Content marketing spending rises at B2B companies, but…
A new study reports that B2B companies are devoting more of their budgets to develop marketing content (white papers, application briefs, blogs, Webinars, videos, etc.). The survey, conducted by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, said that B2B organizations allocated 33% of their 2012 budgets to content development, up from 26% in the previous year.
But while content spending is up, the report indicated that companies are less confident about its efficacy. In 2012, only 36% believed their content was “effective” or “very effective,” down from 42% in 2011. The answer to this anomaly lies in the differences between the most-effective and least-effective marketers. The most-effective companies spent 46% of their budgets on content, while the least-effective group allocated only 16%. In addition, the number of social platforms used for content is twice as high among the most effective group versus the least effective. And 71% of the most effective marketers target their content to decision makers compared to only 41% among the least effective.
These results confirm Tiziani Whitmyre’s experience with our own clients. We see greater content expenditures and more effective targeting in their marketing campaigns as they move beyond lead generation to demand creation strategies. And those that offer their content through inbound marketing channels such as social media, public relations, and search are achieving far greater results.
