Content the biggest communications challenge for APAC businesses

Content production, measuring the impact of campaigns and budget constraints are the top three challenges faced by APAC PR businesses, according to a new report from PR Newswire.

The 2020 Asia-Pacific Corporate Communications Report surveyed 948 PR and communications professionals from 10 markets in the region to explore the key corporate communications challenges and identify industry trends.

Across all markets, the logistics involved in of engaging audiences through timely and effective content is the most pressing challenge for communications, encompassing not just content production, but also measurement and budgets.

The report found that 55% of respondents identified producing diversified content for various channels as their number-one challenge. This was closely followed by the perennial question of campaign measurement, with 54% saying they were challenged by measuring the impact of content marketing, specifically around branding and sales conversion. Budget restraints are also an ongoing concern, with 51% saying the communications budgets allocated to content production were a challenge.

In better news, the report reveals that discussions around content are almost uniformly reaching the decision makes in the C-suite, with 93% of C-level executives participating in content discussions, which bodes well for the future.

The report also shows significant regional variation of these core communications challenges. For Vietnam, measurement is by far the biggest challenge, with 83% of respondents saying this was their key concern. Content production was the biggest challenge for both Korea and Mainland China, at 57% and 65%, respectively. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong the main challenge was maintaining trust and audience engagement at 63%. This compares to just 39% on average across all markets.

The full PR Newswire report can be downloaded here.