With the ever-growing market accessible online, B2B buyers are overwhelmed with choice. Standing out takes more than product specs and pricing sheets. B2B marketers can’t expect to stand out from the competition and engage their target audience with cookie-cutter content. Modern B2B consumers expect tailored, industry-specific content that speaks directly to their pain points.
But how can you make the case to invest more time and resources into your content marketing? Back up your pitch with these 13 compelling statistics about the power and potential of strategic B2B content marketing.
1. Nearly Half of B2B Companies Plan to Increase Content Budgets
46% of B2B marketers plan to increase their investment in content marketing over the next 12 months. With competition growing fiercer, smart companies are pumping funds into high-value content like ebooks, case studies, and blog posts that speak to their audience.
How to Implement
Conduct an audit of your existing content across channels and document what’s resonating or falling flat. Identify gaps in content types, topics, or formats that are preventing you from fully engaging your audience.
Armed with analytics, you can create a proposal for increased budget to fill those gaps, whether it’s funding for more infographics, videos, or long-form content. Demonstrate how added investment in deficient areas will pay off in stronger lead gen and sales.
2. Content Can Double Chances of a Purchase
More than half of B2B buyers said they were much more likely to purchase after reading customized content from a brand. By really understanding your audience’s pain points, you can create content that addresses their needs and propels them towards a purchase. Don’t be afraid to get niche and industry-specific. Speaking directly into your target audience’s niche will help build authority and may be the factor that boosts conversions.
How to Implement
Document your key customer personas and map their pain points to topics and content types that would provide value. For example, an industrial equipment company could create custom ebooks with ROI calculators or step-by-step troubleshooting guides for the manufacturing sector.
Set up workflows to consistently produce new tailored assets that nurture different segments towards conversion. Track performance by persona and vertical to double down on what resonates.
3. Buyers Consume Multiple Content Pieces Before Engaging
47% of B2B buyers consume between 3-5 pieces of content before reaching out to a company directly. B2B customers are voracious information gatherers, taking time to consume multiple educational and informational pieces from a company before engaging. So rather than a quick blog post, give them an ongoing content buffet.
How to Implement
Build out an editorial calendar that spans months with a variety of different content types (think blog posts, videos, case studies, etc.) on topics your audience cares about.
Each piece should be optimized with keywords and questions you know buyers are searching for during research. Promote the content across channels like email and social media to keep it top of mind.
4. Marketers See Content Success Over Past Year
Over the previous 12 months, 64% of B2B marketers surveyed said their overall content marketing success improved. As strategies improve, more marketers are seeing leads and sales from content efforts. By focusing on what’s already working, you can optimize your top-performing content types.
How to Implement
Document where you currently stand with metrics like website traffic, lead generation, sales, and revenue. Survey customers on brand perception and content helpfulness.
Commit to an initial 3-6 month timeline for ramping up high-performing content types and channels while phasing out poor performers. Track improvements across metrics and continue optimizing.
5. Content Drives Metrics Up
Over 70% of B2B marketers surveyed said content marketing helped increase audience engagement and leads. Churning out useful content makes you a magnet for qualified eyeballs. Nurture that audience into top-notch leads with content that addresses their challenges.
How to Implement
Analyze your top-performing content pieces and document what topics, formats, and distribution tactics make them successful.
Look for opportunities to apply those learnings to produce more content. For example, turn popular blogs into videos or podcasts. Pay to amplify promotion for high-potential content so that it can land on the screens of as many high-potential customers as possible.
6. Most Businesses Already Use Content Marketing
A full 90% of B2B businesses currently have an active content marketing approach driving inbound leads. This emphasizes how ubiquitous content has become for B2B lead generation and brand-building. In other words, content is now mission-critical. Being in the small minority without a content program puts a B2B brand at a major disadvantage.
How to Implement
Research what your competitors and industry leaders are producing for content. Identify any gaps where you can swoop in and create content assets they are missing to stand out.
Promote this differentiated content on channels like relevant industry publications and social media groups. By promoting your brand on these niche channels, you can capture attention that may have previously been on competitors.
7. Custom Content Boosts Brand Perceptions
82% of buyers said they viewed a company more positively after reading custom content tailored for them. Content with specific appeal for different personas or industries positions you as an expert, boosting brand image and affinity.
How to Implement
Document different buyer personas with tailored messaging and content types that would uniquely resonate. Produce assets specifically framed around each persona’s point of view.
Share the content directly with those target audiences through paid ads, email, or promotions on the channels they frequent. Make sure this high-affinity content is landing on the screens of people who will benefit from it.
8. Content Creation Claims Over a Quarter of Budgets
The top B2B content marketers allocate as much as 28% of their total marketing budgets to creating content. From ideation to production and promotion, skilled humans and tools cost money. But that investment pays off in spades with content that captures attention.
How to Implement
Analyze how much you currently spend on content production and promotion across teams like marketing, sales, and product.
From here, you can determine an ideal investment level based on benchmarks and calculate the hard costs for executing your content plan. Before pitching a budget increase to management, come up with some projections for how these added resources will pay out.
9. Most Marketers Make Content Core to Strategy
70% of B2B marketers and 73% of B2C marketers now consider content marketing a crucial component of their overall strategies.
In B2B and B2C alike, content is core for attracting and converting buyers. For example, financial institutions rely on thought leadership content to attract small business accounts. On the other hand, SaaS companies nurture leads with how-to content.
How to Implement
Document how you currently use content across the funnel from awareness to sales. Identify gaps where creating specific new content assets could help move audiences along at each stage.
Prioritize content initiatives on your roadmap and marketing calendar to make content central to lead nurturing and conversion moving forward.
10. More Content Means More and Better Leads
74% of B2B companies that prioritized content creation gained more – and higher quality – leads.
Think of your audience like subscribers – the more value you deliver, the more engaged they’ll be. Try increasing blog frequency or sending more email nurtures.
How to Implement
Look at your top-of-funnel content categories and determine how you can increase output. For example, consider growing your blog from monthly to bi-weekly using existing internal subject matter experts.
Ramp up promotion through email, social, and paid channels. Continually optimize your content mix based on performance data to focus on what content types and topics convert best.
11. Content Alone Can Make the Sale
62% of B2B buyers say they can make a purchase decision based solely on digital content from a brand.
If your content directly answers buyer questions and concerns, it may be all they need to pull the trigger. Ease any objections they may have with helpful assets like product demo videos.
How to Implement
Identify common questions, concerns, and objections that stall buyers from converting. Develop dedicated content pieces and FAQs to address those issues.
Promote this conversion-focused content on key channels when users are in evaluation mode. Track sales from users who consumed specific content pieces.
12. Paid Content Distribution Reaches 84% of B2B Marketers
84% of B2B marketers leverage paid channels like social media ads to distribute content. Amplify your reach and results with promoted posts, paid partnerships, or influencer collaborations. Test content that resonates to identify your best ads.
How to Implement
Analyze how organic content is performing and identify the best pieces to back with paid promotion. Allocate a test budget for various paid channels.
Run A/B tests of content promotions across platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Determine the most profitable mix to scale up.
13. LinkedIn Drives More Quality Leads for 40% of Marketers
40% of B2B marketers rate LinkedIn as the most effective channel for generating high-quality leads through content. Repurpose your best performing assets into different formats for LinkedIn.
How to Implement
Audit the types of content and topics performing well on other channels. Top performers should be reformatted into in-demand LinkedIn assets like articles, posts, or videos.
Promote top-performing LinkedIn content through both organic and paid tactics to maximize reach to your target audience.
The Case for Content Marketing
For B2B brands, an impactful content strategy is now a core competency up there with product development and sales. Modern B2B buyers demand valuable informational resources across channels before engaging and buying.
Yet while content marketing is crucial, execution remains a challenge. Producing quality content at scale takes substantial resources. To realize content’s immense potential, B2B marketing leaders must invest properly in technology, talent and processes.
But for those willing to make the commitment, the rewards are real. B2B content marketing done right leads directly to increased leads, sales, and revenue. If you aren’t already investing heavily in content, the time is now. Let these statistics be your catalyst for putting content marketing front and center.