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Content - the New King of B2B Commerce

B2B marketing has recently crowned a new king - far surpassing paid search, PR, and mass media as the preferred weapon of today’s B2B entrepreneur.
In the 2011 B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report, marketing software company HiveFire surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the state of the B2B market. 
According to the report, B2B marketers are retreating from conventional tactics like SEM and have made content marketing the most-used tool in the box. In fact, twice as many B2B marketers now employ content marketing as they do print, TV, and radio advertising.
What is Content Marketing?

“The creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos, and photos - for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.”
An impressive 82 percent of B2B marketers now employ content marketing as a strategy, in comparison to:
  • Search engine marketing at 70%
  • Event promotion at 68%
  • Public relations at 64%
  • Mass media advertising (TV, radio, print) at 32%
The primary marketing goals of each B2B organization included:
  • Driving sales and leads - 78% 
  • Boosting brand awareness and establishing - 35%
  • Maintaining thought leadership - 35% 
  • Increase web traffic - 28%
  • Improve search results - 24%
Key to the popularity of content marketing is its ability to generate qualified leads while engaging prospects - ALL without busting the budget. Nearly half of the content marketers interviewed said they dedicate less than a third of their budgets to such expenditures. B2B marketers also believe most of their customers and prospects are online, which is why they’re focusing their marketing efforts in the digital space.Finally, the survey shows that content curation - the process of finding, organizing and sharing content - continues to gain strength, up 17 percent from six months ago. Often seen as fuel for marketing programs, curation does have its kinks.
  • Lack of time - Nearly 70%
  • A lack of original and quality content - 66% 
  • Difficulty in measuring results - 38%
  • Lack of staff to do the work- 37% 
In every reign, there are imperfections. But there’s no disputing the ruler of the new B2B era. As Bill Gates originally stated in the 1996 article, “Content is King”…
“Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products - a marketplace of content.”
Posted on November 3rd, 2011
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  1. digitalxchange posted this
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