This morning the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs released its latest look into the field of content marketing this morning. The report, “B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budget and Trends – North America“, which was sponsored by Brightcove, not surprisingly are spending more on content marketing. B2B organizations are allocating 33% of marketing budgets on content, which is up over the 26% reported last year.
What is surprising is that fewer know whether they’re getting it right.
Last year, 40% of the B2B marketers surveyed said content marketing was “effective” or “very effective.” This year, that figure dipped to 36%.
So overall spending on B2B content marketing is up, yet the effectiveness rate is down. What’s going on?
The answer might be revealed in another chart from the report. They looked at the differences between the most effective and least effective content marketers. In some places the differences are slight, in others they’re more pronounced.
For instance, among the most effective B2B marketers allocated 46% of their budget to content, while the least effective only put aside 16% for content. The average number of social platforms used for content is twice as high among the most effective compared to the least effective (6 vs. 3). And 71% of the most effective tailor their content to the decision-maker compared to 41% among the least effective.
What this tells us is that investment in content, a commitment to distributing it socially, and taking the time to make sure individual content aligns with the various decision-makers in the buying process are key factors in determining whether the content will succeed. This is an investment in both time and budget.
Thankfully, there’s reason to believe the industry is headed in the right direction. The number of B2B companies creating content in-house rose by 18 percentage points. No one knows how to make your content meet your unique needs better than an actual employee.
Get the free Grande Guide to B2B Content Marketing. And let us know, what content is most effective for you?
