Technology B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends North America

B2B Content Marketing:
2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America
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FOREWORD
Greetings Content Marketers,
Welcome to this year’s report on the content marketing practices of business-to-business (B2B) technology marketers
in North America.
In this report, we highlight key areas of difference between the most effective technology marketers and their less effective peers.
We also show some differences between those who have a documented content strategy and those who do not. For example:
 The most effective technology marketers allocate more budget to content marketing when compared with the overall sample
of technology marketers (35% vs. 28%)
 Only 39% of technology marketers say their organizations are effective at content marketing, however having a documented
strategy dramatically increases confidence (62% of those with a strategy say they are effective)
Technology marketers use a good mix of tactics and continue to invest in content marketing, with 58% planning to increase spend
over the next 12 months. We look forward to seeing how this continued investment pays off over the next year.
On with the content marketing revolution…
Joe Pulizzi
Founder
Content Marketing Institute

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SPONSORED BY:
2014 B2B Technology Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
39% of technology marketers say they are effective
at content marketing.
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
 Confidence rises when a technology
marketer has a documented content
strategy (62% of those with a
documented strategy say they are
effective).
How Technology Marketers
Rate the Effectiveness of
Their Organization’s
Use of Content Marketing
8%
31%
50%
11%
1%
Very Effective
Not At All Effective
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
5
4
3
2
1

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2014 B2B Technology Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
EFFECTIVENESS
Comparison of Most Effective Technology Marketers
with Least Effective Technology Marketers
MostEffective Overall/Average LeastEffective
75% 46% 10%
• “Most Effective” = Respondents who rated their organization’s use of content marketing as 4 or 5 in terms
of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”)
• “Least Effective” = Respondents who rated their organization’s use of content marketing as 1 or 2 in terms
of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “Not At All Effective”)
Hasadocumentedcontentstrategy
Hassomeonewhooverseescontentmarketingstrategy
Averagenumberoftacticsused
Averagenumberofsocialmediaplatformsused
Percentageofmarketingbudgetspentoncontentmarketing
Planstoincreasecontentmarketingspendovernext12months
Challengedwithproducingengagingcontent
Challengedwithproducingavarietyofcontent
7 6 6
63% 58% 50%
35% 28% 26%
31% 42% 47%
16 15 12
86% 73% 53%
46% 55% 73%

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46% of technology marketers have a documented
content strategy.
 Technology marketers who have a
documented content strategy—when
compared with those who do not—are
more effective in all areas of content
marketing and face fewer content
marketing challenges.
Percentage of Technology
Marketers Who Have a Documented
Content Strategy
46%Yes
46%No
6%Unsure
STRATEGY

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STRATEGY
Comparison of Technology Marketers Who Have a
DocumentedContent Strategy with Those Who Do Not
Documented
Strategy Overall/Average NoDocumented
Strategy
62% 39% 14%Considersorganizationtobeeﬀectiveatcontentmarketing
Averagenumberoftacticsused
Averagenumberof socialmediaplatformsused
Producingmorecontentcomparedwithoneyearago
Percentageofmarketingbudgetspentoncontentmarketing
Planstoincreasecontentmarketing spendovernext12months
Percentagethatoutsources contentcreation
Challengedwithproducingavarietyofcontent
82% 78% 73%
63% 58% 57%
31% 28% 25%
35% 42% 51%
7 6 6
16 15 13
63% 57% 49%

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73% of technology companies have someone in
place who oversees content marketing strategy.
STRATEGY
 86% of the most effective technology
marketers say their company has
someone in place who oversees
content marketing strategy.
Percentage of Technology Organizations
with Someone Who Oversees
Content Marketing Strategy
73%Yes
23%No
5%Unsure

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78% of technology marketers are producing more
content than they did one year ago.
CONTENT VOLUME
 The most effective technology
marketers are creating more content
when compared with the overall
sample (83% vs. 78%).
 Technology marketers who don’t have
a documented content strategy
increased their content production by
nearly as much as those who do have a
strategy (73% vs. 82%).
Change in Amount of Content Creation
Among Technology Marketers
(Over Last 12 Months)
35%Significantly
More
43%More
19%Same Amount
1%Less

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SPONSORED BY:2014 B2B Technology Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
TACTIC USAGE
Technology marketers use an average of 15 content
marketing tactics.
Content MarketingUsage Among Technology Marketers
(by Tactic)
0
20
40
60
80
100
SocialMediaContent-OtherThanBlogs
CaseStudies
Videos
Blogs
In-personEvents
ArticlesonYourWebsite
Webinars/Webcasts
eNewsletters
WhitePapers
OnlinePresentations
ResearchReports
eBooks
Infographics
Microsites
BrandedContentTools
Books
MobileContent
VirtualConferences
MobileApps
Podcasts
PrintNewsletters
DigitalMagazines
Licensed/SyndicatedContent
Games/Gamification
91%
84%
78%
ArticlesonOtherWebsites
75%
51%
45%
43%
32%
36%
32%
AnnualReports
28%
30%
15%
22% 10%
82%
80%
86% 86%
80%
69%
40%
29% 29%
22%
85%
58%
PrintMagazines
 The most effective technology marketers use
all of the tactics shown here more frequently
than their peers, especially:
 Articles on other websites: 87% vs. 75%
 Online presentations: 79% vs. 69%
 Infographics: 71% vs. 58%
 Research reports: 63% vs. 51%
 eBooks: 60% vs. 45%

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TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS
Technology marketers say webinars and videos are the
most effective tactics they use.
 Social media content (other than
blogs) is not one of the top 10 effective
tactics (and is not shown on this chart);
however, the most effective marketers
gave it a much higher rating
(64% vs. 46%).
Effectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among
Technology Manufacturers Who Use Them
70% 30%
32%
34%
39%
42%
44%
39%
44%
68%
66%
61%
61%
58%
56%
56%
SayIt’sEffective* SayIt’sLessEffective
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Webinars/Webcasts
Videos
In-PersonEvents
34%66% CaseStudies
40%60%
WhitePapers
ResearchReports
eNewsletters
Infographics
eBooks
Blogs
* Percentage of respondents who rated these tactics as a 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”)

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SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
 Nearly all technology marketers,
regardless of company size or
effectiveness, use LinkedIn to
distribute content.
marketers use all of these platforms
more frequently when compared with
their peers.
Technology marketers cite LinkedIn as the social media
platform they use most often to distribute content.
0 20 40 60 80 100
97%
92%
85%
83%
60%
32%
19%
46%
17%
16%
12%
12%
12%
25%Vimeo
StumbleUpon
Tumblr
Foursquare
YouTube
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google+
SlideShare
Flickr
Pinterest
Instagram
Vine
Percentage of Technology Marketers
Who Use Various Social Media
Platforms to Distribute Content
Facebook

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SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS
marketers have more confidence in all
of these platforms, and they especially
rate Twitter higher (70% vs. 55%).
Although adoption rates for social media are high,
technology marketers are unsure of its effectiveness.
Effectiveness Ratings of Social Media Platforms
Among Technology Marketers Who Use Them
63% 37%
45%
48%
56%
55%
52%
44%
SayIt’sEffective* SayIt’sLessEffective
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
SlideShare
60%
74%
40%
26%
Vimeo
Facebook
82%
85%
18%
15%
Google+
Pinterest
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
*Percentage of respondents who rated these tactics as a 4 or 5 in terms of
effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”)

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ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
 Whereas most other B2B marketers
(across all industry segments) cite
brand awareness as their top goal
for content marketing, technology
marketers cite lead generation.
marketers place higher emphasis on
thought leadership when compared
with the overall sample (81% vs. 75%).
Technology marketers say lead generation is their
top goal for content marketing.
Organizational Goals for
Content Marketing
(Technology Marketers)
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
LeadGeneration
BrandAwareness
CustomerAcquisition
ThoughtLeadership
WebsiteTraﬀic
LeadManagement/Nurturing
Engagement
CustomerRetention/Loyalty
Sales
86%
82%
77%
75%
66%
65%
63%
58%
49%

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MEASUREMENT
 Like most other B2B marketers (across
all industry segments), technology
marketers say Website traffic is their
top goal.
Technology marketers cite Website traffic as their
top metric for content marketing success.
Metrics for
Content Marketing Success
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Website Traﬀic 69%
Sales Lead Quality 64%
Sales Lead Quantity 63%
Social Media Sharing 57%
SEO Ranking 54%
Inbound Links 42%
Direct Sales 40%
Time Spent on Website 40%
Subscriber Growth 33%
Qualitative Feedback from Customers 30%
Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness 26%
Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness 22%

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BUDGET
marketers are more likely than their
peers to say they will increase spend
over the next 12 months (63% vs. 58%).
58% of technology marketers plan to increase their
content marketing budget over the next 12 months.
Content Marketing Spending
Among Technology Marketers
(Over Next 12Months)
10%Significantly
Increase
48%Increase29%Remain the
Same
10%Unsure
2%Decrease

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BUDGET
marketers allocate more budget
to content marketing when compared
with the overall sample (35% vs. 28%).
On average, technology marketers allocate 28%
of their total budget to content marketing.
Percentage of Marketing Budget
SpentonContentMarketing
5%
10%
15%
26%
14%
9%
0%
20%
0%
0 10 20 30
100%
75%-99%
50%-74%
25%-49%
10%-24%
5%-9%
1%-4%
0%
Unsure
Average Spent: 28%

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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING
 Technology marketers who have a
documented content strategy are
more likely to outsource content
creation when compared with the
overall sample (63% vs. 57%).
57% of technology marketers outsource
content creation.
Insourcingvs. Outsourcing
of Content Creation
In-houseOnly
OutsourcedOnly
Both
43%
1%
56%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING
 As is the case with other B2B
marketers across all industry
segments, writing and design
are the top two functions that
technology marketers outsource.
Writing and design are the functions that technology
marketers are most likely to outsource.
Functionsthat Technology
Marketers Outsource
74%
51%
34%
22%
9%
7%
5%
Writing
Design
ContentDistribution/Syndication
Editing
BuyerPersonaCreation
ContentPlanning&Strategy
Measurement/Analytics
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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SEGMENTATION
marketers tailor content more
frequently in each of these areas
when compared with their peers.
Technology marketers tailor content most often
by industry trends.
How Technology Marketers
Tailor Content
63%
58%
57%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
ProfileofIndividualDecisionMakers
69%IndustryTrends
CompanyCharacteristics
5%None
StageintheBuyingCycle
12%Competitors’Content
12%PersonalizedContentPreferences

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CHALLENGES
 72% of the most effective technology
marketers are challenged with a lack
of time; however, they are less
challenged in all other areas shown
here, especially with producing
engaging content (46% vs. 55%)
and producing a variety of content
(31% vs. 42%).
Time and content production issues top the list of
challenges that technology marketers face.
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Challenges that
Technology Marketers Face
LackofTime
ProducingEnoughContent
ProducingtheKindofContentthatEngages
ProducingaVarietyofContent
InabilitytoMeasureContentEﬀectiveness
LackofBudget
InabilitytoCollectInformationfromSMEs
LackofIntegrationAcrossMarketing
LackofKnowledgeandTraining
LackofBuy-in/Vision
LackofIntegrationAcrossHR
FindingTrainedContentMarketingProfessionals
69%
58%
55%
42%
40%
40%
32%
28%
23%
22%
17%
13%

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CHALLENGES
marketers are more likely than their
peers to say that lack of time is their
biggest challenge (35% vs. 25%).
7%
6%
5%
3%
100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Biggest Content Marketing
Challenge for
Technology Marketers
LackofTime
ProducingtheKindofContentthatEngages
ProducingEnoughContent
LackofBudget
InabilitytoMeasure ContentEﬀectiveness
LackofBuy-in/Vision
InabilitytoCollectInformationfromSMEs
LackofIntegrationAcrossMarketing
ProducingaVarietyofContent
7%
14%
13%
25%
10%

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SPONSORED BY:
DEMOGRAPHICS
B2B Technology Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends–North America was produced by Content
Marketing Institute and sponsored by International Data Group (IDG). It is based on the responses of a subset of 270
business-to-business (B2B) technology marketers located in North America who replied to the fourth annual Content
Marketing Survey.
Sections of this report compare the technology respondents with the overall sample of 1,217 B2B marketers in North
America, whose responses were previously reported on in the CMI/MarketingProfs study, B2B Content Marketing: 2014
Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
The fourth annual Content Marketing Survey was mailed electronically to a sample of marketers using lists from
CMI, MarketingProfs, Brightcove, Blackbaud, King Content, The Association for Data-driven Marketing & Advertising
(ADMA), the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA), Industry Week, and New Equipment Digest. A total of 4,397
recipients from around the globe—representing a full range of industries, functional areas, and company sizes—
responded throughout July and August 2013.
Size of B2B
Technology Company
(by Employees)
Micro
(Fewer than
10 Employees)
15%
Small
(10-99 Employees)
35%
Midsize
(100-999
Employees)
29%
Large
(1,000+ Employees)
22%
B2B Technology
JobTitle/Function
7%
General
Management
Marketing/
Advertising/
Communications/
PR Management
56%
Marketing
Administration/
Support
11%
7% 4%
Content Creation/
Management Other
Corporate
Management/Owner
15%

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About Content Marketing Institute:
Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content
marketing education and training organization.
CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through
compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World, the largest
content marketing-focused event, is held every September, and Content Marketing
World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief Content
Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some
of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012 and 2013 Inc. 500 company.
View all original CMI research at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/research. Learn how to create a documented content
marketing strategy, a key component for improving overall content marketing effectiveness.
About International Data Group (IDG):
International Data Group (IDG™) is the world’s leading technology media, events, and research company. Founded in 1964
and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, IDG products and services reach more than 280 million technology buyers in 97
countries.
IDG Communications’ global media brands include ChannelWorld®, CIO®, CITEworld, CSO®, Computerworld®, GamePro®,
InfoWorld®, ITworld®, Macworld®, Network World®, PCWorld®, TechHive® and TechWorld®.
International Data Corporation (IDC), a subsidiary of IDG, has more than 1,000 analysts who provide expertise on technology and
industry opportunities and trends in more than 110 countries.
Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com.
To learn more, attend a full-day
Technology/Software Industry Lab
at Content Marketing World on
September 11, 2014.

Technology B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends North America

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Technology B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends North America