b2bmarketing research 2014

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CONTENT MARKETING

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B2BBenchmarks, Budgets,and TrendsNorth America2014

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OVERVIEW: THE STATE OF B2B CONTENT MARKETING IN NORTH AMERICA

Greetings Content Marketers,

We have good news to report! B2B content marketers in North America are making strides: 42% consider

themselves eective, up from 36% last year.

Moreover, we also can begin to understandwhymarketers are feeling more condent: For the rst time, we

asked marketers whether they have a documented content strategy (44% do) and a person who oversees

content marketing strategy (73% do). Our ndings tell us that there are distinct dierences between those who

have a strategy and those who do not. Marketers who do are not only more eective but also less challengedwith every aspect of content marketing.

Even though weve made great strides, the industry is clearly still in the early adoption phase. However, some

marketers are seeing substantial success. Read on to nd out what a best-in-class content marketer does

dierently and delve into many other ndings as well.

On with the content marketing revolution!

Ann HandleyChief Content Oicer

MarketingProfs

Joe PulizziFounder

Content Marketing Institute
http://www.brightcove.com/https://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttp://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/http://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttp://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/


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42% of B2B marketers say they are eectiveat content marketing.

Last year, 36% of B2B marketers said

they were eective at content

marketing.

OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

How B2B Marketers Rate theEffectiveness of Their Organizations

Use of Content Marketing9%

33%

41%

14%

2%

Very Effective

Not At All Effective

100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

5

4

3

2

1

2014 B2B Content Marketing TrendsNorth America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
http://www.brightcove.com/https://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttp://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.brightcove.com/http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/


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Prole of a best-in-class B2B content marketer.

OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

Comparison of Most Effective B2B Content Marketerswith Least Effective B2B Content Marketers

Has a documented content strategy

Has someone who overseescontent marketing strategy

Average number of tactics used

Average number ofsocial media platforms used

Percent of marketing budgetspent on content marketing

Challenged with producingengaging content

Most Effective Overall/Average Least Effective

66% 44% 11%

86% 73% 46%

15 13 10

7 6 4

39% 30% 16%

35% 47% 61%

Most Effective = Respondents who rated their organizations use of content marketing as 4 or 5 in terms

of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being Very Effective)

Least Effective = Respondents who rated their organizations use of content marketing as 1 or 2 in terms

of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being Not At All Effective)

http://www.brightcove.com/https://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttp://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/


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44% of B2B marketers have a documentedcontent strategy.

B2B marketers who have a documented

content strategy are far more likely to

consider themselves eective (66% vs. 11%).

48% of smaller B2B organizations (10-99

employees) have a documented content

strategy, compared with 41% of large

organizations (1,000+ employees).

STRATEGY

Percentage of B2B Marketers WhoHave a Documented Content Strategy

44%Yes

49%No

6%Unsure



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73% of B2B content marketers are producing morecontent than they did one year ago.

78% of the most eective B2B marketers

are creating more content than they didone year ago, compared with 57% of

their least eective peers.

B2B marketers who have a documented

content strategy are creating more

content than they did one year ago,

compared with those who do not havea documented strategy (80% vs. 66%).

CONTENT VOLUME

Change in Amount ofB2B Content Creation

(Over Last 12 Months)

32%Significantly

More

41%More

20%Same Amount

5%Less

2%Unsure



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B2B marketers use an average of 13 contentmarketing tactics.

Tactic usage has

remained relatively

consistent when

compared with last year.

Infographics has seenthe largest year-over-

year increase in usage.

Last year, 38% of B2B

marketers were using

infographics, compared

with 51% this year.

TACTIC USAGE

B2B Content Marketing Usage(by Tactic)

0

20

40

60

80

100

SocialMedia

OtherthanBlogs

ArticlesonYourWebsite

eNewsletters

Blogs

CaseStudies

Videos

ArticlesonOtherWebsites

In-personEvents

WhitePapers

Webinars/Webcasts

ResearchReports

Microsites

Infographics

BrandedContentTools

MobileContent

eBooks

PrintMagazines

Books

Podcasts

MobileApps

DigitalMagazines

PrintNewsletters

AnnualReports

Licensed/SyndicatedContent

Games/Gamification

87%

76%76%

64%

OnlinePresentations

63%

44%

40%

51%

38%

34%35%

30%

VirtualConferences

25%28%

22%24%

10%

73%73%

81%80%

68%

62%

38%

27%26%25%



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B2B content marketers have increasing condence

with most tactics.

For the fourth year in a row, B2B

marketers overall have rated in-person

events as the most eective tactic they use.

Best-in-class B2B marketers,

however, rate blogs as the most

eective tactic (79%), which surpasses

how they rate in-person events (76%);

only 29% of their least eective peers

rate blogs as eective.

TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS

Confidence GapEffectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among B2B Users

70% 30%

35%

37%

38%

41%

41%

40%

42%

43%

65%

63%

62%

60%

59%

59%

58%

57%

Believe Its Effective Believe Its 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

Webinars/Webcasts

37%63% Videos

Blogs

eNewsletters

Research Reports

White Papers

eBooks

Articles on Your Website



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B2B marketers are using social media more frequently

than last year.

B2B content marketers use an average

of 6 social media platforms, up from 5last year.

B2B content marketers are using every

social media platform listed here more

oen than they did last year.

Social media platforms that had thebiggest increase in use from last year

to this year are SlideShare, Google+,

and Instagram.

SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

0 20 40 60 80 100

91%

85%

81%

73%

55%

34%

22%

40%

16%15%

14%

22%

14%

LinkedIn

TwitterFacebook

YouTube

Google+

Pinterest

SlideShare

Vimeo

FlickrStumbleUpon

Foursquare

Instagram

Tumblr

14% Vine

B2B



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Although adoption rates for social media are high,

B2B marketers are unsure of its eectiveness.

Aer LinkedIn, large companies

(1,000+ employees) consider YouTube

to be second most eective, whereas

small companies (10-99 employees)say SlideShare and Twitter are second

most eective.

49% of small companies consider

SlideShare eective, compared with

38% of large companies.

SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS

Confidence GapEffectiveness Ratings of Social Media Platforms

Among B2B Users

62% 38%

50%

52%

55%

70%

74%

60%

77%

78%

79%

50%

48%

45%

40%

30%

26%

23%

22%

21%

Believe Its Effective Believe Its Less Effective

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

LinkedIn

Twitter

YouTube

SlideShare

Vimeo

Facebook

Pinterest

Vine

Google+

Instagram



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Brand awareness continues to be the top organizational

goal for B2B content marketing.

B2B marketers have consistently citedbrand awareness as their top goal for

the last four years.

80% of the most eective B2B content

marketers cite lead generation as a goal,

compared with 64% of their least

eective peers.

ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

Organizational Goals forB2B Content Marketing

82%

74%

71%

57%

68%

64%

57%

47%

45%

Brand Awareness

Lead Generation

Customer Acquisition

Customer Retention/Loyalty

Thought Leadership

Engagement

Website Traffic

Sales

Lead Management/Nurturing

100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100



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B2B marketers have cited Web traic and sales lead quality as

their top content marketing metrics for the last three years.

B2B marketers cited each of these criterion a

bit more frequently than they did last year,

with the exception of direct sales, qualitative

feedback from customers, inbound links,

and increased customer loyalty, all of which

decreased slightly. Subscriber growth was

a new option.

The least eective B2B marketers place more

importance on direct sales, citing it as their

fourth top criterion (tied with social media

sharing). The most eective marketers rank

direct sales as their eighth most importantcriterion.

Over the last four years, direct sales has

consistently gone down in importance as a

measurement criterion.

MEASUREMENT


Metrics for B2BContent Marketing Success

54%

50%

48%

39%

39%

44%

40%

34%

29%

21%

24%

14%

6%

63%

100 20 30 40 50 60 7 0 80 90 100

Web Traffic

Sales Lead Quality

Social Media Sharing

Sales Lead Quantity

Direct Sales

SEO Ranking

Inbound Links

32%Subscriber Growth

Cross-selling

Cost Savings

Benchmark Li of Company Awareness

Increased Customer Loyalty

Benchmark Li of Product/Service Awareness

Time Spent on Website

Qualitative Feedback from Customers


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58% of B2B marketers plan to increase their content

marketing budget over the next 12 months.

More B2B marketers plan to increase

their content marketing budgets this

year, compared with last year (54%).

All B2B marketers plan to increase

content marketing spending at similar

rates, even those who rate themselves

as least eective.

More small companies (10-99 employees)

than large companies (1,000+ employees)plan to increase their content marketing

budgets over the next 12 months

(60% vs. 52%).

BUDGET

B2B Content Marketing Spending(Over Next 12 Months)

10%SignificantlyIncrease

48%Increase

32%Remain the

Same

8%Unsure

1%Decrease



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On average, 30% of B2B marketing budgets are

allocated to content marketing.

The average amount allocated to

B2B content marketing rose from 26%

in 2012 to 33% in 2013, and has now

settled rmly in between.

The most eective B2B marketers

spend a higher percentage (39%) of

their budgets on content marketing

than their least eective peers do (16%).

BUDGET

Percent of Total Marketing BudgetSpent on B2B Content Marketing

5%

11%

15%

21%

12%

11%

2%

20%

2%

0 10 20 30

100%

75%-99%

50%-74%

25%-49%

10%-24%

5%-9%

1%-4%

0%

Unsure

Average Spent: 30%



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Large B2B companies outsource content creation

more frequently than small companies.

There has been no change from last

year in how much content B2B marketerscreate in-house and how much they

outsource.

There are no real dierences between

how much content the most eective

and the least eective B2B marketers

outsource.

INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING

Insourcing vs. Outsourcing

of B2B Content Creation

In-house Only

Outsourced Only

Both

Overall/AverageLarge Companies

(1,000+ Employees)

Small Companies(10-99 Employees)

56% 28% 66%

1% 1% 1%

43% 72% 33%



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Writing and design are the two functions most likely to

be outsourced.

INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING

Functions that

B2B Marketers Outsource

64%54%

30%

22%

13%

8%

5%

WritingDesign

Content Distribution/Syndication

Editing

Measurement/Analytics

Content Planning & Strategy

Buyer Persona Creation

100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100



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B2B marketers most oen tailor content based

on industry trends.

Nearly all (95%) B2B marketers segment

their content in at least one way.

The most eective B2B marketers tailor

content more oen by every category

listed here.

SEGMENTATION

How B2B Organizations Tailor Content

59%

55%

43%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Profile of Individual Decision Makers

65%Industry Trends

Company Characteristics

4%None

Stage in the Buying Cycle

11%Competitors Content

21%Personalized Content Preferences



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Challenges have remained fairly consistent year

over year.

Aside from lack of time, B2B marketersconsistently cite producing enough content

and producing the kind of content that

engages as their top challenges.

Challenges are fairly similar to those of years

past; however, B2B marketers are gaining

strides in their ability to produce a varietyof content.

CHALLENGES

Challenges thatB2B Content Marketers Face

69%

55%47%

39%

38%

33%

26%

25%

25%

23%

10%

15%

Lack of Time

Producing Enough ContentProducing the Kind of Content that Engages

Lack of Budget

Producing a Variety of Content

Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness

Lack of Integration Across Marketing

Inability to Collect Information from SMEs

Lack of Knowledge and Training

Lack of Buy-in/Vision

Lack of Integration Across HR

Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals

100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100



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Marketers at large companies face dierent challenges

than marketers at small companies.

CHALLENGES

Biggest B2B Content Marketing Challenge(by Company Size)

Large Companies(1,000+ Employees)

Small Companies(10-99 Employees)

16%

15%

13%

11%

7%

5%

4%

4%

2%

1%

1%

8%

1%

9%

8%

13% 34%

5%

13%

6%

2%

3%

2%

2%

Producing the Kind ofContent that Engages

Lack of IntegrationAcross Marketing

Lack of Budget

Lack of Time

Lack of Buy-in/Vision

Inability to Collect Informationfrom SMEs

Producing Enough Content

Inability to MeasureContent Effectiveness

Lack of Knowledge and Training

Producing a Variety of Content

Finding TrainedContent Marketing Professionals

Lack of Integration Across HR



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About Content Marketing Institute:

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.

CMIs Content Marketing World, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September, and ContentMarketing World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief Content Oicer, and provides

strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012 and

2013 Inc. 500 company. View all original CMI research at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/research.

About MarketingProfs:

MarketingProfs(www.marketingprofs.com)is a marketing education and training company that oers actionable

know-how designed to make you a smarter marketer. More than 600,000 MarketingProfs members rely on our free dailypublications, virtual conferences, and more to stay up-to-date on the most important trends in marketingand how to

apply them to their businesses.

About Brightcove:

Brightcove Inc.(NASDAQ: BCOV), a leading global provider of cloud services for video, oers a family of products used

to revolutionize the way organizations deliver video experiences. The companys products include Video Cloud, the

market-leading online video platform and Zencoder, a leading cloud-based media processing service and HTML5video player technology. Brightcove has more than 6,300 customers in over 65 countries that rely on Brightcove cloud

content services to build and operate video experiences across PCs, smartphones, tablets, and connected TVs. For more

information, visithttp://www.brightcove.com.
http://www.brightcove.com/https://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttp://contentmarketinginstitute.com/http://contentmarketingworld.com/http://sydney.contentmarketingworld.com/http://sydney.contentmarketingworld.com/http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/chief-content-officer/http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/researchhttp://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.marketingprofs.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.marketingprofs.com/http://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/researchhttp://contentmarketinginstitute.com/chief-content-officer/http://sydney.contentmarketingworld.com/http://sydney.contentmarketingworld.com/http://contentmarketingworld.com/http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/https://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttps://www.slideshare.net/secret/jr144nYEsTk0Ewhttp://www.marketingprofs.com/?adref=cm2013reporthttp://www.brightcove.com/http://www.brightcove.com/http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/

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