More and more marketers are joining the inbound marketing revolution and creating a better experience for their customers. But with the growth of content marketing adoption comes another set of challenges. So what are the challenges? HubSpot’s latest research, partnering with BuzzSumo and others, shines a light on how to get ahead of other content marketers.

HubSpot recently teamed up with Smart Insights to survey over 700 marketers in Europe to identify exactly what these challenges are. We then gave the data to some of the industry’s leading experts to analyze and provide insights on what the data means — including BuzzSumo’s very own Stephen Walsh. We combined our findings into a report which you can access by clicking here: Driving Content Marketing Success, European Edition, 2015.

5 key Findings from European Content Marketers

1. Content marketing: you believe in it and are investing in it

97% of European marketers surveyed said they believe in the power of content marketing, and they’re backing that up with investment decisions. Over 25% of companies are increasing internal headcount for content marketing in 2015, and 28% are increasing agency spend.

2. Content creation is on the up…

71% of marketers in Europe are creating more content in 2015 than they did last year and one quarter of them are increasing their headcount just for content marketing. This means that marketers won’t stand out just for having content anymore– they need to stand out for having the BEST content.

3. …But quality is still a challenge

What’s also interesting is that 68% still rate their content marketing as basic or inconsistent, so there is still a ton of opportunity to get ahead of the game if you put the time into getting a good strategy in place now.

4. Plan to blog – that’s the way to succeed

79% of European marketers said that having a strategy and a plan was effective when it comes to content marketing (and of course, you can use BuzzSumo to research what’s trending and develop ideas for your content plan).

In terms of content types, 68% found success with blog posts and articles, the highest rated content type. Again, you can use BuzzSumo to see which content types resonate best for your audience, topic or target platform.

5. ROI is still a struggle for most

66% of European marketers measure social shares (as you can with BuzzSumo and other tools). But only 39% believe they are able to measure ROI on content marketing. Is this because it’s too soon, or they don’t have the right infrastructure in place? More rounded measurements are needed.