B2B Key Findings September 2013
Small B2B Marketers and B2B Enterprise Marketers Bet Budgets on Content Marketing
They may differ when it comes to focus and use of specific tactics, but according to a recent study, small B2B marketers (10-99 employees) and their B2B enterprise peers (1,000+ employees) continue to build marketing programs on a foundation of content. For example, both groups agree that in-person events are the most effective content marketing tactic; yet, marketers at small B2Bs favor social media (other than blogs) as the content marketing tactic they use most often, compared to marketers at B2B enterprises who prefer video.
The study was generated from results of a survey conducted by The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) of some 1,416 business-to-business (B2B) marketers from 398 small businesses and 216 enterprise organizations in North America.
CMI found that 57% of B2B small business marketers plan to increase the amount allocated to content marketing over the next 12 months, compared with 46% of their B2B enterprise peers.
Brand awareness is the top goal for both B2B small business marketers and their B2B enterprise peers. Goals for small B2Bs ranked Brand Awareness (82%), Customer Acquisition (78%), Lead Generation (74%), Customer Retention/Loyalty (69%), Thought Leadership (67%), Website Traffic (66%), Engagement(63%), Sales (49%) and Lead Management/Nurturing (47%).
Among the B2B small business marketers, here’s how content marketing tactic preferences shake out: social media (other than blogs) 86%, website articles 82%, enewsletters 81%, blogs 76%, case studies 75%, videos 73%, in-person events 71%, articles on other websites 69%, white papers 64%, webinars/webcasts 60%, research reports 42%, infographics 39%, branded content tools 36%, microsites 33%, print magazines 31%, books 29%, mobile content 27%, virtual conferences 24%, mobile apps 23%, digital magazines 22%, licensed/syndicated content 22%, print newsletters 22%, podcasts 20%, annual reports 15% and games/gamification 10%.
Both groups said they still need work mastering content marketing, with just over 30% admitting their organizations are effective at the strategy.
(http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SmallBiz_Research_2013_CMI.pdf)
Bullets
- 75% of engagement on a Facebook post occurs within the first five hours. It only takes 2 hours, 30 minutes for a post to get 75% of the total impressions it will get. In regard to reach, 75% of your post’s audience sees your post in less than 2 hours. Furthermore, it takes just 30 minutes for a post to get 50% of its global reach. (Wisemetrics.com)
- Americans watched 20.1 billion online video ads in June 2013, up 27% from the previous month. (comScore 703-438-2000)
- More than eight in 10 U.S. bank account holders (85%) are concerned about online banking fraud. (Entersekt 678-781-7238)
- B2B Content Marketing tactics usage trends from 2011 to 2012: Use of research reports has risen from 25% to 44%; Use of video has risen from 52% to 70%; Use of mobile content has risen from 15% to 33%;Use of virtual conferences has risen from 10% to 28%. (toprankblog.com)
- 78% of CMOs say the marketing organization’s influence on corporate strategy is much greater, and 56% agree that they’re spending more time in front of the board of directors. (marketingcharts.com)