predictions for 2009.

Predictions tended to fall into these categories:

Optimistic visions of what businesses should be doing:

• An emphasis on ROI (tracking it and focusing on projects with ROI in mind right away)
• Increased transparency
• Personality in content marketing
• Greater human touch in online customer service encounters
• Small business gets more on board with social media and content marketing

Adaptation to a troubled economy:

• Less ad buying, more content marketing and creative (but cheap) digital promotions
• Magazines continue to seek ways to monetize their digital presence and integrate print and / or make online content more engaging for readers
• With more journalists and columnists being let go from traditional media, companies that are keen to hire writers for content marketing now have great talent to pick from

“Big leap” ideas:

• Media, advertising and large agencies will start to collapse
• Twitter will be huge
• Communication will be super customized – you’ll get info you want, when you want it, how you want it.

So, what really happened?

A little of this, a little of that. Change, particularly when it comes to overall habits of consumers and businesses, don’t tend to shift suddenly.

The most accurate predictions revolved around the economy – there was less marketing and ad spending, magazines and newspapers felt the crunch and many a journalist and columnist was let go. Did businesses all turn to content marketing to fill the promotional void? Not quite – but some did. And some of those brands, organizations and companies did the things we optimistically hoped they would.  And a bunch didn’t. At all. In large part, there’s been a lot of trial and error went it comes to corporate use of social media and content marketing.

While exciting and sexy, the bold “big leap” predictions were a little out there. Media, while shaky in many regards, is still here. As is advertising. As are large agencies. And despite Oprah getting on the Twitter bandwagon and nearly every news channel referencing their own Tweets, Twitter has grown but hasn’t been adapted by the mainstream the way Facebook has. As for the customized communication – the 400 pieces of junk mail in my spam filter indicates that hasn’t exactly happened.

What’s most telling about our predictions vs. reality is how we can use them to plan for 2010 content marketing. We’ll let you in on some of those thoughts shortly!

We know, we know - but don't skip the planning entirely! From Office OFFline

While the comic above from the Office OFFline Comic Strip has a valid point, flying into a project – be it content marketing, hiring freelance writers or developing a new campaign – without thoughtful written direction or a plan is asking for trouble.

I can’t tell you how valuable it is – for everyone – to have a creative brief in place before a project starts. If you work in or with a marketing agency, briefs are the norm – but when you hire writers or designers on a freelance basis, the important step of the brief can sometimes get skipped in order to get the project rolling right away. I know us writers are amazing, fantastic, beautiful and humble, but mind readers, we are not.

What is a creative brief?
A creative brief is a written outline that reviews the important details of the project and the elements within it. The brief is even often used for potential freelancers and agencies to quote off of.

Who writes it?
The client or business who is hiring freelance writers puts the brief together (of if you’re working with a marketing agency, the account team works with the client to develop the brief). Don’t be afraid to ask your service providers for insight or help, though – especially if you’re a bit unclear on how the final product should turn out. It’s also normal for potential writers, designers or other service providers to come back with questions or ask for clarification after receiving a brief.

Why is a brief helpful?
While there’s some effort required by you at the beginning, in the long run, it can save you time, money and sanity. The brief not only spells out what you need from your different service providers, it can also help you – the client – get a better picture in mind of what you want in the end. Overall, a brief is the best way to get any project started on the right foot. Like they say – failing to plan is like planning to fail.

What is in a creative brief?
Briefs will differ, depending on the type of project or the type of service required, but we’ve put together a template of what’s typically included in a creative brief if you were to hire a freelance writer:

Company Background
Basic notes about the business. Who you are, your specialization, your goals. Try to keep this relevant.

Project Overview
Basic explanation of what is needed, including:

• Type of project (i.e.: writing a website, editing an article, etc.)
• Estimated length or size (i.e.: Seven web pages, 500-word article, etc.)
• Topic / theme / page headings
• Key information (this is especially necessary if the writing is about your company, product or services. Collect all the relevant information about it – if it’s lengthy, you can place it all in another document. Remember, your freelance writer doesn’t know your business as well as you do – do your best to give them the details. If the information all has to be researched by the writer independently, say so.)
• Key messages (are there specific messages that need to be said? List them.)
• Keywords or SEO requirements

Audience
Identification of the key audience(s) the piece is for and the level of writing required (i.e.: North American parents of newborns. Written at a level any high school grad can understand). Include any relevant research you might already have about your audience / consumers.

Communication Goals
Key goals the writer needs to be mindful of, in order or priority. (i.e.: To get people to sign up for our newsletter on internal linking strategy.) Refer people to your key messages if you haven’t already listed them.

Requested Voice
If you have brand guidelines written up regarding the writing style your company uses, include them. If not, think about how you’d like the piece to read (i.e.: Speak in the first person, make the piece conversational and include lots of “you” references).

Proposed Timeline
Key deadlines of both the writer and the client (i.e.: draft submitted by X date, feedback received by Y date).

Proposed Budget
Have a budget in mind? List if for the project. You may also want to include possible extra financial allowances should the project be extended / expanded. You can also leave this for the freelancer to bid on.

Take some time, pull it together and I promise you – your project and relationship with your freelance writer will be far smoother than had you skipped this step in an effort to speed things along.

Avoid Twitter Suicide: Image from Only Connect

By now, you’ve hopefully realized that a misstep in content marketing won’t wreck your bottom line and that there are things you can do immediately and long-term to recover (and even grow) from it – but some companies want to avoid the headache and handle content marketing and social media the right way the first time (imagine that).

Here are some simple tips for avoiding your own Midol Mom Controversy:

• Hire a content marketing agency (you knew we were going to say that, right?)

• Avoid a company of yes-men
  • It’s great when the team is all on the same page – but don’t instantly dismiss a dissenting opinion for the sake of group morale. They might have a point
  • Are you the boss? Passionate about a project? Just be sure you aren’t loving your idea (or yourself) so much that you can’t or won’t hear concerns about it from the underlings
  • Ask people who aren’t involved in the creative process for their thoughts (is your campaign targeting new moms? Ask the office accountant who just returned from mat leave for her honest feedback)

• Don’t be a Presumeavore, be an Informavore!
  • Besides stalking the market you’re after, consider getting a small focus group together and do a test of your campaign
    • If the feedback is negative, consider redoing the project
    • Track the campaign in all phases and see the first signs of trouble right away

• Learn from other flops
  • With your key staff, take some time review situations other companies encountered. Does your upcoming campaign bare any similar earmarks?
  • Role play and pretend your company was in the bad situation other companies have been in. How would you react? Who would do what? When? This is a great way to get a crisis communication plan in place
  • Need some examples? Some of these are web content projects gone bad and other cases are crappy situations that were amplified by the webizens of social media.:
    • The Motrin Moms controversy
    • Amazon’s accidental unranking of gay and lesbian–themed books
    • Pepsi’s Before You Score iPhone app (which received the hashtag #HowToAlientateWomen)
    • JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day “hostages”

• Keep it in perspective
  • Some people are griping about your campaign. Do you shut it down? Probably not. There’s an old marketing tale that says that no matter what you do, 15% of the audience is guaranteed to hate it. That’s your minimum. Humans don’t all like or respond the same way to stuff.
  • The fact is, you were goofing things up and ticking people off with your marketing decisions before – social media is just a more effective platform for people to tell you (and others) about it. So use it. Monitor it. Engage in it. Just don’t overreact over a few haters.