B2B

Content Marketing
2014

Benchmarks, Budgets,
and TrendsNorth America

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Overview: The State of B2B Content Marketing IN NORTH AMERICA

Greetings Content Marketers,
We have good news to report! B2B content marketers in North America are making strides: 42% consider
themselves effective, up from 36% last year.
Moreover, we also can begin to understand why marketers are feeling more confident: For the first time, we
asked marketers whether they have a documented content strategy (44% do) and a person who oversees
content marketing strategy (73% do). Our findings tell us that there are distinct differences between those who
have a strategy and those who do not. Marketers who do are not only more effective but also less challenged
with every aspect of content marketing.
Even though weve made great strides, the industry is clearly still in the early adoption phase. However, some
marketers are seeing substantial success. Read on to find out what a best-in-class content marketer does
differently and delve into many other findings as well.
On with the content marketing revolution!

Joe Pulizzi

Founder
Content Marketing Institute

Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer
MarketingProfs

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USAGE

93% of B2B marketers use content marketing.

Percentage of B2B Marketers
Using Content Marketing

7%

do not
use content
marketing

Last year, 91% of B2B marketers

said they used content marketing.

93%
use content
marketing

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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

42% of B2B marketers say they are effective

at content marketing.
How B2B Marketers Rate the
Effectiveness of Their Organizations
Use of Content Marketing

5
4
3

Very Effective

9%
33%
41%

Last year, 36% of B2B marketers said

they were effective at content
marketing.

14%

2
1

Not At All Effective

0

10 20 30

2%

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

Profile of a best-in-class B2B content marketer.

Comparison of Most Effective B2B Content Marketers
with Least Effective B2B Content Marketers
Most Effective

Overall/Average

Least Effective

Has a documented content strategy

66%

44%

11%

Has someone who oversees

content marketing strategy

86%

73%

46%

15

13

10

Average number of
social media platforms used

Percent of marketing budget

spent on content marketing

39%

30%

16%

Challenged with producing

engaging content

35%

47%

61%

Average number of tactics used

Most Effective = Respondents who rated their organizations 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 organizations 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)
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STRATEGY

44% of B2B marketers have a documented

content strategy.

Percentage of B2B Marketers Who

Have a Documented Content Strategy

6%

B2B marketers who have a documented

content strategy are far more likely to
consider themselves effective (66% vs. 11%).

Unsure

49%

44%
Yes

48% of smaller B2B organizations (10-99

employees) have a documented content
strategy, compared with 41% of large
organizations (1,000+ employees).

No

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STRATEGY

73% of B2B organizations have someone in place

to oversee content marketing strategy.
Percentage of B2B Marketers
with Someone Who Oversees
Content Marketing Strategy

5%
Unsure

22%
No

73%
Yes

The majority of the most effective B2B

marketers (86%) have someone who
oversees content marketing strategy;
however, only 46% of less effective
marketers do.

Small companies (10-99 employees) are

more likely than large companies (1,000+
employees) to have someone who oversees
content marketing strategy (78% vs. 58%).

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CONTENT VOLUME

73% of B2B content marketers are producing more

content than they did one year ago.
Change in Amount of
B2B Content Creation
(Over Last 12 Months)

2%
Unsure
5%
Less

20%
Same Amount

32%
Significantly
More

41%
More

78% of the most effective B2B marketers

are creating more content than they did
one year ago, compared with 57% of
their least effective peers.

B2B marketers who have a documented

content strategy are creating more
content than they did one year ago,
compared with those who do not have
a documented strategy (80% vs. 66%).

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TACTIC USAGE

B2B marketers use an average of 13 content

marketing tactics.
B2B Content Marketing Usage

100

(by Tactic)

87%
81%80%

80

Tactic usage has

remained relatively
consistent when
compared with last year.

76% 76%

73% 73%

68%
64% 63% 62%

60

51%

35% 34%

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Games/Gamification

Print Newsletters

Annual Reports

25%24%
22% 10%
Virtual Conferences

26%

Licensed/Syndicated Content

25%

27%

Podcasts

Mobile Apps

Books

eBooks

Print Magazines

Mobile Content

Branded Content Tools

Microsites

Research Reports

Infographics

Webinars/Webcasts

Online Presentations

30%28%

White Papers

Articles on Other Websites

Videos

Case Studies

In-person Events

Blogs

eNewsletters

Articles on Your Website

20

Social Media Other than Blogs

40

Digital Magazines

44%
40% % %
38 38

Infographics has seen

the largest year-over-
year increase in usage.
Last year, 38% of B2B
marketers were using
infographics, compared
with 51% this year.

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TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS

B2B content marketers have increasing confidence

with most tactics.
Confidence Gap

Effectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among B2B Users

Believe Its Effective

70%
65%
63%
63%
62%
60%
59%
59%
58%
57%

Believe Its Less Effective

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

30%
35%
37%
37%
38%
40%
41%
41%

For the fourth year in a row, B2B

marketers overall have rated in-person
events as the most effective tactic they use.

Best-in-class B2B marketers,

however, rate blogs as the most
effective tactic (79%), which surpasses
how they rate in-person events (76%);
only 29% of their least effective peers
rate blogs as effective.

42%
43%

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

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SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

B2B marketers are using social media more frequently

than last year.
B2B
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Google+
SlideShare
Pinterest
Instagram 22%
Vimeo
22%
Flickr 16%

40%
34%

55%

91%
85%
81%
73%

B2B content marketers are using every

social media platform listed here more
often than they did last year.
Social media platforms that had the
biggest increase in use from last year
to this year are SlideShare, Google+,
and Instagram.

15% StumbleUpon
14% Foursquare
14% Tumblr
14% Vine

20

40

B2B content marketers use an average

of 6 social media platforms, up from 5
last year.

60

80

100

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SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS

Although adoption rates for social media are high,

B2B marketers are unsure of its effectiveness.
Confidence Gap

Effectiveness Ratings of Social Media Platforms

Among B2B Users
Believe Its Effective

62%
50%

Believe Its Less Effective

LinkedIn
Twitter

YouTube
48%
45% SlideShare
Vimeo
40%
30% Facebook
26% Pinterest
23% Instagram
22% Vine

21%

Google+

38%
50%
52%
55%
60%
70%
74%

After LinkedIn, large companies

(1,000+ employees) consider YouTube
to be second most effective, whereas
small companies (10-99 employees)
say SlideShare and Twitter are second
most effective.

49% of small companies consider

SlideShare effective, compared with
38% of large companies.

77%
78%
79%

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

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ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

Brand awareness continues to be the top organizational

goal for B2B content marketing.
Organizational Goals for
B2B Content Marketing
82%
Lead Generation
74%
Customer Acquisition
71%
Thought Leadership
68%
Engagement
64%
Customer Retention/Loyalty 57%
Website Traffic
57%
Lead Management/Nurturing 47%
Sales
45%
Brand Awareness

10 20 30

B2B marketers have consistently cited

brand awareness as their top goal for
the last four years.

80% of the most effective B2B content

marketers cite lead generation as a goal,
compared with 64% of their least
effective peers.

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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MEASUREMENT

B2B marketers have cited Web traffic and sales lead quality as
their top content marketing metrics for the last three years.
Metrics for B2B
Content Marketing Success
63%
Sales Lead Quality
54%
Social Media Sharing 50%
Sales Lead Quantity 48%
SEO Ranking
44%
Time Spent on Website 40%
Direct Sales 39%
Web Traffic

Qualitative Feedback from Customers

34%
Subscriber Growth 32%

39%

Inbound Links

Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness 29%

Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness
Increased Customer Loyalty

14%
Cost Savings 6%

21%

24%

Cross-selling

10 20 30

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B2B marketers cited each of these criterion a

bit more frequently than they did last year,
with the exception of direct sales, qualitative
feedback from customers, inbound links,
and increased customer loyalty, all of which
decreased slightly. Subscriber growth was
a new option.

The least effective B2B marketers place more

importance on direct sales, citing it as their
fourth top criterion (tied with social media
sharing). The most effective marketers rank
direct sales as their eighth most important
criterion.
Over the last four years, direct sales has
consistently gone down in importance as a
measurement criterion.

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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BUDGET

58% of B2B marketers plan to increase their content

marketing budget over the next 12 months.
B2B Content Marketing Spending
(Over Next 12 Months)

1%
Decrease

10%
Significantly
8%
Unsure

Increase

48%
Increase

32%
Remain the
Same

More B2B marketers plan to increase

their content marketing budgets this
year, compared with last year (54%).

All B2B marketers plan to increase

content marketing spending at similar
rates, even those who rate themselves
as least effective.

More small companies (10-99 employees)

than large companies (1,000+ employees)
plan to increase their content marketing
budgets over the next 12 months
(60% vs. 52%).

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BUDGET

On average, 30% of B2B marketing budgets are

allocated to content marketing.
Percent of Total Marketing Budget
Spent on B2B Content Marketing
2%
5%
11%
15%

100%
75%-99%
50%-74%
25%-49%
10%-24%
5%-9%
1%-4%

2%

0%

12%
11%

21%

The most effective B2B marketers

spend a higher percentage (39%) of
their budgets on content marketing
than their least effective peers do (16%).

20%

Unsure
0

The average amount allocated to

B2B content marketing rose from 26%
in 2012 to 33% in 2013, and has now
settled firmly in between.

10

20

30

Average Spent: 30%

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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING

Large B2B companies outsource content creation

more frequently than small companies.
Insourcing vs. Outsourcing
of B2B Content Creation
Overall/Average

Large Companies
(1,000+ Employees)

Small Companies
(10-99 Employees)

In-house Only

56%

28%

66%

Outsourced Only

1%

1%

1%

Both

43%

72%

33%

There has been no change from last

year in how much content B2B marketers
create in-house and how much they
outsource.
There are no real differences between
how much content the most effective
and the least effective B2B marketers
outsource.

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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING

Writing and design are the two functions most likely to

be outsourced.
Functions that
B2B Marketers Outsource
64%
54%

Writing
Design

Content Distribution/Syndication 30%

Editing

22%

Measurement/Analytics 13%

Content Planning & Strategy 8%

Buyer Persona Creation 5%
0

10 20 30

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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SEGMENTATION

B2B marketers most often tailor content based

on industry trends.
How B2B Organizations Tailor Content
65%

Industry Trends
Company Characteristics

43%

Stage in the Buying Cycle

Personalized Content Preferences
Competitors Content
None

4%
10

20

The most effective B2B marketers tailor

content more often by every category
listed here.

59%

Profile of Individual Decision Makers

Nearly all (95%) B2B marketers segment

their content in at least one way.

55%

21%

11%
30

40

50

60

70

80

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CHALLENGES

Challenges have remained fairly consistent year

over year.
Challenges that
B2B Content Marketers Face
69%
Producing Enough Content 55%
Lack of Time

Producing the Kind of Content that Engages

Lack of Budget

39%

Producing a Variety of Content

47%

38%

33%
Lack of Integration Across Marketing 26%
Inability to Collect Information from SMEs 25%
Lack of Knowledge and Training 25%
Lack of Buy-in/Vision 23%
Lack of Integration Across HR 15%
Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals 10%
Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness

10 20 30

Aside from lack of time, B2B marketers

consistently cite producing enough content
and producing the kind of content that
engages as their top challenges.

Challenges are fairly similar to those of years

past; however, B2B marketers are gaining
strides in their ability to produce a variety
of content.

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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CHALLENGES

Marketers at large companies face different challenges

than marketers at small companies.
Biggest B2B Content Marketing Challenge
(by Company Size)
Large Companies

Small Companies

Producing the Kind of

Content that Engages

16%

8%

Lack of Integration
Across Marketing

15%

1%

Lack of Budget

13%

9%

Lack of Time

13%

34%

Lack of Buy-in/Vision

11%

8%

Inability to Collect Information

from SMEs

7%

5%

Producing Enough Content

5%

13%

Inability to Measure
Content Effectiveness

4%

6%

Lack of Knowledge and Training

4%

2%

Producing a Variety of Content

2%

3%

Finding Trained
Content Marketing Professionals

1%

2%

Lack of Integration Across HR

1%

2%

(1,000+ Employees)

(10-99 Employees)

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B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and TrendsNorth America was produced by Content
Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs and sponsored by Brightcove.
The fourth annual Content Marketing Survey, from which the results of this report were generated, was mailed
electronically to a sample of marketers using lists from Content Marketing Institute, 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 globerepresenting a full
range of industries, functional areas, and company sizesresponded throughout July and August 2013.
B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and TrendsNorth America reports on the findings from 1,217 (out of
the total 4,397) respondents who identified themselves as B2B marketers in North America.

B2B Industry Classification

Banking/Accounting/
Financial

3%

Other

Advertising/
Marketing

18%

27%

Healthcare/Medical/
Pharmaceutical

4%

Software

Business
Services (Other)

Consulting

5%

11%

Manufacturing

Publishing/
Media

5%

10%

Internet/Online
Services

5%

12%

Size of B2B Company

(by Employees)

Large

(1,000+ Employees)

19%

Midsize

Micro

(Fewer than
10 Employees)

B2B Job Title/Function

Advertising/Marketing
Communications/PR

40%

30%

(100-999
Employees)

22%

Small

(10-99 Employees)

31%

Corporate
Management/Owner

25%

Content
Creation/
Management

9%

Other

5%

Marketing
Administration/
Sales/Business
Support
Management
General
Consultant Management

4%

4%

6%

7%

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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.
CMIs 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.
About MarketingProfs:
MarketingProfs (www.marketingprofs.com) is a marketing education and training company that offers actionable
know-how designed to make you a smarter marketer. More than 600,000 MarketingProfs members rely on our free daily
publications, virtual conferences, and more to stay up-to-date on the most important trends in marketingand how to
apply them to their businesses.
About Brightcove:
Brightcove Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOV), a leading global provider of cloud services for video, offers a family of products used
to revolutionize the way organizations deliver video experiences. The companys products include Video Cloud, the
market-leading online video platform and Zencoder, a leading cloud-based media processing service and HTML5
video player technology. Brightcove has more than 6,300 customers in over 65 countries that rely on Brightcove cloud
content services to build and operate video experiences across PCs, smartphones, tablets, and connected TVs. For more
information, visit http://www.brightcove.com.

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