Content marketing is an increasingly popular practice in the B2B world. As an essential component in lead generation, blog content engages with prospective clients throughout the sales cycle, and well-written copy can often help businesses appeal to a broader audience. However, recent reports suggest B2B marketers continue to struggle with publishing enough custom content, even with a significant percentage of companies embracing the practice.
Curata published its “B2B Marketing Trends 2012 Report,” which found that 87 percent of U.S. B2B marketers have dedicated resources toward content marketing initiatives this year. The report noted that content creation was the most popular tactic used, and the effort was up 5 percent from what was recorded in 2011.
While a high percentage of B2B companies funnel resources and talent toward content marketing strategies, many survey respondents indicate they struggle along their way toward sustainable content production. The report discovered that 57 percent used content as part of their marketing strategies, but only 43 percent of those respondents said their programs were successful by the unique metrics they used to measure results. More, 43 percent of B2B marketers didn’t even try to measure their campaigns’ success.
Curata’s report also identified the two major challenges that B2B marketers face when developing their content marketing strategies. The biggest difficulty, according to the survey, is creating original content, while the second-leading obstacle is finding enough time to craft copy. These challenges mirror the concerns B2B marketers cited in the Content Marketing Institute’s “B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” report.
In CMI’s study, 64 percent of respondents said producing enough content will be the biggest challenge in 2013, but the hurdle won’t discourage professionals as 54 percent of B2B marketers will dedicate more resources toward content next year. The report indicates that B2B marketers on average use approximately 12 tactics to distribute content across the web, which could overwhelm smaller organizations just starting their own campaigns.
As 2013 approaches, B2B marketers know they need content marketing to remain in contact with their prospective clients, but these professionals don’t always have the resources or staff to develop effective strategies. CMI’s report shows that on average 44 percent of B2B marketers outsourced their content creation practices in 2012. To remain relevant and productive, businesses should consider the advantages of partnering with content marketing services, and allowing industry experts to handle the challenges that prevented growth in 2012.
