A report by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute found that 91 percent of B2B companies currently use content marketing in some manner. The 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks study found that companies employ increasingly diverse strategies to ensure dynamic web presences and information of interest to different kinds of prospects.
According to the analysis, the average B2B brand relies on 12 different types of content as part of its strategy. Larger companies tend to use more expansive campaigns, with smaller organizations preferring to focus on fewer content types. Responding companies with more than 10,000 employees use 18 different kinds of content marketing on average. For all companies included in the poll, however, the median was 12. The smallest participating organizations reported that they rely on 11 methods.
Developing a company-wide content marketing strategy requires an understanding of target audiences perhaps more than any other element. For B2B companies, it’s increasingly important to account for growing prospect bases. Multiple people at potential partners will likely impact a purchase decision. Content marketing is well suited for reaching these audiences given the possibilities it opens for B2B companies.
Multiple people at potential partners will likely impact a purchase decision. Content marketing is well suited for reaching these audiences given the possibilities it opens for B2B companies.
Social media marketing was the most popular form of content, with 87 percent of B2B brands maintaining a presence in the channel; LinkedIn registered as the most-used platform.
Eighty-three percent of respondents said they publish articles on their sites. These can range from news content marketing pieces to trend analysis that conveys a sense of authority and thought leadership to prospects. Email marketing (78 percent), blogs (77 percent) and case studies (71 percent) rounded out the top five.
Visual forms of content marketing showed strong adoption rates as well, according to the report. Seventy percent of respondents use video marketing, and 38 percent reported designing infographics. Earlier this year, Brafton cited data from IDG Enterprise that pointed to infographics as the fastest-growing form of content marketing. However, the IDG survey pool mostly included B2B technology companies, whereas CMI and MarketingProfs polled a wider audience.
The value of the internet as part of a B2B marketing tool continues to grow. In fact, articles in print magazines (31 percent of respondents) was the lone content type not to grow compared to 2011’s poll.
