B2B buyers find nearly 70% of the content they need on their own, and up to 60% of B2B buying decisions are completed before engaging with a supplier’s sales representative.
Source: Content Marketing Is A Key Differentiator For Tech Marketers, Forrester Research, 2012
93% of B2B marketers are using content marketing in 2014, up from 91% in 2013.
42% of B2B marketers say they are effective at content marketing in 2014, up from 36% in 2013.
The most effective B2B content marketers have a documented content strategy (66%), have someone who oversees content marketing strategy (86%), use an average of 15 tactics, use an average of 7 social media platforms, spend 39% of their marketing budget on content marketing, and are challenged with producing engaging content (35%).
B2B content marketing usage by tactic in 2014:
- 87% Social Media – Other than Blogs
- 81% Articles on Your Website
- 80% eNewsletters
- 76% Blogs
- 76% In-person Events
- 73% Case Studies
- 73% Videos
- 68% Articles on Other Websites
- 64% Whitepapers
- 63% Online Presentations
- 62% Webinars/Webcasts
- 51% Infographics
- 44% Research Reports
- 40% Microsites
- 38% Branded Content Tools
- 35% Print Magazines
- 34% eBooks
- 30% Books
- 28% Mobile Apps
- 27% Digital Magazines
- 26% Podcasts
- 25% Licensed/Syndicated Content
- 25% Virtual Conferences
- 24% Annual Reports
- 22% Print Newsletters
- 10% Games/Gamification
B2B marketers rate the most effective tactics they use:
- 70% In-person Events
- 65% Case Studies
- 63% Videos
- 63% Webinars/Webcasts
- 62% Blogs
- 60% eNewsletters
- 59% Research Reports
- 59% Whitepapers
- 58% Articles on Your Website
- 57% eBooks
B2B marketers use the following social media platforms to distribute content:
- 91% LinkedIn
- 85% Twitter
- 81% Facebook
- 73% YouTube
- 55% Google+
- 40% SlideShare
- 34% Pinterest
- 22% Instagram
- 22% Vimeo
- 16% Flickr
- 15% StumbleUpon
- 14% Foursquare
- 14% Tumblr
- 14% Vine
B2B content marketers use an average of 6 social media platforms to distribute content in 2014, up from 5 in 2013.
B2B marketers rate the most effective social media sites for content distribution:
- 62% LinkedIn
- 50% Twitter
- 48% YouTube
- 45% SlideShare
- 40% Vimeo
- 30% Facebook
- 26% Pinterest
- 23% Instagram
- 22% Vine
- 21% Google+
B2B organizations’ goals for content marketing in 2014:
- 82% Brand Awareness
- 74% Lead Generation
- 71% Customer Acquisition
- 68% Thought Leadership
- 64% Engagement
- 57% Customer Retention/Loyalty
- 57% Website Traffic
- 47% Lead Management/Nurturing
- 45% Sales
B2B marketers monitor the following analytics for content marketing success in 2014:
- 63% Web Traffic
- 54% Sales Lead Quality
- 50% Social Media Sharing
- 48% Sales Lead Quantity
- 44% SEO Ranking
- 40% Time Spent on Website
- 39% Direct Sales
- 39% Qualitative Feedback from Customers
- 34% Inbound Links
- 32% Subscriber Growth
- 29% Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness
- 24% Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness
- 21% Increased Customer Loyalty
- 14% Cross-selling
- 6% Cost Savings
58% of B2B marketers in 2014 plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months. The most effective B2B marketers spend 39% of their budgets on content marketing.
B2B marketers segmented their content in some or all of the following ways in 2014:
- 65% Industry Trends
- 59% Profile of Individual Decision Makers
- 55% Company Characteristics
- 43% Stage in the Buying Cycle
- 21% Personalized Content Preferences
- 11% Competitors’ Content
- 4% None
Companies adopting content marketing operations, similar to the companies researched, can expect a nearly six-fold revenue lift in their content marketing efforts. For an average B2B company, this can equate to additional revenues of approximately $11.9 million per year.
Source: Kapost’s Content is King: Measuring the ROI of Content Marketing Operations 2014
Only 43% of companies have a content marketing strategy executive, who is critical for a best-in-class content strategy.
Source: Curata 2014 Content Marketing Tactics Planner (Respondents 53% B2B / 12% B2C / 28% both)
The average desired content marketing mix is 61% created, 27% curated and 12% syndicated.
Source: Curata 2014 Content Marketing Tactics Planner (Respondents 53% B2B / 12% B2C / 28% both)
39% of marketers plan to increase their investment on curated content in 2014 to complement created content and better leverage content marketing resources.
Source: Curata 2014 Content Marketing Tactics Planner (Respondents 53% B2B / 12% B2C / 28% both)
90% of companies were driving awareness and demand generation efforts with content, relying most heavily on text-based formats including white papers/article posting, social media, blogs, newsletters, and case studies. In contrast, the more progressive companies, although not necessarily abandoning these tactics (although some are), are certainly taking a closer look at which tactics are higher in communication power and lower in competitive noise…“visual content” e.g., video, photography, custom illustrations, illustrative animation, and diagrams/informational graphics.
Source: CEB Marketing Leadership Council’s The Digital evolution in B2B Marketing 2011