Content Marketing (credit image/Pixabay/Gerd Altmann)FINITE, the global B2B technology marketing community has released new research in B2B content marketing, delivered in partnership with B2B technology digital marketing agency 93x.

FINITE surveyed its global membership base of 600+ B2B tech marketers. The report found that confidence is high when it comes to content marketing. Yet the challenge is to produce enough content, reach the right audience, define and measure success.

Covid-19 Impact

With a lack of physical interaction, COVID-19 pushed B2B companies to focus on the production of digital content. At the same time ensuring that it reaches the right audience. Unsurprisingly, the report found that 35% of B2B marketers in 2020 said producing enough content is their biggest challenge. In addition, 26% said it was reaching the right audience and 16% measuring ROI.

The report also found that although 68% of B2B marketers are confident in their approach to content marketing only 43% have defined KPIs. Worryingly 18% have rarely or never defined content marketing KPIs.

What the industry said about KPI’s

Key performance indicators (KPIs) have come a long way since the days when people were measuring “hits” on a page. Yet many marketers are still stuck in the Stone Age when it comes to measuring the effectiveness and impact of various forms of content. The tactics that work in measuring a website or a traditional customer acquisition funnel do not always translate into content marketing measurement. For white papers, eBooks, blogs, eNewsletters, or whatever format you choose, The Content Marketing institute recommends, as a minimum we measure: Reach, Engagement and Sentiment.

(Image credit/Pixabay/James Rowland)
James Rowland, Digital Performance Director at Refinitiv

The report found that 70% of marketers believe SEO is important to their marketing strategy. James Rowland, Digital Performance Director at Refinitiv said, “It’s surprising to me that the figure is only 70%. Many decision makers are working from home and in this virtual environment they are consuming much more content online. Search engines in many cases are the gateways to this.

Measuring financial success

A well-rounded content plan doesn’t mean much to the C-suite if you can’t measure its financial success. ROI attribution is certainly of great concern among B2B marketers. It provides quantifiable proof that a content strategy is increasing revenue for their organisation. Only 8% of marketers said they are always able to attribute ROI to their content plan. Yet the necessity of exact ROI for all content was questioned by Adelle Kehoe, Head of Content at MVF. Adelle suggests, “By focusing on exact ROI, you are inherently missing the point of content marketing.”

The report participants answered 11 questions on their approach to ROI, KPIs, SEO, and other areas within B2B content marketing. They also looked at receiving real-time benchmarking on each click to see how they compared to others.

Enterprise Times: What this means for business

Content marketing is – and has always been – aimed at long-term success. It’s about building a brand, an audience and engagement. Everyone knows content marketing is a good thing, and everyone knows you can’t afford not to do it. Never more so than during the pandemic. Individuals, businesses and organisations, irrespective of size or sector, have flocked to trusted, and non-trusted, sources for information. Increasingly, society needs information on how to live, operate and survive. And for B2B marketers, this has presented an even larger opportunity to influence its absolute ideal audiences. The question of course is, how are B2B marketers feeling about their activity?

The Finite report is an extremely brief, easy read. It gathers insight from 100 B2B marketers to benchmark performance. The report identifies the challenges in delivering content that will add value to business. This is an opportunity for brands to consider their approach, improve strategies and tactics. Brands really need to deliver stand out content marketing over the coming months.

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