As a company entrenched in the content marketing world, it’s always exciting see how B2B firms are identifying their challenges, setting goals and prioritizing their investments for the year ahead.
In order to keep a pulse on all these points, Content4Demand has launched its inaugural Content Budgeting and Planning Survey. We’re still in the data collection stage, but we’ve already gleaned some very interesting trends and insights that we’re eager to share with you:
- Content budgets continue to rise: The majority of marketers (73%) spend up to 50% of their budgets on content. Over the next 12 months, 43% of respondents plan to spend between 10% and 30% more in content development and promotion.
- More money, more (content) problems: Content marketing budgets are increasing, but 37% of B2B firms say they have insufficient budgets to invest in new tools and tactics.
- Insufficient staff remains an issue: Buyers are demanding more content, so organizations are feeling increased pressure to create and promote content faster than ever before. However, 56% of respondents pointed to insufficient staff as a top pain point.
- B2B organizations have a content strategy foundation: The vast majority of B2B firms (81%) say they’ve built a calendar of topics around a flexible, high-level plan aligned with company goals.
- Lost in (buyer) translation: Content4Demand continues to emphasize the importance of creating content that aligns with buyers’ wants, needs and paint points — a position supported by leading analysts and other content marketing thought leaders. But current results indicate that marketers are still mixed in to their ability to do so. In fact, 49% of respondents say they haven’t sufficiently aligned content to specific buyer personas.
Do any of these results surprise you? Share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below! If you want your voice counted, click here to participate in the survey before it closes. And if you share your name and contact info, we’ll send you a copy of the full report as soon as it’s available!
