A new study shows that 70% of B2B marketers are creating more content than they were a year ago.
But that doesn’t mean they’re confident in their content marketing strategies. In the study, from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, of the 86% of B2B marketers who are doing content marketing, only 38% feel they are effective at it. Forty-two percent are publishing new content multiple times per week or daily.
“It’s an interesting time in marketing as there’s a clear shift in thinking from if content marketing should be implemented to how we can do it better,” said Steve Rotter, vice president of digital marketing solutions at Brightcove, which sponsored the study.
Sixty-nine percent of the B2B marketers surveyed ranked creating more engaging/higher quality content as a top initiative, followed by better website conversions at 63%
“As content marketing evolves, B2B marketers are learning that it’s not just about producing any type of content; more thought needs to go into it to be effective,” said Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, in a statement. “Without a strategy it is difficult to determine the best direction.”
Although the majority of those surveyed (83%) said they have a strategy, only 35% have it documented. Fifty-five percent said their content marketing budget is expected to increase next year.
“Blanketing people with junk isn’t content marketing,” says Chris Drury, president/chief creative officer, Drury Design Dynamics, in Chief Marketer’s special report on B2B content marketing trends, released last week. “People are beginning to understand that they need a strategy.
Steady with last year, B2B marketers use an average of 13 content marketing tactics, with social media—other than blogs (92%) remaining the top tactic and marketers using an average of six platforms. Other tactics include enewsletters (83%), articles on a company’s website (81%), blogs (80%), in-person events (77%), case studies (77%), and videos (76%)
On average, three paid advertising methods to distribute/promote content, with 80% using at least one. Of the paid advertising methods used, B2B marketers have the most confidence in search engine marketing (52%). Next in terms of effectiveness is promoted posts ( 41%), social ads (38%), and content discovery tools such as Outbrain, Taboola or nRelate (36%). And while 49% of marketers use traditional online banner ads, only 26% find them effective.
More than 1,800 B2B marketers in North America from diverse industries and a wide range of company sizes responded to the survey in July and August 2014. Click here to download the full report.
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