The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) in association with MarketingProfs conducted a research study in 2011 on the changing field of B2B content marketing, with quite interesting results. The resulting report, “B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends,” is extensive and exhausting covering the entire gamut of content from social media to sales collateral.
While we always knew that social media is becoming a priority in marketing, the report shows that it has quickly overtaken other media forms with article creation and social media and blogs currently used by 79%, 74% and 65% of B2B marketers, respectively. Content also continues to be king with a quarter of the B2B marketing budget devoted specifically to content.
Interestingly, among the content collateral that showed an increased adoption rate were blogs and whitepapers. And while video is not strictly content, it was the third most widely used channel attesting to the growing popularity of podcasts and Youtube channels.
And for those companies that do not yet take social media seriously, statistics show every social media channel is seeing increased adoption, often by 15-20% in B2B marketing. And while marketers still consider in-person events and webinars to be the most effective distribution or communication channels, blogs and case studies are also ranked pretty high.
So, do you think content marketing is overlooked by B2B companies? And can you think of any ways to strategically market them?

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