It is no secret that content marketing, as a sub-industry of marketing, has grown exponentially in the past five years due to the proliferation of smart devices and social networks. Recent data from Google Trends found that interest in “content marketing” grew steadily between 2011 – the year it is considered to have started having a major impact on the industry – and 2014, and then jumped 20 percent in quarter four of 2015.

Now, new research from Yahoo and Enders Analysis has predicted that content marketing spend in the UK is set to rise almost 180 percent from £125 million in 2014 to £349 million by 2020. This prediction is yet another sign for those in digital marketing jobs and other marketing jobs – and even some design jobs – that their futures could well lie in content marketing, or, at least, that their jobs will start to lean further and further towards “content” creation.

Even for those whose positions currently do not involve content marketing, the expectation from employers that candidates will possess at least some knowledge of content marketing will increase.

Consumers demand content

Yahoo and Enders Analysis say that the rise in the interest and spend in content marketing is down to “plummeting” distribution costs, as well as the online “maturity of brand advertising”. It can also be attributed to changing consumer behaviour and availability of technology. “The rise of content marketing reflects the increasing media appetite of today’s consumers”, said Nick Hugh, vice president for the EMEA region, at Yahoo.

Paid media on mobile devices is an upward trend, and the report predicts that by 2020, 73 percent of these paid ads will be content marketing and native adverts. If this is to be the case, the line between marketing and advertising is set to become even more blurred.

When applying for recruitment agency marketing jobs, it is definitely now worth considering how you can represent your knowledge and experience in content marketing on your CV. If you haven’t yet explored the world of content creation, now would be a good time to think about gaining some experience – whether through your current job, or through courses and training.