B2B Small Business Content Marketing - Content Marketing Institute

B2B SMALL BUSINESS CONTENT MARKETING: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America

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Overview: The State of B2B SMALL BUSINESS Content Marketing IN NORTH AMERICA Greetings Content Marketers, Welcome to 2014 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends, North America. In this report, we look at how the content marketing practices of small business marketers (10-99 employees) in the business-to-business (B2B) space have changed over the last year. In some areas, we show how the most effective small business marketers approach content marketing differently than their less effective peers. In other areas, we compare small business marketers with enterprise marketers (1,000+ employees). Here are some of the key findings: • Confidence is up. Last year, 34% of B2B small business marketers said they were effective at content marketing. This year, 45% say they are effective. • B2B small business marketers are more likely to have a documented content strategy when compared with their peers at both smaller and larger organizations. • B2B small business marketers are using social media more frequently than they did last year. The biggest jumps have been in Google+ (40% to 61%), SlideShare (24% to 40%), Instagram (9% to 23%), and YouTube (62% to 75%). While B2B small business marketers continue to be challenged with producing enough content as well as engaging content, they have made improvements in both of these areas. They also continue to invest in content marketing, with 60% saying they will increase their spending over the next 12 months. We hope you find this information useful in executing your own content marketing strategy.

Joe Pulizzi

Founder Content Marketing Institute SponSored by

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USAGE

94% of B2B small business marketers use content marketing. Percentage ofB2B B2B Percentage of Small Marketers Small Business Business Marketers Using Using Content ContentMarketing Marketing

6%

do not use content marketing

 Compared with last year, the percentage of B2B small business marketers who use content marketing has remained the same.

94% use content marketing

2014 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs

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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

45% of B2B small business marketers say they are effective at content marketing. HowHow B2B Small Marketers B2B Small Business Business Marketers Ratethe theEffectiveness Effectiveness of of Rate TheirOrganization’s Organization’s Their Useof ofContent Content Marketing Use Marketing

5 4 3

Very Effective

10% 35%

 Last year, 34% of B2B small business marketers said they were effective at content marketing.

40% 13%

2 1

Not At All Effective 0

10 20 30

2%

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

2014 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs SponSored by

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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

Profile of a best-in-class B2B small business marketer. Comparison MostEffective EffectiveB2B B2BSmall SmallBusiness Business Marketers Comparison ofof Most Marketers with Least EffectiveB2B B2BSmall SmallBusiness BusinessMarketers Marketers with Least Effective Most Effective

Overall/Average

Least Effective

Has a documented content strategy

69%

48%

7%

Has someone who oversees content marketing strategy

88%

78%

51%

Producing more content than one year ago

81%

75%

55%

Average number of tactics used

15

13

9

Average number of social media platforms used

7

6

4

Percentage of marketing budget spent on content marketing

35%

27%

13%

Plans to increase content marketing spend over next 12 months

66%

60%

66%

Challenged with producing engaging content

33%

45%

60%

Challenged with producing a variety of content

33%

40%

49%

Challenged with lack of budget

24%

37%

47%

• “Most Effective” = Respondents who rated their organization’s use of content marketing as 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”) • “Least Effective” = Respondents who rated their organization’s use of content marketing as 1 or 2 in terms of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “Not At All Effective”) 2014 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs

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STRATEGY

48% of B2B small business marketers have a documented content strategy. Percentage of B2B B2BSmall SmallBusiness Business Percentage of Marketers HaveaaDocumented Documented MarketersWho Who Have Content Strategy Content Strategy

5% Unsure

47%

48% Yes

No

 B2B small business marketers are more likely to have a documented content strategy when compared with their peers at all other sizes of B2B companies.  B2B small business marketers who have a documented content strategy are more effective and less challenged with almost all aspects of content marketing when compared with their peers who do not have a documented strategy.


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STRATEGY

78% of B2B small businesses have someone in place to oversee content marketing strategy. Percentage Percentageof ofB2B B2BSmall SmallBusinesses Businesses with Someone Someone Who WhoOversees Oversees Marketing Strategy Content Marketing Strategy  B2B small businesses are far more likely than enterprise companies to have someone in place who oversees content marketing strategy (78% vs. 58%).

4% Unsure

18% No

78% Yes


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CONTENT VOLUME

75% of B2B small business marketers are producing more content than they did one year ago. Change of Content ContentCreation Creation Change in in Amount Amount of Among Marketers Among B2B B2B Small Small Business Business Marketers (Over Months) (OverLast Last12 12 Months)

3% Less

19% Same Amount

36%

 B2B small business marketers have increased their content production more so than enterprise marketers (75% vs. 70%).

Significantly More

39% More


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TACTIC USAGE

B2B small business marketers use an average of 13 content marketing tactics. Content UsageAmong Among ContentMarketing Marketing Usage B2BSmall Small Business Business Marketers B2B Marketers

100

88%

(by Tactic) Tactic)

82%82%

80

77% 76%

 For the second year in a row, B2B small business marketers said their top three tactics are social media content (other than blogs), articles on their website, and eNewsletters.

75% 74%

69% 63% 62%

60

61%

48%

Games/Gamification

Print Newsletters

Annual Reports

8% 21% % 17% 17 Podcasts

Virtual Conferences

Mobile Apps

24% 24% 23%

Licensed/Syndicated Content

21%

Digital Magazines

Books

Print Magazines

eBooks

Branded Content Tools

Mobile Content

Microsites

Infographics

Webinars/Webcasts

White Papers

Online Presentations

Articles on Other Websites

In-person Events

Case Studies

Videos

Blogs

eNewsletters

Articles on Your Website

0

Social Media – Other than Blogs

20

Research Reports

40% 36% 35% 33% 32% 29% 26%

40

 Most percentages shown here are fairly similar to last year, with the exceptions of infographic use, which has risen from 39% to 48%, and mobile content, which has risen from 27% to 35%.


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TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS

B2B small business marketers say case studies and in-person events are the most effective tactics they use. Effectiveness Ratings Effectiveness Ratingsof ofTactics TacticsAmong Among B2B Small Business Marketers B2B MarketersWho WhoUse UseThem Them Say It’s Effective*

69% 67% 65% 65% 64% 63% 63% 59% 59% 58%

Say It’s Less Effective

Case Studies In-person Events Blogs eNewsletters eBooks Videos Webinars/Webcasts Articles on Your Website Research Reports White Papers

31% 33% 35% 35% 36%

 Confidence with all of these tactics has risen this year. The biggest jumps have been with eBooks (53% to 64%), eNewsletters (56% to 65%), and articles on your website (50% to 59%).

37% 37% 41% 41% 42%

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 * Percentage of respondents who rated these tactics as a 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”)


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SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

B2B small business marketers cite LinkedIn as the social media platform they use most often to distribute content. Percentage Percentageof ofB2B B2BSmall SmallBusiness Business Marketers MarketersWho WhoUse UseVarious VariousSocial Social Media MediaPlatforms Platformsto toDistribute DistributeContent Content LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube Google+ SlideShare Pinterest

40% 36%

61%

91% 86% 82% 75%

0

20

40

 Once again this year, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook (in that order) are cited as the platforms used most often.  Usage of all these platforms has risen since last year. Vine was a new option this year.

23% Vimeo 23% Vine 16% 15% Flickr 15% Foursquare 15% StumbleUpon 14% Tumblr

Instagram

 B2B small business marketers use an average of six social media platforms to distribute content, compared with five last year.

 Compared with last year, the biggest jumps in usage have been with Google+ (40% to 61%), SlideShare (24% to 40%), Instagram (9% to 23%), and YouTube (62% to 75%). 60

80

100


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SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS

Although adoption rates for social media are high, B2B small business marketers are unsure of its effectiveness. Effectiveness RatingsofofSocial Social Media Effectiveness Ratings Media Platforms AmongB2B B2BSmall Small Business Platforms Among Business Marketers Who Marketers WhoUse UseThem Them Say It’s Effective*

60% 49%

SlideShare

49%

Twitter

LinkedIn

Vimeo 43% 42% YouTube 30% Pinterest

28%

Say It’s Less Effective

40% 51% 51% 57% 58% 70%

Facebook

 This is the first year that survey respondents were asked to rate the effectiveness of social media platforms. Like their enterprise peers, B2B small business marketers say LinkedIn is the most effective.

72%

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

*Percentage of respondents who rated these tactics as a 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”)


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ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

B2B small business marketers say brand awareness is their organization’s top goal for content marketing. Organizational Goals Organizational Goals forfor Content Marketing Content Marketing (B2B Small (B2B SmallBusinesses) Businesses)

85% Lead Generation 78% Customer Acquisition 74% Thought Leadership 69% Engagement 62% Website Traffic 62% Customer Retention/Loyalty 58% 52% Sales Lead Management/Nurturing 50% Brand Awareness

0

10 20 30

 Brand awareness is the top goal for most B2B content marketers, regardless of company size.

40 50 60 70 80 90 100


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MEASUREMENT

B2B small business marketers cite Web traffic as their top content marketing metric. Metrics Metricsforfor Content Success ContentMarketing Marketing Success (B2B Small Businesses) (B2B Small Businesses) Website Traffic 64% Sales Lead Quality 57% Sales Lead Quantity 51% Social Media Sharing 49% SEO Ranking 48% Time Spent on Website 41% Direct Sales 37% Qualitative Feedback from Customers 37% Inbound Links 35% Subscriber Growth 34% Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness 27% Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness 23% Increased Customer Loyalty 22% Cross-selling 13% Cost Savings 7%

0

10 20 30

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the last year, with two notable exceptions: B2B small business marketers are looking less often at direct sales and qualitative feedback from customers, which are both down seven percentage points this year.

40 50 60 70 80 90 100


14

 Metrics have remained fairly steady over

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BUDGET

60% of B2B small business marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months. Content Marketing Spending Among Content Marketing Spending Among B2B Small Marketers B2B SmallBusiness Business Marketers (Over Months) (OverNext Next 12 12 Months)

1% 7% Unsure

Decrease

12%

Significantly Increase

48% Increase

 Last year, 57% of B2B small business marketers planned to increase spending.  More B2B small business marketers say they will increase spending when compared with enterprise marketers (60% vs. 52%).

31% Remain the Same


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BUDGET

On average, B2B small business marketers allocate 27% of their total budget to content marketing. Percentage Marketing Budget Percentage of of Marketing Budget Spenton on Content Marketing Spent Content Marketing (B2B Small (B2B SmallBusinesses) Businesses)

1% 4%

100% 75%-99% 50%-74% 25%-49%

13% 13%

10%-24%

13% 13%

5%-9% 1%-4%

2%

0%

22%

 B2B small business marketers allocate more budget to content marketing when compared with enterprise marketers (27% vs. 25%).

18%

Unsure 0

 Last year, B2B small business marketers allocated 31% of their budget to content marketing.

10

20

30

Average Spent: 27% 2014 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs SponSored by

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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING

34% of B2B small business marketers outsource content creation. Insourcing Outsourcing Insourcing vs. vs. Outsourcing ofofContent Creation Content Creation (B2B Businesses) (B2BSmall Small Businesses)

66%

In-house Only Outsourced Only 1%

10

 B2B small business marketers outsource far less frequently when compared with enterprise marketers (34% vs. 73%).

33%

Both 0

 Last year, 39% of B2B small business marketers outsourced content creation.

20

30

40

50

60

70


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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING

Writing and design are the functions that B2B small business marketers are most likely to outsource. Functions that B2B Small Business Functions that B2B Small Business Marketers Outsource Marketers Outsource 61% 56%

Writing Design

 Writing and design are the top two functions that content marketers outsource, regardless of company size.

Content Distribution/Syndication 35% Editing

21%

Content Planning & Strategy 11% Measurement/Analytics 11% Buyer Persona Creation 2% 0

10 20 30

40 50 60 70 80 90 100


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SEGMENTATION

B2B small business marketers tailor content most often by industry trends. How B2BSmall SmallBusiness Business Marketers How B2B Marketers Tailor Content Tailor Content 68%

Industry Trends

58%

Profile of Individual Decision Makers Company Characteristics

43%

Stage in the Buying Cycle Personalized Content Preferences Competitors’ Content None

0

4% 10

20

 95% of B2B small business marketers tailor their content in at least one way.

56%

22%

11% 30

40

50

60

70

80


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CHALLENGES

Content production issues top the list of challenges for B2B small business marketers. Challengesthat thatB2B B2B Challenges SmallBusiness BusinessMarketers MarketersFace Face Small 70% Producing Enough Content 58% Lack of Time

Producing the Kind of Content that Engages Producing a Variety of Content Lack of Budget

37%

40%

45%

28% Inability to Collect Information from SMEs 25% Lack of Knowledge and Training 24% Lack of Buy-in/Vision 22% Lack of Integration Across Marketing 17% Lack of Integration Across HR 14% Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals 11%

Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness

0

10 20 30

40 50 60 70 80 90 100


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 When compared with last year, fewer B2B small business marketers are challenged with: • Producing enough content (down from 64% to 58%) • Producing engaging content (down from 54% to 45%) • Producing a variety of content (down from 43% to 40%)

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CHALLENGES

Lack of time and producing enough content are the biggest content marketing challenges for B2B small business marketers. Biggest Content Marketing Biggest Content Marketing Challenge for B2B Challenge for B2B Small Business Marketers Small Business Marketers Lack of Time

34%

Producing Enough Content 13% Lack of Budget 9% Lack of Buy-in/Vision

8%

Producing the Kind of Content that Engages

8%

 When compared with B2B enterprise marketers, small business marketers are more challenged with lack of time (34% vs. 13%) and producing enough content (13% vs. 5%), but less challenged with producing engaging content (8% vs. 16%).

Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness 6% Inability to Collect Information from SMEs 0

10 20 30

5%

40 50 60 70 80 90 100


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DEMOGRAPHICS B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America was produced by Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and sponsored by New Rainmaker. It is based on the responses of a subset of 406 small business (10-99 employees) business-to-business (B2B) marketers located in North America who replied to the fourth annual Content Marketing Survey. The responses of the entire pool of B2B North American marketers, from companies of all sizes, were previously reported on in the CMI/MarketingProfs report, B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. The fourth annual Content Marketing Survey was mailed electronically to a sample of marketers using lists from CMI, MarketingProfs, Brightcove, Blackbaud, King Content, The Association for Data-driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA), the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA), Industry Week, and New Equipment Digest. A total of 4,397 recipients from around the globe—representing a full range of industries, functional areas, and company sizes—responded throughout July and August 2013. This report also provides comparisons with the 241 marketers who identified themselves, in the same survey, as for-profit B2B enterprise (1,000+ employees) marketers located in North America.

Industry Classification, B2B Small Business

Industry Classification, B2B Enterprises

(10-99 employees) Other

Healthcare/ Pharmaceuticals

Advertising/ Communications/ Marketing/PR

22%

Accounting/ Banking/ Finance Consulting

Publishing/ Media

5%

Internet/Online Services

6%

7%

Software Design/ Development/ Distribution

15%

Manufacturing

10%

Software Design/ Development/ Distribution

Job Title/Function, B2B Small Business

29%

3%

3%

(1,000+ employees)

Other

36%

14%

7%

General Management

7%

Accounting/Banking Finance

Other

6%

2%

Marketing/ Advertising/ Communications/ PR Management

Content Creation/ Management

10%

Corporate Management/ Owner

21%

43%

(1,000+ employees)

Sales/Business Management

Sales/Business Management Marketing Administration/ Support

Corporate Management/Owner

Manufacturing

(10-99 employees)

6%

Job Title/Function, B2B Enterprises

15%

7%

Publishing/ Media

5%

Advertising/ Communications/ Consulting Marketing/PR

Insurance

5%

Healthcare/ Pharmaceuticals

6%

6%

6%

3%

Website/Technology

4%

General Management

6%

Content Creation/ Management

9%

Other

4% Marketing/ Advertising/ Communications/ PR Management

61%

Marketing Administration/ Support

11%

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About Content Marketing Institute: Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content marketing education and training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September, and Content Marketing World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012 and 2013 Inc. 500 company. View all original CMI research at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/research. Learn how to create a documented content marketing strategy, a key component for improving overall content marketing effectiveness. About New Rainmaker: New Rainmaker is the complete resource for small businesses that want a more effective and powerful approach to online marketing. Brought to you by content marketing pioneers Copyblogger Media, the site provides free education and a demonstration of the technology platform that attracts more prospects and converts more leads. You get audio lessons, reports, webinars and more—all at no charge. You’ll also see firsthand how Rainmaker—the next-generation content marketing platform—makes it possible to extract the amazing benefits of content marketing without the painful technology hassles or expense. Sign up for free here.

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