BY Kathy Crosett
Businesses should regularly review how to invest in content marketing. As prospects expand their search tactics to include AI, marketers must develop the kind of content that is easily discoverable. And the content must drive conversions.
How Do Marketers Rank Their Content Efforts?
The most recent B2B Content & Marketing Trends report from the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) unveils details on how producers are changing. And the latest B2B BuyerSCAN data from AdMall shows what prospects are looking for when it comes to content.
12% of the respondents to the CMI survey say their content production is highly effective. Around 47% say it’s somewhat effective. That leaves around 41% of marketers who want to improve.
What do the most effective operators do differently? Their content development team is in alignment with sales (45%), and they use technology and tools (43%).
About AI
Not surprisingly, marketers are using AI tools for content development. 48% are in the developing stage, and 24% have established a process. Marketers that use this technology believe productivity and content quality has improved, along with SEO optimization.
What is the ROI on Content Marketing?
As businesses continue to invest in content marketing, the activity comes under scrutiny from the higher-ups. The struggle to connect the investment to ROI is real and using AI may help marketers connect the dots. Producers have trouble pointing to how content leads to conversions (40%) and finding ways to measure effectiveness (33%).
What is the Goal of Content Marketing?
Before marketers can measure ROI, they should define the goal of their content marketing. For many, it’s to establish thought leadership or collect first-party data.
The Value of Thought Leadership
One way for businesses to succeed is to invest in content marketing that doubles as leadership pieces. When marketers produce content that is designed to showcase their expertise, prospects notice.
Specifically, B2B BuyerSCAN data tells us:
- 37% of B2B buyers research online for solutions to their business problems before they reach out.
- 45% look for vendors that have experience with clients in their line of work.
The Value of First-Party Data
Collecting first-party data is a key goal of many marketing initiatives. Once your accounts have the prospect’s contact information, they can further personalize outreach and offers. And marketers report obtaining better behavioral insights about prospects when they use the information (52%).
The vast majority of B2B marketers rank their skill level as basic when it comes to personalization. This basically means they use the contact’s name in an email.
They could be doing so much more – especially when it comes to sending out new research or white papers. If they store the appropriate information about prospects, they can send only what the contact has indicated an interest in.
On the other hand, it’s easy to overuse data and annoy prospects. The most successful organizations establish a first-party data use strategy, across the organization. If your accounts haven’t done that yet, offer to help them do so.
How Content Marketing Can Improve Event Outcomes
Not all content marketing initiatives take place online. To stand out, more B2B marketers are returning to in-person events.
Overall, the exhibition and trade show industry activity is still down about 8.4% from pre-pandemic levels. Analysts believe it will continue to recover. Nearly 80% of B2B operators are looking into these activities, with 40% allocating a small portion of the marketing budget to them.
A significant percentage of operators believe their presence at events where they meet prospects leads to a shorter sales cycle, especially when valuable content is shared. Around 39% of marketers measure content performance at events.
Your accounts should know that 28% of B2B Buyers noted they increased their consideration of a product when the vendor sponsored an industry conference or event.
B2B Marketing Outlook for 2026
As marketers evaluate how to invest in content marketing in the future, they should know where their competition will be spending money. The CMI data reports the following planned increases in budget for next year.
- AI tools 45%
- Events/Experiential marketing 33%
- Owned media 32%
- Paid media 25%
Conclusion
The need to invest in content marketing has never been more important. But your accounts should spend wisely. Your guidance on how audiences use the content can help them improve their ROI.
Image by Antoni Shkraba Studio on Pexels
