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 site 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.
Reputation Management Solution
The “common-thread-theory” can be applied to all of the above mentioned, it’s no surprise or secret that businesses are in desperate need of an online solution that doesn’t cost them an arm and leg! Most importantly a solution that produces results not only drive traffic to your business, but enhances your online presence by improving your businesses online brand recognition through positive-viral content marketing.
BUT.. The million dollar question is, what content do you capture and market and is there a reputable company that provides such services?
I don’t want to bore you with all the statistics, so let’s just play the common sense game. What do you see on every single business Google search?
Review and Ratings are more relevant on the web than any other content you could possible manifest! Just think, what do you look at when shopping online or what do you read when wanting to measure a business success? Large businesses like auto dealers have grasped to this years ago and the results speak for themselves.
ASK YOURSELF THIS, “how much business would I gain if I had 1000′s of positive reviews on my page one Google or page one of relative search phrases to my business?” A better question is, “how much business am I loosing by not implementing a reputation management strategy?”
The dealership used as example, “Kearny Pearson Ford” out of San Diego, CA. uses an affordable reputation management company that any business can afford named Business Rater www.businessrater.com to monetize and syndicate their sold customers reviews and ratings to Google, Yahoo and Bing on their page one Google of their business name, relative search phrases and much more!
With Business Rater’s integrated consumer survey system , Kearny Pearson Ford receives detailed-statistic analytics of their sold customers to optimize their current marketing and advertising campaigns and strategies as well as improve their online reputation.
For more information about reputation management solutions for your business, regardless what vertical you operating in, please contact me directly.
Dan Weik
President | Business Rater
dan@businessrater.com | 619.800.4692
