Content marketing has become increasingly popular over the past few years. If done right, consumers benefit from relevant and interesting content at no charge while businesses can cultivate a positive image and improve customer loyalty. So much for the theory. But how widespread is content marketing in the year 2015?

To get an impression about the level of importance businesses ascribe to content marketing, media agency Namics surveyed 59 companies from different industries about their implementation of the subject. The sample shows that content marketing looms large with the respondents as only 15 percent stated they did not practice any form of ad-free marketing.

While an overwhelming majority of 85 percent of the study’s participants is active in the field of content marketing, only one third actually has a content strategy in place. Asked what the biggest challenges were, both groups agreed that limited resources such as knowledge, budget or time were the major impediments (71% of non-active business and 17% overall).

Conclusion: Although not representative, the survey indicates that content marketing has become an established strategy by 2015. Businesses are well aware of the importance and the opportunities content strategies offer.