Do you have a monthly budget for content marketing on Social Media?
Are you producing Quantity? Quality?
You’ve probably heard the phrase “content is king.” It’s still true today and will likely hold true in 2018 and beyond. B2B content marketing should be a part of your website if it isn’t already.
However, if you don’t do it purposefully, you could end up spinning your wheels.
As content marketing maturity grows, organizations tend to spend more of their total marketing budget on content marketing. Those in the:
• Young/first steps phase spend 19%
• Adolescent phase spend 25%
• Sophisticated/mature phase spend 33%.
While it’s true that content marketing has been a buzzword in recent years, marketers are increasingly recognizing the imperativeness of having a strong content marketing strategy and are starting to funnel more of their resources towards developing one. In this blog post, we break down the key takeaways from the study B2B Content Marketing – 2018 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America.
COMMITMENT TO CONTENT MARKETING IS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH
Content marketing is defined as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly de ned audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Out of the top performers, (respondents who characterize their organization’s content marketing approach as very successful) 89% stated that their organization is extremely committed to content marketing, 73% stated that their organization’s content marketing is sophisticated or mature, 62% have a documented content strategy.
B2B SUCCESS COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO
A quarter (24%) of those surveyed say their organization’s overall content marketing approach is extremely or very successful; we consider these respondents B2B content marketing top performers.
In marketing, I value quality over quantity, great writing, building an audience over stuffing a pipeline full of so-called prospects. So here are a few of my favorite takeaways from this year’s research:
- 80% of all B2B content marketers surveyed agree their organization is focused on building audiences (i.e., one or more subscriber bases); that’s an 18% increase from last year. And nearly all—92%—of the top-performing B2B content marketing programs say they are focused on building audiences.Takeaway: B2B marketers get it: A clearly defined audience is one of the foundations of a successful content program. Without it, content is merely a tiny voice in the wilderness—shivering, alone, friendless.
- 74% of B2B marketers agree their organization values creativity and craft in content creation and production (compared with 88% of top performers).
Takeaway: Metrics and measurement are important. But the art in marketing is just as important as the science! (Maybe more so.)
B2B PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL MARKETING BUDGET
B2B CONTENT MARKETING BUDGETS WILL INCREASE
38 percent of B2B marketers are increasing their content budgets and putting more effort toward this type of marketing. More companies understand the value of content, both immediate value and long-term, and they’re hiring more and more marketing managers to meet their needs.
To keep up, you need to allocate a bigger chunk of your budget to this type of marketing.
MORE CUSTOMIZED CONTENT
Content marketers are getting better at customizing content. They’re placing content on specific landing pages aimed at target audiences, or under categories that appeal to the different types of visitors who land on the site. Examine your site’s analytics and pinpoint the various audiences using the site, as well as what content they are looking for.
Content marketers must focus on delivering the perfect content to the right buyer at the ideal moment. This strategy can include tailored landing pages, customer-focused ad campaigns, and targeted emails to segmented mailing lists.
Expect to see more tracking codes in 2018 and beyond. This technology measures behaviors such as what customers are buying and where they are clicking in marketing emails. By analyzing the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, marketers can customize content even more over time.
Think about sites such as Groupon. If you sign up for their mailing list, you receive very targeted offers based on your past purchases, gender, age, location, and other key factors. Not every Groupon user will receive the same email content or even the same offers, and what they do receive will likely have a high click-through rate.
5 FACTORS BREAKING YOUR B2B CONTENT MARKETING BUDGET
When you budget, you do so with an ROI in mind. You have to justify the spending and ensure that you do not overspend. A poorly conceived content marketing strategy is often the number one reason that leads to your program not yielding the desired results. Then, in an effort to stop the slide, more money is pumped into it. Before you know it, you have overshot the allocated budget with very little to show for it.
Another reason why businesses cannot stay within the budgets is poor execution of the strategy. Let us take a more detailed look at the factors that can break your B2B content marketing budget.
1. Get in sync. The B2B content marketing exercise should be in sync with your marketing objectives. These could be customer acquisition, customer retention or tapping new markets. Get your articles, videos, social media posts, ebooks, blogs and syndicated content tied in to the overall objective.
2. Keep your eyes open. Not measuring your content marketing performance is akin to driving with a blindfold. You can manage it effectively only if you can measure it. Content that gains traction with your readers deserves to be recognized and its promotion expanded to additional channels, or for a longer term.
3. Know your audience. Targeting the wrong audience is a surefire way to overshoot your budget. It adds to the cost when B2B content marketers engage with the wrong kind of audience and pursue communication. By the time they realize it, they’ve spent time and money that could have been used elsewhere on more productive and profitable activities. This is an area where customer personas are very handy.
4. Staffing. Not having the right people on the job is another factor that can lead to businesses overspending. There are always costs with hiring, but there are other associated costs that are often overlooked. Be sure to consider the costs of training, oversight and damage control if you choose to hire a junior person.
5. Expect to spend on tech. Marketing tools are evolving by the day. Technical upgrades, if not factored into the budget, can cause a spike in the spending. According to a Gartner study, by 2018 the marketing department will be spending more than the IT department on technology. That includes technology for content marketing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Strive for Improving your content.
There’s a lot of boring, useless content being produced these days. We’re all very aware of that (and sick of it). The good news is that content marketing is improving and teams are learning how to create more compelling content and how to achieve more.
Focus on Quality
We’re only in the first inning of the content marketing game. Expect more improvement, refinement, and sophistication in the years to come, meaning that there’s still time for you and your marketing team to up your game and achieve greater content marketing success.
While content marketing remains a key marketing trend for 2018 and beyond, there’s room to improve your business’s implementation to yield better results.
To this end, document your B2B content marketing strategy starting with your content marketing mission. Then align your content creation with your strategy and other business needs.
In the process, use every opportunity to build your housefile.
Further, continue to focus on the successful content you create that moves your business forward while stopping efforts that utilize more resources than they’re worth.
About Blair
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
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