Post on 12-Sep-2021
B2B Enterprise Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America
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FOREWORDHello Enterprise Marketers!
Welcome to B2B Enterprise Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
When we recently surveyed 1,416 business-to-business (B2B) marketers from North America, we found that B2B enterprise marketers, when compared with the entire sample: Use more content marketing tactics Outsource content creation more often Are more often challenged with lack of integration across marketing.
There also are similarities. No matter what size their company: Approximately half of all B2B marketers plan to increase their content marketing budgets over the next 12 months Nearly all marketers segment their content in at least one way Just over 30% rate their organizations as effective at content marketing.
Despite the struggle with effectiveness, marketers from companies of all sizes appear to believe that continued investment in content marketing will pay off: Approximately half of those who rate their organizations as least effective are planning to increase their content marketing spend by nearly as much as their more successful peers are.
In this report, we take a closer look at how B2B enterprise marketers approach content marketing when compared with their B2B peers overall.* We think you’ll find the results interesting.
On with the content marketing revolution…
Joe PulizziFounderContent Marketing Institute
*See page 19 for study demographics.
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2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
95% of B2B enterprise marketers use content marketing.
OVERVIEW
Percentage of B2B Enterprise Marketers Using Content Marketing
95%
use contentmarketing
5%
do notuse contentmarketing
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B2B enterprise marketers use an average of 16 content marketing tactics.
CONTENT MARKETING BY TACTIC
Number of Tactics B2B Enterprise Marketers Use
27%21%
22%12%
11%
0 10 20 30 40
1%
20+ Tactics
16-19 Tactics
13-15 Tactics
10-12 Tactics
5-9 Tactics
1-4 Tactics Average: 16
B2B enterprise marketers use more tactics than their B2B peers overall, who use an average of 12.
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
CONTENT MARKETING BY TACTIC
Case
Stud
ies
Content Marketing Usage Among B2B Enterprise Marketers
(by Tactic)
0
20
40
60
80
100
In-p
erso
n Eve
nts
Artic
les o
n You
r Web
site
Socia
l Med
ia—
Othe
r tha
n Blo
gs
eNew
slette
rs
Micr
osite
s
Artic
les o
n Oth
er W
ebsit
es
Blog
s
Bran
ded C
onte
nt To
ols
Info
grap
hics
Rese
arch
Rep
orts
Prin
t Mag
azin
es
Mobi
le C
onte
nt
Mobi
le Ap
ps
Annu
al R
epor
ts
Licen
sed/
Synd
icate
d Con
tent
Virtu
al C
onfe
renc
es
Podc
asts
Digi
tal M
agaz
ines
Book
s eB
ooks
Gam
es/G
amific
ation
Vide
os
87% 86%W
ebin
ars/
Web
cast
s
82%78%
85%84%
73%
79%78%
70%69%
60%
51%
64%
46%49% 47%
42% 42%44%
41%38%
35%
Prin
t New
slette
rs
31%33%
17%
Whi
te Pa
pers
B2B enterprise marketers use videos the most, whereas their B2B peers overall use social media (other than blogs) the most (87%).
B2B enterprise marketers use all of thesetacticsmoreoftenthantheir B2B peers overall do.
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TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS
Like their B2B peers overall (67%), B2B enterprise marketers consider in-person eventstobethemosteffectivecontent marketing tactic.
Confidence GapEffectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among
B2B Enterprise Marketers
71%70%69%65%
63%60%59%55%52%50%
29%30%31%35%37%40%41%45%48%50%
Believe It’s Effective Believe It’s Less Effective
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
In-person Events
Case Studies
Research Reports
White Papers
Videos
Webinars/Webcasts
Branded Content Tools
Microsites
Licensed/Syndicated Content
eNewsletters
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
80%
76%
74%
71%
12%
20%
4%
16%
6%
1%
4%
2%
2%
4%
YouTube
Google+
SlideShare
StumbleUpon
Flickr
7% Other
Tumblr
Vimeo
Quora
Foursquare
Percentage of B2B Enterprise MarketersWho Use Various Social Media Platforms
to Distribute Content
0 20 40 60 80 100
B2B enterprise marketers use an average of four social media platforms, whereas their B2B peers overall use an averageoffive.
B2B enterprise marketers use FacebookasoftenastheirB2Bpeers overall do; however, they use Twitter (76% vs. 80%) and LinkedIn (71%vs.83%)lessoften,andthey useYouTube(74%vs.61%)moreoften.
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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B2B enterprise marketers cite brand awareness as their top goal for content marketing.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
Brand awareness is the top goal for B2B enterprise marketers and their B2B peers overall.
B2B enterprise marketers (52%) put more emphasis on lead management/ nurturing than their B2B peers overall (45%) do; however, most of the other goals cited here are similar for both groups.
Organizational Goals for Content Marketing
(B2B Enterprise Companies)
84%73%
69%69%
68%68%
58%52%
45%
Brand Awareness
Lead Generation
Customer Acquisition
Customer Retention/LoyaltyEngagement
Thought Leadership
Website Traffic
SalesLead Management/Nurturing
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1002013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
MEASUREMENT CRITERIA
Like their B2B peers overall (60%), B2Benterprisemarketersmostoften usewebsitetraffictomeasurecontent marketing success.
B2B enterprise marketers most often use website traffic to measure content marketing success.
Measurement Criteria forContent Marketing Success
(B2B Enterprise Companies)64%
51%48%
41%39%
36%34%
33%30%
23%23%
21%15%7%
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Website Traffic
Sales Lead Quality
Sales Lead Quantity
Direct Sales
Time Spent on Website
Qualitative Feedback from Customers
SEO Ranking
Social Media Sharing
Inbound Links
Benchmark Li� of Company Awareness
Benchmark Li� of Product/Service Awareness
Increased Customer Loyalty
Cross-selling
Cost Savings
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BUDGET
46% of B2B enterprise marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months.
Fewer B2B enterprise marketers (46%) plan to increase their content marketing budgets, when compared with their B2B peers overall (54%).
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
Content Marketing Spending Among B2B Enterprise Marketers
(Over Next 12 Months)
Decrease6%
40%Increase
6%Significantly
Increase
37%Remain the
Same
Unsure11%
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BUDGET
B2B enterprise marketers who rate theircompaniesasmosteffectiveat content marketing allocate more budget (33%) to content marketing than the average B2B enterprise marketer (24%); those who rate theircompaniesasleasteffective allocate just 16%.
On average, B2B enterprise marketers allocate 24% of their budget to content marketing.
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
Percentage of Marketing Budget Spent on B2B Content Marketing
24%22%
31%42%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Enterprise (1,000+ Employees)
Midsize (100-999 Employees)
33%Overall
Small (10-99 Employees)
Micro (Fewer than 10 Employees)
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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING
B2B enterprise marketers (65%) outsource content creation more frequently than their B2B peers overall (43%) do.
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
Insourcing vs. Outsourcing of Content Creation
(B2B Enterprise Companies)
35%0%
65%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
In-House Only
Outsourced Only
Both
65% of B2B enterprise marketers outsource content creation.
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SEGMENTATION
92% of B2B enterprise marketers tailor their content in at least one way, compared with 91% of their B2B peers overall.
How B2B Enterprise MarketersTailor Content
51%50%
57%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Company Characteristics
Personalized Content Preferences
8%None
8%Other
Profile of Individual Decision Makers
19%Stage in the Buying Cycle
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
Nearly all B2B enterprise marketers segment their content.
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CONTENT MARKETING CHALLENGES
B2B enterprise marketers (53%) are less challenged with producing enough content than their B2B peers overall (64%) are; however, they are more challenged in nearly all other areas shown here, especially with lack of integration across marketing (58% vs. 25%).
Producing the kind of content that engages is the top challenge faced by B2B enterprise marketers.
Challenges that B2B Enterprise Content Marketers Face
58%58%
22%
Lack of Integration Across Marketing
Producing the Kind of Content that Engages
48%
38%
42%
Lack of Budget
45%
Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals
38%
Producing a Variety of Content
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Producing Enough Content 53%
Lack of Knowledge, Training, and Resources
Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness
Lack of Buy-in/Vision
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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CONTENT MARKETING CHALLENGES
Producing the kind of content that engages is the biggest challenge for B2B enterprise marketers (20%), whereas producing enough content is the biggest challenge for their B2B peers overall (29%).
Three-times more B2B enterprise marketers (13%) say lack of integration across marketing is their biggest challenge, when compared with their B2B peers overall (4%).
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
Biggest Content Marketing Challengefor B2B Enterprise Marketers
20%17%
3%
Producing Enough Content
Producing the Kind of Content that Engages
12%
6%
8%
Lack of Budget
9%
Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals
6%
Lack of Buy-in/Vision
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Lack of Integration Across Marketing 13%
Producing a Variety of Content
Lack of Knowledge, Training, and Resources
Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness
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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
B2B enterprise marketers and their B2B peers overall rate their organizations fairly similar in terms ofcontentmarketingeffectiveness.
Just 32% of B2B enterprise marketers believe they are effective at content marketing.
How B2B Enterprise Marketers Rate the Effectiveness of Their Organization’s
Use of Content Marketing
4%28%
51%13%
2%
Very Effective
Not At All Effective
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
54321
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Profile of a best-in-class B2B enterprise marketer.
Comparison of Most Effective B2B Enterprise Content Marketers with Least Effective B2B Enterprise Content Marketers
Percentage of marketing budget allocated to content marketing
Average number of tactics used
Average number of social platforms used
Plan to increase content marketingspend over the next year
Tailor content to profile of decision maker
Challenged with producing engaging content
Challenged with producing enough content
Most Effective Overall/Average Least Effective
33% 24% 16%
17 16 124 4 3
47% 46% 47%
71% 57% 25%
44% 58% 78%
52% 53% 72%
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
The most effective B2B enterprise marketers:
Allocate a greater percentage of their marketing budget to content marketing
Use more content marketing tactics
Tailorcontenttospecificprofiles/personasmuchmorefrequently
Are far less challenged with producing engaging content
Profile of a best-in-class B2B enterprise content marketer.
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DEMOGRAPHICS
B2B Enterprise Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America was produced by Content Marketing Institute and sponsored by Marketo.
This report is based on the responses of 216 enterprise (1,000+ employees) marketers who were part of a larger business-to-business (B2B) North America (United States and Canada) survey, from which the overall comparisons in this report were drawn (for more information, see B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America). The electronic survey was mailed to a sample of B2B marketers from among subscribers of MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute in August 2012. A total of 1,416 B2B marketers from North America responded, representing a full range of industries (advertising/marketing, software, consulting, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and others), functional areas, and company sizes. Special thanks to MarketingProfs for their participation in the overall B2B comparisons used in this report.
Industry Classification, B2B Enterprise
ManufacturingOther
So�ware Design/Development/Distribution
Healthcare/Medical/Pharmaceutical
Advertising/Marketing
Banking/Accounting/Financial
Computer & Peripheral Equipment
Business Services (Other)
Insurance
Publishing/Media
Telecommunications
16%23%
16%9%
7%6%6%5%
4%4%4%
Size of Company, B2B Enterprise(by Employees)
10,000 or more39%
5,000-9,99915%
1,000-4,99946%
Job Title/Function, B2B Enterprise
Marketing/Advertising/Communications/PR
62%Marketing Administration/Support
9%
Content Creation/Management
9%
GeneralManagement
Other
6%
5%
Sales/Business Management
Corporate Management/Owner
Consulting
4%
2%2%
Sales Administration/Support
2%
2013 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Marketo
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About the Content Marketing Institute:The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content marketing education and training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World event is the largest content marketing-focused event. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. Get more content marketing resources at ContentMarketingInstitute.com. CMI is a division of Z Squared Media, a 2012 Inc. 500 company.
About Marketo: Marketing Software. Easy, Powerful, Complete. Marketo®uniquelyprovidesaneasy-to-use,powerful,andcompletemarketingsoftwareplatformthatpropels fast-growing small companies and global enterprises alike. Marketo marketing automation and saleseffectivenesssoftwarestreamlinesmarketingprocesses,deliversmorecampaigns,generatesmorewin-ready leads, and improves sales performance. With proven technology, comprehensive services, and expert guidance, Marketo helps thousands of companies around the world turn marketing from a cost center into a revenue driver. Learn how Marketo’senterprise-readymarketingsoftware helps companies worldwideproveandimprovetheROIoftheirmarketingefforts.Marketo and the Marketo logo are trademarks of Marketo, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
View additional content marketing research at the CMI website. For more
insights on content marketing in the softwareindustry,registerforthe
Content Marketing World Tech Summit being held September 12, 2013 in Cleveland.