2014 Report on B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing in North America

By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs recently released their fourth annual report on the content marketing practices of business-to-business (B2B) marketers working in the manufacturing industry.

In this report you’ll find answers to questions such as: What percentage of manufacturing marketers have adopted content marketing? What tactics are they using? How does their approach to content marketing differ from that taken by other B2B marketers?

This report also looks at how manufacturing marketers approach content marketing when compared with a wider group of B2B North American marketers representing a range of industry segments.

Here are some key highlights from this most recent study on manufacturing marketers and their content marketing efforts:

  • 86% have adopted content marketing
  • Only 30% say they are effective at content marketing
  • Use the same number of tactics (13) as other B2B marketers
  • 81% use YouTube to distribute content and rate it as the most effective social media platform
  • Cite different goals for content marketing when compared with other B2B marketers
  • Top challenges faced for their content marketing programs: 1. Lack of time, 2. Producing the kind of content that engages and 3. Producing enough content
  • 46% plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months

Click here to read more details and download the full report.

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How Are You Reaching Your Targeted B-to-B Audiences?

I recently attended Content Marketing World in Columbus where I got a glimpse of the 2012 Channel Preference Study by Exact Target. The study gives insights to different channels – direct mail, email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Mobile Twitter and SMS.

What surprised me in this world of “Post PC Era” where mobile seems to be taking over the world, that the old standbys of direct mail and emails are still alive and well.

Email is by far the most acceptable due in part to the channel’s familiarity, flexibility and universality with 91% using it on a daily basis. The key to success today is audience segmentation, data-driven insights and relevant content.

Direct mail – in an online world, the fact that 65% of consumers have made purchases as a result of a direct mail piece validates the channel. Interestingly, direct mail is the only unsolicited message that isn’t viewed as inappropriate by consumers.

So from a B-to-B point of view, what are you doing to capitalize on these two channels?

Here are some tips:

  • Keep your message targeted and to the point.
  • Give them a solution to a problem and don’t necessarily try to sell them something.
  • Use a list that is focused. More is not necessarily better.
  • Make an offer clear.
  • Give them an easy way to respond.

Those are some suggestions from me. What are you doing to capitalize on these two channels?

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How Much of Your B-to-B Marketing Budget is Going Towards Social Media?

Marketers across the board are realizing that social media is here to stay and those that have jumped in have found that they are making new friends.

How does that translate though into spending out of your marketing budget? With budgets shrinking over the last 18 months, marketers have had to do more with less and find social as a viable option.

A recent article in eMarketer, Marketing Budgets Spiral Towards Social, they cite recent surveys from both Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and American Marketing Association that indicate that upwards of 20% of marketing dollars will be going to social in the next five years.

Percent of Marketing Budget Spent on Social Media According to US Marketers, August 2009 & February 2010 (% of total)

B-to-B marketers are catching up with their counterparts in B-to-C. Part of the reason B-to-B marketers are spending more on social is because it lines up with their marketing goals of brand building and CRM.

Social Media Marketing Spending by US B2B and B2C Marketers, August 2009 & February 2010 (% of total)

What are your goals moving forward in 2010 and beyond?

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Next Time You Want to Send a Link, Consider Using Social Media

Most of us think if we wanted to share a link to something of interest that the logical way to do that would be through e-mails. Not according to a recent article in the E-Marketer Newsletter that cites AddToAny, a creator of content sharing and web publishing tools, that Facebook accounts for 24% of uses of the widget to share links to articles, videos and other content. E-mail only accounts for 11.1%. Social media has overtaken e-mail in terms of worldwide reach.

 

Leading Services Used to Share Online Content Worldwide via the AddToAny Widget, July 2009 (% share)

What that means to B-to-B marketers is that they should reconsider how they deliver links. By using a social media outlet like Facebook or Twitter, you not only deliver your message and link, but you’re continuing to increase your awareness and improve your search rankings and site traffic.

Nice bonus don’t you think?

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Make Your B-to-B E-mail Campaign to Tradesmen a Success

E-mailYou need to connect quickly in the subject line in order for them to open an e-mail. Look beyond pitching your product and talk about issues that hit their hot button. Don’t know what those are? ASK!

Tradesmen are busy people like the rest of us, and when they get a marketing e-mail, you had better make clear (WIIFM) what’s in it for me in the subject line. They want to know  how your product or service will help them on a jobsite.

According to MailerMailer, 74% of all e-mails are opened within 24 hours. Which means if the email isn’t opened soon, then it probably wont be.

I read a post recently form Arthur Middleton, Making your B-to-B e-mail campaign a success, which he outlines 4 tactics that will help you become a reliable source of info. Here is my take on them as it relates to my audience, the professional tradesmen:

  1. Be a e-newsletter publisher. Look beyond just promoting your products and talk about industry issues that are affecting tradesmen. Give them inside information on marketing trends.
  2. Leverage the knowledge you get from these contractors. Find out how and why contractors make their decisions. Ask them to be on an advisory panel or participate in a contractor study.
  3. Preview your e-mail. Make sure preview panes are very much on point because if you don’t make your point quickly, they won’t open your e-mail.
  4. Create a mobile version. These contractors use mobile devices to stay connected, so make sure to use a smaller version of your logo, and state your claim (WIIFM) within the first few sentences.

Those are my thoughts, I’d like to hear yours.

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