41% of
B2B marketers say that producing the kind of content that engages
prospects and customers is their biggest content marketing challenge,
representing a 14% increase from 36% of respondents in 2010, according to
[download page] a December 2011 study by MarketingProfs and the Content
Marketing Institute.
Data from “B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks,
Budgets & Trends” indicates that respondents are also grappling
with two challenges that go hand in hand: producing enough content
(20%), and having the budget to produce enough content (18%). A lack of
buy-in from higher-ups in the company (12%), producing a variety of
content (7%), and having the budget to license content (1%) are primary
challenges to relatively fewer B2B marketers.
Budgets Are a Challenge, But Spending to Increase
Although 1 in 5 B2B marketers cite having sufficient content
marketing budgets as their primary challenge, data from the study
indicates that content marketing spending is on the rise. Although
roughly 26% of marketers’ total budgets are allocated to content
marketing efforts this year, the same as in 2010, this year 60% of
respondents indicate they will increase spending on content marketing in
2012, compared to just 3% that say they will decrease their spending
levels.
The average amount of budget spent on content marketing appears to
vary significantly by company size, with a negative correlation between
size and budget share. For example, companies with fewer than 10
employees spend 34% of their budgets on content marketing, whereas
companies with more than 1000 employees allocate 20% of their budgets.
Meanwhile, outsourcing also appears to be on the rise: whereas in
2010 only 55% of marketers used outsourcing in some capacity, this year
that proportion has risen to 62%. When seeking out the right vendors to
support content marketing, marketers use a variety of resources, with
the biggest increase from last year seen in the use of consultants (32%
vs. 27%) and the biggest decrease found in the use of trade shows as a
venue to find support (20% vs. 26%).
Brand Awareness, Customer Acquisition Lead All Goals
Brand awareness and customer acquisition are content marketers’ top
goals, cited by 68% of survey respondents. Lead generation (66%) and
customer retention/loyalty (61%) follow closely, with website traffic
(56%), engagement (55%), and thought leadership (55%) also goals for a
majority of marketers. Almost half cite sales as a goal, while just 39%
report using content marketing for lead management/nurturing.
Content marketing goals appear to be fairly unrelated to overall
digital marketing goals: according to a November report from
Webmarketing 123, lead generation (46.4%) is by far the most important objective of digital programs for B2B marketers, outstripping sales generation (22.2%), brand awareness development (15.3%), and site traffic generation (11.1%).
Web Traffic Top Success Indicator
Although web traffic is not a top goal among content marketers, it is
the leading indicator of success, cited by 58% of respondents. Sales
lead quality (49%) follows, while direct sales, sales lead quantity,
qualitative feedback from customers, and SEO ranking are measurement
criteria to roughly 4 in 10. The least popular indicator of success is
inbound links, cited by 30% of marketers.
According to the November Webmarketing123 study, the vast majority
(73.9%) of B2B digital marketers use web traffic as a measurement of
campaign success, ahead of lead generation (69.2%) website click-through
rate (64.7%), and sales (62.5%).
About the Data: A total of 1,092 B2B marketers worldwide
(the majority from North America) responded in August 2011 to the
MarketingProfs survey, which was mailed electronically to a sample of
marketers from among members and subscribers of MarketingProfs and the
Content Marketing Institute. The marketers represented a full range of
industries, functional areas, and company size.
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/b2b-marketers-struggle-with-compelling-content-20268/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink
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