Recently, the Content Marketing Institute teamed up with MarketingProfs to conduct an annual research study:
B2B Content Marketing 2018: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
Sponsored by online video platform Brightcove, this year's survey was conducted back in June and July.
Now, they've completed the study, publishing an exciting new set of up to date statistics on the latest practices, concepts, and innovations in the content marketing world.
This research offers an intriguing look into the strategies and tactics of some of America's foremost content marketers.
So what are the top minds of content marketing really focused on right now?
The study found that above all, marketers are honing in on audience building, looking at ways to turn one-time leads into dedicated subscribers who keep coming back.
They're also balancing solid project management protocol with the craft and artistry that content creation entails, keeping workflows organized and systematic without stifling their teams' creativity.
Build audiences
Across the board – at all levels of content marketing success – the research shows more marketers concentrate on building audiences.
Among all respondents, 80% say they are focused on this (versus 92% of the top performers), representing an 18% year-over-year increase.
This is terrific news to see more marketers doing what CMI has been urging them to do for years. Why is audience-building important?
Because your audience can be one of your organization’s most valuable assets.
Content marketing gives you a way to build a subscribed audience, which is what differentiates content marketing from other forms of marketing.
The intent of content marketing is to offer valuable information so people want to hear from you … so they sign up to receive your content.
How to use this insight: Distinguishing between leads and subscribers is important for B2B organizations that want to differentiate.
A lead is someone who discloses information in exchange for a piece of content or something else of value.
This doesn’t necessarily mean they want to have an ongoing conversation with your business. In fact, the lead may not have an active interest in your products or services at all.
A subscriber is someone who signs up to receive regular communication from a company because the subscriber believes you have something valuable to offer him or her—
and you’ll continue to provide this value beyond the initial engagement.
In other words, the subscriber signs up in anticipation of the value expected to be received.
Think about building an audience through subscription, then mining that subscription list for leads (as the audience engages in your pieces of content).
But don’t ignore the possibility of the reverse situation.
As Kim Moutsos, CMI’s vice president of editorial, points out, “If your lead-gen piece is great, you could earn a subscriber at the same time you earn the lead. You can also mine leads for subscribers, just as you might mine subscribers for leads. For example, offer an opt-in to your newsletter on the thank-you page of a download or from within a PDF, infographic, or video.”
[image source: The Content Marketing Institute]
Blend craft and process
Effective content creation entails getting quality projects completed efficiently.
Eighty-eight percent of top performers value creativity and craft in content creation and production, compared with 74% of all respondents.
In addition, 70% of top performers rate project management flow of their content-creation projects as “excellent” or “very good” versus only 36% of all respondents.
As you can see, most respondents value creativity and craft. Where successful content marketers seem to have an edge is that they have good processes.
[image source: The Content Marketing Institute]
How to use this insight: Process and creativity are not at odds.
Process is key to enable your team to have time to be creative.
While it takes time to set up processes, once they are in place, the conversation changes from “who is doing this,” or “what are the steps we need to take,” or “oh no, we forgot to include someone/something.”
Then the team has time to work on the art of creating exceptional content.
You can find more unique insights into how top marketers approach content strategy over at The Content Marketing Institute.
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