Today we have a guest blog post from Lisa Murton Beets director of CMI Books, from the Content Marketing Institute.
The Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs recently published research on B2B and B2C Content Marketing in our 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends reports. While the findings give us insight into how B2B and B2C marketers are managing content marketing, we were still curious about the state of content marketing in specific key industries, and how content efforts in vertical markets were differing from those of their peers in other industries.
We decided to first look at marketers who work for B2B manufacturing organizations in North America. This group has adopted content marketing at a slightly higher rate (94 percent) than their North American B2B peers across all industries (91 percent).
Let’s take a look at some of the similarities and differences:
Manufacturing marketers have similar goals for content marketing
Marketers in the manufacturing industry have the same top three objectives for content marketing as their peers across all B2B industries: brand awareness, lead generation, and customer acquisition. However, manufacturing marketers place less emphasis on thought leadership (47 percent versus 64 percent) and website traffic (47 percent versus 60 percent) as organizational goals, which indicates a disconnect, as they also cite website traffic as the primary way they measure content effectiveness. This fundamental disconnect between goals and measurement was present with B2B manufacturers when CMI surveyed them two years ago, but it has shown some improvement.
Manufacturing marketers use video and print magazines more often
Manufacturing marketers cite video as their top content marketing tactic (it was ranked seventh by this group two years ago). Their overall use of tactics is fairly similar to that of the overall population of marketers; however, they place far less emphasis on blogs (54 percent versus 77 percent), which makes sense considering that this industry does not put strong emphasis on web traffic and thought leadership as objectives for content marketing, two areas where blogs can have significant impact.
Manufacturing marketers use print magazines at nearly twice the rate of their peers (60 percent versus 31 percent). However, only 11 percent of self-reported “best-in-class” B2B manufacturing marketers rank print magazines as “effective” or “very effective,” indicating that traditional media companies still have a stronghold on B2B manufacturers, who have traditionally used paid advertising in trade magazines to reach their audiences.
Manufacturing marketers prefer Facebook and YouTube
While their B2B content marketing peers use an average of five social media platforms, manufacturing industry B2B marketers report an average use of three.
Yet, manufacturing industry marketers use YouTube more frequently than the general population of marketers do. This makes sense, considering they rank video as their top content marketing tactic. Their use of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter has risen over the last two years, yet they are somewhat behind in their adoption of Google+, Pinterest, SlideShare, and other “newer” social media options, so it will be interesting to see if they grow in these areas over the next year.
Manufacturing marketers outsource content more often
Compared with the overall content marketing population, manufacturing marketers outsource content more often: 57 percent versus 43 percent. This could be because they rely more heavily on printed material, which often requires outside assistance. Given their increased usage of video, compared to other marketers, it is likely that they are outsourcing video creation as well.
Manufacturing marketers spend less
When compared with their peers across all B2B industries, marketers in manufacturing dedicate significantly less of their total marketing budgets to content marketing (22 percent versus 33 percent). However, 53 percent of manufacturing marketers say they are going to increase their content marketing spend over the next 12 months (31 percent say they will keep spending at the same level).
Manufacturing marketers struggle with effectiveness
Like their peers, marketers for the manufacturing industry report that producing enough content is their biggest challenge. One challenge they cite more often than their B2B peers is the inability to measure content effectiveness (55 percent versus 33 percent). And they’re not only challenged with measuring content effectiveness, many are not even sure if their overall efforts are effective. We know this because only 21 percent of B2B manufacturers rank their organization as “effective” or “very effective.” On the other hand, 36 percent of B2B marketers across all industries rank themselves as “effective” or “very effective.”
On the flip side, 32 percent of manufacturing marketers rank their organizations as “not very” or “not at all” effective, compared with 17 percent of their B2B peers. This shows a need for content marketing education and improvement in the manufacturing vertical.
A brief look at the manufacturing demographic
While it is noteworthy to understand how marketers in the manufacturing industry are managing content marketing tools and tactics, it’s also important to understand how demographics may play a role in these research findings. Here are a few notes about the demographics of this research:
Out of a total 1,416 B2B North America respondents, 88 respondents identified themselves as working in the B2B manufacturing industry.
About 40 percent of the B2B manufacturing respondents work for companies with 1,000 or more employees (16 percent of that figure is for companies employing more than 10,000, so these results could also reflect what larger companies are doing).
Do you work in manufacturing? Are these trends consistent with what you are seeing?
One of the challenges we face all the time in helping manufacturers get into the social media space is to get them to think outside their traditional feature/benefit mentality. Feature-based articles on your products aren’t going to work in this space.
I recently read a post by Jeffrey Cohen in Social Media BtoB called 10 Ideas to Make a Boring B2B Social Media Post Captivating. He hit the nail on the head when he said customers and prospects want solutions to their problems. They don’t want to hear about your products in a sales pitch. Here are some highlights from the post that I found to be interesting, and if you try them, your readership will surely increase.
Use key words in your headline – Use words that a customer would be looking for to solve his problem.
Use adjectives in the headline – descriptive words will pique the reader’s attention and want them to read on.
Don’t talk about your products – that’s what websites are for. Use this space to solve problems and establish yourself as an expert in the field.
Solve problem – use how-to posts or share a customer story of how you helped them solve a problem.
Use video – this is a powerful way of telling your story. Video tends to capture someone’s attention in a different way than the written word.
The key here is to work smart not hard. If you’re going to invest the time into blogging, then let’s try to get the most out of it.
I’d be curious to hear what you’re doing to get better results with your posts.
Awards competitions can sometimes be valuable, but they can also be a waste of time and money in some situations. Sonnhalter’s PR Engineer Rachel Kerstetter is with us today to talk about when awards are worth it and when they aren’t.
It seems like new industry awards competitions are popping up all the time. Awards competitions frequently fall under the umbrella of the public relations team and it’s important to approach awards competitions strategically.
When they’re worth it.
Before shelling out the entry fee of anywhere from $50 to $5,000, filling out long forms and pulling together a bunch of supporting material, look at the award details closely and ask these questions:
Is the organization presenting the award competition reputable and recognized within our industry?
Is there an appropriate category for my company/product/service?
Will winning this award reflect well on my company or will it only collect dust on a shelf?
Do we have quality material to enter?
Does the entry fee fit in our budget or will something have to be sacrificed in order to enter?
Can I meet the deadline?
If the answers to these questions are a resounding yes, definitely enter. Follow the entry instructions to the letter and make sure you meet the deadline.
When they’re not worth it.
If you answer “no” to any of those questions, take a step back from the exciting award entry invitation and think about your strategy.
Just because you have something that you can enter, doesn’t mean you should enter. Make sure that whatever you enter reinforces the value of your product/service/company in the industry.
The main goal for entering award competitions should be to gain quality honors, not to fill a trophy case. There are some organizations that create materials in order to win an award, instead of creating quality materials that happen to be award-winning.
I won! Now what?
When you enter to win an award, of course you want to win! When you receive an award, you shouldn’t just put it in that trophy case and call it a day.
Awards are an excellent opportunity for public relations. First, make sure that you announce the success internally and let your staff know that they contributed. Then promote your award externally with press releases, social media and in other appropriate channels. Your award promotions should cover:
What the award is.
How you earned it (i.e. with an innovative process that reduces your company’s environmental impact, by creating a new product that makes XYZ industry better).
Why it matters. Is the award a symbol of your company’s dedication to improvement? Does it show that you’re successful in meeting certain goals?
Each month we’ll be featuring a blog post from our friends at MAGNET (Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network). MAGNET’s mission is to support, educate and champion manufacturing in Ohio with the goal of transforming the region’s economy into a powerful, global player. You can visit MAGNET online at manufacturingsuccess.org.
Addressing the Skills Gap and Improving the Bottom Line
The skills gap in the manufacturing workforce continues to be a challenge. Employers constantly bemoan their inability to get qualified workers, educators convene employers to better understand what they are looking for and develop new programs, and job seekers experience frustration when they are not selected due to lack of skills. It is time to start looking more closely at potential solutions, the role that employers can play, and the value to employers.
Recently reports of successful strategies are starting to emerge. The lessons learned from these successes should be explored for replication and duplication. How do you define and measure success in a way that resonates with all the stakeholders? Typically, successful placement in vacant positions is one clear measure. Another is assessing the Economic Impact of the placement on the company and measures that affect its bottom line.
One example of a project that did both, is a training program managed by MAGNET in 2011. The project was designed to determine if the attainment of skill certifications matched to employer requirements would result in a pool of candidates to fill current or projected vacancies in entry–level positions. Four Ohio sites were selected. The local team was headed by an educational provider and partnered with the local One-Stop that assisted with recruitment of participants. Selected employers were involved from the beginning. They committed to providing input in the content and delivery of the program, as well as hiring completers to fill vacancies. Employer involvement included: plant tours, classroom presentations, delivering some of the training, and conducting mock interviews. Program outcomes included attainment of a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) and the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) Certified Production Technician credential.
Participating employers expressed their satisfaction with the project and the majority of completers were placed followed training. Follow up was conducted with the employers to gather not only their perception of the project, but also the Economic Impact on key factors affecting their bottom line. Preliminary data provided by six of the companies, indicated over $2M in retained sales, $ 250,000 in increased sales, and over $ 6M in investment in plant or equipment as a result of hiring skilled workers. Additionally, ten jobs were created. Factors included: reduced OJT (On-the-Job-Training) time, improved retention, and increased production due to more quickly promoting incumbent workers as their positions were filled with the new hires.
Although a small project and a small employer feedback sample, this model holds promise as a way to help companies quantify the value of this approach. If employers are able to clearly identify the required skills, and if the training providers can match those with certifications that validate the skills, job seekers can more successfully be prepared, placed and retained. Employers have to be part of the solution and training providers have to be willing to adapt their delivery content and strategies to meet both employer and job seeker needs.
Measuring the economic impact on the company provides a quantifiable way for employers to determine the ROI of their time and effort at the beginning of the job preparation process.
I can’t believe that 2013 is almost half way done. There are some mixed messages out there on how things are going this year. I’d like to take the pulse of the industry to see how you’re doing. Can you take a quick poll? Results are shown.
Here is a post from Rosemarie Ascherl, PR Foreman at Sonnhalter, discussing the value of PR. Small PR programs can yield big results.
The Value of PR
Don’t have the budget for an elaborate, integrated, multi-faceted public relations program? For smaller companies with more limited marketing communications budgets, a PR program that involves a minimal investment and enlists the basic PR tools can generate a huge return.
Measuring PR is a controversial topic, and the industry as a whole agrees that it is difficult, if not impossible, to accurately measure. Traditional metrics of volume and outputs, like ad equivalency and impressions, can provide a snapshot of the PR program’s effectiveness. Assuming the sentiment of the PR results is positive and the delivery is appropriate, right now these metrics are a useful indication of PR’s success. One could actually argue that completely earned space with credibility should actually be worth MORE than comparable ad space.
Of course, it is important to remember the media outlet’s relevance in reaching a company’s audience. While it can certainly be an “ego booster” to receive coverage in USA Today, many of our business-to-business [or as we like to call them, B2T, business-to-tradesmen] clients would be better suited to receive coverage in a targeted trade journal with a circulation of 3,000.
As an example, at Sonnhalter we have a smaller, long-standing industrial-focused client with a small PR budget. This client places a priority on PR initiatives over other marketing communication initiatives. In the past year, a basic press release program combined with a modest media relations effort garnered quite a bit of media coverage [if using the traditional metrics, it generated 1,000 percent of its PR investment], which increased brand and company visibility.
Recently this client acquired another company, and it turned to Sonnhalter for assistance in announcing this news to the industry. As its business continues to grow, so does its PR program. Proof that an effective PR program doesn’t always need a large investment.
