BY Kathy Crosett
B2B marketers get the importance of content marketing as they seek to build their reputations through white papers and webinars. How does content marketing work for B2C businesses? The Content Marketing Institute has just updated its 2018 report for B2C operators and findings reveal that only approximately 1/3 of these establishments believe they have content marketing under control.
With well over 80% of surveyed B2C companies using some form of content marketing, approximately 23% centralize the effort in a group that disperses material inside and outside of the organization. In 55% of companies, the responsibilities are handled by a small or one-person team. Over 60% of companies rely on outside help for the effort – especially content creation (49%) and distribution (26%).
B2C companies spend approximately 26% of their marketing budgets on content. In 2018, 37% of companies will increase spending, while 46% will keep the spending at this year’s level. Here are the formats that marketers use most frequently for content marketing:
- Social media 89%
- Email (newsletters, welcome emails) 86%
- Blogs 70%
- In-person events 42%
- Print (other than magazines) 34%
- Print magazines (17%)
- Digital magazines 12%
The typical content marketer uses three formats. Not every format drives the same kind of results for B2C marketers. In general, these businesses say email (72%), social media (61%) and blogs (47%) are most effective for them.
Developing and maintaining all this content is a huge challenge for most businesses. Just over 1/3 (34%) of surveyed businesses are so overwhelmed by the process that they don’t measure their returns on investments. For many, increasing audience engagement with their brands and products is a chief goal. B2C operators also want to increase leads (65%) and increase sales (58%). Almost half, 45%, would like to have an easier way to show their efforts are helping them meet their goals.
You can help clients in the B2C space by pitching your digital marketing services. If you are the experts at managing email campaigns, maintaining blogs, or measuring results, your customers need to know about this skill.