Christopher Earle: New Report: Top Content Marketing Growing Pains for B2B Enterprise Marketers

Thursday, 13 April 2017

New Report: Top Content Marketing Growing Pains for B2B Enterprise Marketers

Every organization experiences growing pains when it comes to growing their content marketing program. Customer needs quickly evolve which means that brands need to be agile enough to meet consumer demand.

The group that maybe has it toughest of all is B2B enterprise marketers. The added complexities of supplying content for multiple business units and product sets, geographical locations and therefore, multiple customer groups is no easy undertaking.

While many B2B enterprise marketers have managed to crack the code for successful content marketing, others are still struggling to manage expectations with reality. The new 2017 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing report from Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs and Knowledge Vision helps to uncover some of the top opportunities that exist for B2B enterprise marketers.

Below, I’ve pulled out four of the top opportunities uncovered by the report as well as some helpful tips for overcoming these common hurdles.

#1 – Content Programs Need to Mature

Only 2% of B2B enterprise marketers surveyed would describe their content marketing maturity as sophisticated. Eek! One of the biggest opportunities that seems to exist with this group is the ability to integrate content across the organization.

QuickTip: The complexities of organizational structure at enterprise brands should not to be taken lightly. While there may be completely separate business units that exist, it’s important to find a way for department heads to collaborate on some level. Even just knowing what another team is working on or has seen success with can help guide the content strategy for the other departments.

#2 – Content Results Aren’t Improving Significantly Year-Over-Year

One of the biggest factors to the success of anything is life is your commitment. So it comes as no surprise that 40% of B2B enterprise marketers would rate the success of their content about the same as the previous year when, 35% of these same marketers would rate themselves as only somewhat committed to content marketing.

QuickTip: All of the data points to the fact that content marketing is an essential part of today’s digital marketing landscape. In order to make content marketing a priority, it’s imperative that leadership is on-board with content initiatives.

#3 – A Documented Content Strategy is a Marketing Must-Have

According to the results, only 38% of B2B enterprise marketers have a documented content marketing strategy. That means over 50% of marketers surveyed do not have a strategy to guide their efforts.

QuickTip: Knowing where to begin developing a content strategy can be a daunting task but here are a couple steps to get you started:

Document any goals (especially revenue goals) that your marketing department is responsible for.
Create a brief synopsis of what has (and hasn’t) worked in the past to help guide your approach.
Since it’s impossible to identify all steps right away, select some key areas of focus for the year to help keep your team on track.

#4 – Content Marketing Budgets Are Low

On average, only 22% of total marketing budgets (not including staff) are spent on content marketing. And a whopping 38% are unsure of the total percentage spent on content efforts. It’s unclear as to where exactly the rest of these funds are allocated, but there is an opportunity to put more behind content marketing.

QuickTip: Whether it means implementing new tools to increase effectiveness or working with a content marketing agency, an investment in content is an investment in your customers. Content has the ability to impact every stage of the buying cycle and is a much cheaper alternative to pumping all of your funds in paid tactics. Additionally, content builds authority and credibility over time while other tactics abruptly stop adding value once they’re turned off.

Download the Full Report for Even More Insights

In the full report, you’ll gain additional insights into what is and isn’t working for B2B enterprise content marketers. The future for marketers isn’t bleak, but there is clearly an opportunity to mature, document and invest in content marketing.

If you’d like to see all of the results, download the 2017 B2B Enterprise Content Marketing report.

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