Content is apparently a loss leader in B2B companies.
Only 10% monetize their content, while 77% do not and 13% are unsure, according to B2B Content Marketing, a study by the Content
Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, sponsored by ON24.
In addition, only 28% have the right technology in place to manage content across the organization. Another
31% have the technology but aren’t using it to its potential, and 30% lack it entirely. Another 11% are unsure.
Despite all that, 71% say content marketing is
more important than it was in the last year, and 25% feel it is about the same. Only 4% believe it is less important.
Of firms that monetize their content, they do it
in these ways:
- Sponsorships/advertising — 52%
- Paid or premium content — 48%
- Affiliate relationships — 39%
- Other — 16%
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In addition, 40% have a documented content strategy in place, while 33%
have one that is not documented. Another 20% plan to have a strategy in the next 12 months, and only 7% have no such plans.
Of the most successful firms surveyed, 64% have a strategy in
place.
How successful are the respondents? They claim they are:
- Extremely successful — 4%
- Very
successful — 25%
- Moderately successful — 56%
- Minimally successful — 14%
- Not at all successful
— 1%
Email newsletters are among the top three channels for distributing B2B content.
Newsletters have been used by 69% of B2B marketers in the
last 12 months, exceeded only by their company websites (90%) and blogs (76%).
Of those polled, 83% produce their newsletters entirely in-house, while 2% publish through a social platform and
15% do both.
Email also is used in evaluating content performance. In the last 12 months, B2B firms have used these metrics:
- Website traffic — 86%
- Email engagement — 83%
- Website engagement —
83%
- Conversions — 79%
- Social media analytics — 74%
- Email subscriber numbers —
59%
- Search rankings — 59%
- Quantity of leads — 57%
- Cost to acquire a lead,
subscriber and/or customer — 45%
- Other — 2%
Overall, 81% measure content performance, while the remaining 19% do
not.
In general, the top metrics are:
- Conversions — 70%
- Quality of leads —
60%
- Website engagement — 57%
- Website traffic — 49%
- Email
engagement — 47%
- Search rankings — 41%
- Social media analytics — 37%
- Cost to acquire a lead, subscriber, and/or customer — 34%
- Quantity of leads — 34%
- Email subscriber numbers
— 22%
As for technology, B2B organizations use these tech offerings to manage content, although few say they have the right ones:
- Analytics tools (e.g., web analytics, dashboards) — 84%
- Social media publishing/analytics — 71%
- Email
marketing software — 68%
- Content creation/calendaring/collaborations/workflow — 65%
- Customer
relationship management (CRM) system — 51%
- Content management system (CMS) — 50%
- Marketing automation system (MAS) —
32%
- Sales enablement platform — 17%
- Digital asset management (DAM) system — 15%
- Content distribution platform — 14%
- Content performance/recommendation tools — 12%
- Other —
2%
What kind of content are firms producing? Here are the content assets B2B firms have created/used in the last 12 months:
- Short
articles (fewer than 1,500 words) — 89%
- Videos (of any length/format) — 75%
- Case studies —
67%
- Virtual events/webinars/online courses — 62%
- Infographics/charts/data viz/3D models — 61%
- Long
articles/posts (more than 1,500 words)—61%
- E-books/white papers — 59%
- In-person events — 49%
- Podcasts and audio content—33%
- Research reports — 30%
- Print magazines or books —
17%
- Livestreaming content — 16%
- Other — 8%
The list of content assets that produced the best results is slightly
different:
- In-person events — 48%
- Virtual events/webinars/online courses — 47%
- Research reports — 46%
- E-books/white papers — 43%
- Short articles/posts (fewer than 1,500
words) — 39%
- Case studies — 36%
- Videos (of any length format) — 36%
- Long
articles/posts (more than 1,500 words) — 32%
- Podcasts and other audio content — 21%
- Infographics/charts/data viz/3D models — 20%
- Livestreaming content — 19%
- Print magazines or
books — 18%
The Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs surveyed 1,104 B2B marketers worldwide.