​B2Bs clearly value content marketing, and most brands will continue to invest in long-form content like white papers.

​Content creation is at a point of no return. Brands have already begun expanding their marketing strategies to make room for projects that amplify their core messages. With storytelling becoming a crucial component​ ​in appealing to prospects throughout the sales funnel, creative departments look to understand which content types fuel website conversions or nurture relationships for loyalty.

The American Business Media (ABM) released data around B2B marketing budgets for 2012 and 2013. Research shows that 29 percent of U.S. B2B marketers increased their ad budgets over the past 12 months, and almost 50 percent of brands expect their spend will rise over the next year. When it comes to content marketing, companies know to produce regular news and blog updates, but long-form and bottom-of-the-funnel collateral also plays important roles in generating revenue.

According to ABM, 45 percent of B2Bs will increase spend on search engine marketing, 43 percent on mobile advertising and 41 percent​ ​on white paper content. Offline events also show ROI, and face-to-face conference attendance and sponsorship are also beneficial practices noted by the majority of B2B brands.

This data correlates with information released by LinkedIn’s B2B Technology Marketing Community Group Owner Holger Schulze. He found that 82 percent of companies will invest heavily in content marketing. One major difference noted in data between the two sources is how marketing teams will treat white paper strategies moving forward. Schulze found that the long-form pieces won’t be as influential as they once were, dropping from the second-most-used content type to the sixth. However, AMB noted that only 5 percent of companies will decrease investments in white papers moving forward, and nearly half of marketers credited the media option with being a top priority.

B2Bs must weigh their options and evaluate where they’ve seen the most success through content marketing in the past to develop agile strategies for the future. By looking at content analytics, brands can learn where they won and lost business, and base new decisions on how their audience responds to new media.

Ted Karczewski is an Executive Communications Associate at Brafton. He works to develop his own voice and apply his passions to the evolving world of SEO and content marketing, but he doesn't shy away from writing for fun. After graduating from Suffolk University, Ted used his Communications degree to test out Sports Journalism before Marketing at Brafton.