A lot of companies out there aren’t sure if they’re doing a good job at content marketing. But at least they’re making a go of it: a whopping 94% of small business B2B marketers currently use content marketing.
Yet only 34% of small businesses (and 32% of enterprise B2B marketers) believe their efforts are effective. Nevertheless, most plan to increase the role of content marketing in their integrated marketing program over the next year, according to recent study by CMI.
If you’re one of those wondering whether your content marketing is effective or not, take a look at some of the traits shared by “best in class” B2B marketers.
Habits of Highly Effective Content Marketers
- Allocate a higher percentage of the marketing budget to content marketing (31% average overall).
- Employ more content marketing tactics (12 on average).
- Use more social media platforms to deliver content (5 on average).
- Personalize content to the recipient more frequently.
Small business B2B marketers tend to use social media the most (86%), whereas enterprise marketers use video more often (87%) to deliver their content.
B2B small business marketers use blogs more frequently (76% vs. 70%) than their enterprise-level counterparts, and use an average of five social media platforms while enterprise marketers use four.
Top Content Delivery Channels
The top social channels used most frequently by B2B small business marketers include LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. The B2B enterprise marketers use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube the most.
Objectives and Metrics
The primary goal of content marketers for both small business and enterprise B2B marketers is the same: brand awareness. Both groups use website traffic most often (64%) as the gauge of their success.
How much should a successful content marketer spend? On average, B2B small business marketers set aside 31% of their marketing budget for content marketing, while enterprise businesses spend 24% on content marketing.
Not surprisingly, B2B enterprise peers are more likely to outsource content creation (65% on average) than B2B small business marketers (39%).
The research showed another trait shared by successful enterprise and small business B2B marketers: both groups plan to increase their content marketing budgets over the next year.
