Doing more…

It may come as no surprise that demand for content is increasing – consumers are seeking out more visuals and video through their devices, and organisations are asking more from their content teams. Canto’s research found that more than three in four marketers (77%) expect their content output to increase in the coming year. No wonder they say their number one content challenge is keeping up with increasing demands – that’s an awful lot of new content to add to overfilled folders and a wobbly tech stack.

…With less

Producing more content, that’s good for content teams, right? Unfortunately, content professionals are facing added pressures which make the prospect of scaling up production pretty daunting. Around 17% are projecting budget cuts, and only a quarter feel they have the right tools in place to effectively meet the demands for digital content. There’s only so many years we can ‘do more with less’ before facing the facts – it’s time for a rethink. So, how are marketers tackling this content challenge?

A focus on quality

Our report found that marketers are determined to make an impact with their content and realise ROI. It isn’t only about increasing quantity, but ‘improving content quality and relevance’ which was named as the top priority for the year. This is a shrewd move: focusing on advanced targeting, audience segmentation, personalisation, and data analytics means your content is working harder for your organisation.

Getting organised

Here’s the real gem from the survey: the key to capitalising on content comes not just from what you create, but how you create it. It seems workflow inefficiencies are a huge obstacle for content teams, with nearly half of people (45%) saying they’re losing vital productivity due to disorganised workflows. And the problem seems to be getting worse, not better, as that figure is up from 38% in 2024. These inefficiencies waste time, stretch resources, and hinder creativity – it’s an alarming trend.

It’s interesting here to compare the experience of professionals who use a digital asset management (DAM) platform, against those with other methods of organising and distributing content. 

DAM users outstrip non-DAM users in every metric: they have a more efficient workflow, achieve higher content ROI, find measuring content performance easier, see better brand consistency, and experience smoother content distribution.

Harnessing AI

It should be no surprise that marketers intend to use AI to help automate those repetitive tasks which can be completed faster by machine than human. But what might surprise you is that marketers are even more likely to use AI to automate content creation itself – be that image, video or text – and to improve the quality of content (grammar check, anyone?). 

With an AI-powered platform like Canto, users can automate time-consuming tasks like tagging, video clipping and image resizing, plus features such as AI Visual Search enable you to quickly discover content simply through searching with natural language.

Achieve your 2025 content goals

Whatever your content priorities for the year, these findings are only the highlights – for more fascinating insights on content ecosystems, repurposing content, version control, managing product information and much more, simply access the full Canto report.

Canto is the industry leader in digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM), helping organisations worldwide improve their content lifecycle. 

For much more, read the full State of Digital Content 2025 report.