Big brands face more challenges with content marketing than smaller companies - here's the secret to enterprise-size success.

It’s easy to imagine that small businesses need help with content marketing. They don’t have full in-house teams to create web content on a consistent basis, let alone measure the results or make strategic changes at scale. But major brands aren’t immune to these same issues. In fact, results from a recent Content Marketing Institute study suggest they’re even more susceptible to these challenges.

In fact, enterprise businesses struggle across the board compared to SMBs and the only area where they’re almost on the same footing is consistent content production. They may have the people power and the funds to do marketing very well, but content creation is one instance where efficacy isn’t tied to purse strings.

SMBs over enterprise b2bs
And the stumbling points become clear when you look at where enterprise companies fall behind:

  • Lack of integration across marketing

  • Not enough buy-in from higher-ups

  • Difficulty measuring content effectiveness

  • Challenges finding trained content marketing professionals

Become a lean, mean content machine

Smaller businesses may actually have the advantage because their teams are local and there’s more room for experimentation as they build their presence online. Compare that to a national brand that’s been around for a hundred years with a strong identity and restrictions around what can and cannot be mentioned. With longer approval processes and more red tape to cut through, large companies are finding the path of least resistance is to build a dedicated content marketing team.

81% of enterprise companies that are highly effective with content marketing have a dedicated team

Four of out of five companies with a documented content strategy (which are also statistically the most successful) have a team devoted to bringing those campaigns to life and driving results, whether it’s internal or outsourced to a content marketing agency.

Dedicated teams drive content marketing results

It makes sense that these companies are more effective. They would need initial approval from executives to build the team or partner with an agency. At that point, all stakeholders would have to sign off on a strategy, approve the KPIs and determine what goals they need to reach to consider the campaign effective.

Once there’s a creative brief in place that outlines appropriate topics, keywords to use and avoid, the ideal tone for the voice, it’s just up to the team of content writers to produce the relevant assets. Strategists can then measure the results against the goals to quantitatively track how well the campaign is performing.

Content marketing is one of the most important parts of a web strategy, but it’s also one of the most challenging. Even if you have a good-looking website, a strong presence offline and a recognizable brand name, you still need great content to engage your target audience. Small or large, the companies that give theirs visitors what they want and do it well will get the most visibility online and grow.

To learn more about working with dedicated content marketing teams, check out these related resources:

Lauren Kaye is a Marketing Editor at Brafton Inc. She studied creative and technical writing at Virginia Tech before pursuing the digital frontier and finding content marketing was the best place to put her passions to work. Lauren also writes creative short fiction, hikes in New England and appreciates a good book recommendation.