CONTENT MARKETING

BENCHMARKS FOR ENTERPRISES

VS. SMB ORGANIZATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 Executive Summary 10 Content Campaign Resources

4 Content Marketing Objectives 11 Content Marketing Software Usage

5 Current Content Marketing Success 12 Channel Effectiveness for Content

6 Obstacles to Content Marketing Success 13 Content & The Sales Cycle

7 Premium Content Usage 14 About Marketo

8 Content Type Effectiveness 15 About Demand Metric & Ascend2

9 Content Type Execution 16 Appendix – Survey Background

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Content is an essential component of marketing.

Buyers self-educate more deeply into the sales cycle than every before. Content marketing is an essential strategy to attracting,
engaging and acquiring customers during this self-education process. Yet only 13% of respondents believe their content
strategy is “very successful” at achieving important objectives.

What will content marketing success look like in the year ahead and how will marketers achieve it?

To find out, Demand Metric in partnership with Ascend2 fielded the Content Marketing Survey and completed interviews with 521
marketing and sales decision-makers and practitioners from around the world. We thank these busy professionals for sharing
their valuable insights with you.

The charts in this report compare the strategies and practices of small and mid-size businesses (SMB) with large enterprises.

This research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy planning and presentation
materials. Clip the charts and write about them in your blog or post them on social media. Please share this research credited as
published.

- Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst – Demand Metric

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CONTENT MARKETING OBJECTIVES
Figure 1: Most Important Content Marketing Objectives

Most Important Content Marketing Objectives

Enterprise SMB
As a strategy, content marketing is capable of delivering
53%
Increase number of leads generated
56% each of the benefits listed in Figure 1.
52%
Increase brand or product awareness
43%
This data makes clear that lead generation is the
32%
Improve sales-readiness of leads
26% current top objective for content marketing strategies
Increase number of website visitors
29% with companies of all sizes.
31%
26%
Improve organic search (SEO) rankings
33% As a lead generation strategy, content marketing is more
Increase direct sales revenue
25% effective when paired with other objectives on this list, such
27%
24%
as increasing website visits and improving organic search
Improve customer retention rate
18% rankings.
24%
Increase marketing ROI
28%
20%
While these latter objectives are not highly ranked,
Increase social media engagement
20% they also are top drivers of lead generation
0% 20% 40% 60% performance.

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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CURRENT CONTENT MARKETING SUCCESS
Figure 2: Rating of Current Content Marketing Program Success

Ratings of Current Content Marketing Success

Enterprise SMB

90% Nearly three-quarters of all companies consider their

80% content marketing efforts only “Somewhat successful”.
81%
70%
Measuring success begins with having an objective and
60% 67% then identifying and tracking related metrics. Merely
50% publishing quality content does not provide a means of
understanding its impact.
40%
30% Twice as many small and mid-size businesses (16%) have
20% achieved “Very successful” status as have large enterprises
18% (8%).
10% 16%
8% 12%
0% Regardless of size, all organizations need a content
Very successful Somewhat Not successful marketing dashboard to measure their success in this
successful
area.

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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OBSTACLES TO CONTENT MARKETING SUCCESS
Figure 3: Most Challenging Obstacles to Content Marketing Success

Obstacles to Content Marketing Success

Enterprise SMB

52%
Of the top two obstacles identified here, the first is
Lack of an effective content marketing strategy
36% strategic in nature, the second tactical. To just publish
Lack of internal content creation resources
44% great content is not a strategy. You must have a goal.
49%
Inability to measure content marketing ROI
38%
32% The tactical obstacle is solved with money, and the
Lack of marketing and sales alignment
25% money comes from a business case built around the
18%
24%
strategy.
Curating or repurposing existing content
19%
Writing original articles and blog posts
24% Strategy is less an issue for SMBs than their Enterprise
41%
21%
counterparts.
Lack of premium content (may require registration)
11%
Lack of content outsourcing budget
17% Creating content is a time and resource-intensive endeavor
23%
13% and a major challenge for companies with limited
Lack of social followers to consume content
19% resources. Curating and repurposing existing content
0% 20% 40% 60% requires fewer resources.

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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PREMIUM CONTENT USAGE
Figure 4: Premium Content Usage

Premium Content Usage

Enterprise SMB

Videos 72% Most content starts in written form, but ends up deployed
57%
62% across a variety of content types.
eNewsletters
56%
59%
White papers
54% When determining content types, it is imperative to
Webinars 54% first understand the audience for the content. A single
42%
51% piece of content is often deployed in a variety of types.
Case studies
54%
41%
Research reports
33% Premium content is more compelling and therefore
Infographics 33% attracts more views and shares. It is a tactic that often
35%
32% requires some form of registration to generate leads, the
Product demos
29% most important content marketing objective.
Interactive apps 21%
10%
None of the above 2% Videos, eNewsletters and white papers are the most
6%
frequently used types of premium content.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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CONTENT TYPE EFFECTIVENESS
Figure 5: Most Effective Content Types Used

Most Effective Content Types Used

Enterprise SMB

20%
Videos
14% The distribution of responses to this question about
eNewsletters
15% effective content types is fairly even, reinforcing the
17%
15%
truth that all forms of content can have impact.
Webinars
17%

Case studies
14% Enterprises rank video content first, while SMBs rank it
11%
12%
fourth, perhaps reflecting the perceived barriers to
Articles
10% producing video content. These barriers are falling.
9%
Research reports
11%
7%
SMBs rank eNewsletters and webinars first with white
White papers
16% papers second.
4%
News releases
1%
4%
Many organizations repurpose a single piece of
Infographics
4% content, expressing it across a number of types.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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CONTENT TYPE EXECUTION
Figure 6: Most Difficult Content Types to Execute

Most Difficult Content Types to Execute

Enterprise SMB

27%
Videos
27%
13%
Video, one of the most effective content forms, is also
Webinars
9% perceived as the hardest to execute.
13%
Case studies
12%
12%
Achieving studio quality video in-house is more difficult for
News releases
4% resource-starved companies of all sizes, but costs are
eNewsletters
9% coming down as the production tools improve.
6%
9%
Research reports
12% Research reports and white papers often benefit from
8% specialized skills that smaller organizations may not have.
White papers
18%
5%
Infographics
7% Decisions about content type, however, should be
4% based on audience preference, not difficulty of
Articles
6%
execution.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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CONTENT CAMPAIGN RESOURCES
Figure 7: Content Marketing Campaign Resources Used

Content Marketing Campaign Resources Used

Enterprise SMB
70%

60%
62%
More than half (53%) of SMBs use only in-house
50%
53% resources to execute content marketing campaigns.
40% 44%
68% of large enterprises outsource all or part of their
30% content marketing campaign creation and
32%
implementation, gaining higher levels of expertise and
20% performance available outside the organization.
10% 6%
4% Outside resources are helpful for obtaining specialized
0% skills or to remain agile in the production of content.
Outsource all or most Use a combination of Use in-house resources only
campaigns to an agency or outsourced and in-house
consultancy resources used

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

10
CONTENT MARKETING SOFTWARE USAGE
Figure 8: Content Marketing Software Usage

Content Marketing Software Usage

Enterprise SMB
50%
It’s not currently possible to automate the generation of
47%
40% content, just about every other aspect of content marketing
43%
can benefit from automation or management software.
30% 33%
31% Many software solutions are available to automate, track
26% and manage the content marketing process. However, 31%
20% of large organizations and 33% of SMBs don’t use such
21% software yet.
10%
As firms invest more deeply in content marketing, the use
of software to help manage and automate the process will
0% become more compelling.
Extensive use of Limited use of We don’t use
marketing software marketing software marketing software

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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CHANNEL EFFECTIVENESS FOR CONTENT
Figure 9: Most Effective Channels for Content Distribution

Most Effective Channels for Content Distribution

Enterprise SMB

Websites
68% Websites are a repository for content and the most
52%
effective channel for the Enterprise segment. Email is a
58%
Email
62% highly ranked channel by organizations of all sizes.
37%
Social media (other than blogs)
37%
24%
Organizations that use multiple channels, optimizing
Online events (webinars etc)
19% content for each one, tend to enjoy the greatest
Offline events (tradeshows etc)
23% success.
25%
23%
Organic search (SEO)
22% What’s most important is to understand why a channel is
16% effective.
Blogs
25%
14%
Paid search or online ads
17% Almost always, it is because it is preferred by the audience.
8%
Direct mail or print ads
14%
Content marketers must remain audience driven when
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
developing and delivering content, or risk losing
relevancy.

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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CONTENT & THE SALES CYCLE
Figure 10: Types of Sales Cycles Encountered

Types of Sales Cycles Encountered

Enterprise SMB

60%
Content marketing strategies can accomplish many
50% 54% purposes, but ultimately, most marketers hope to influence
buyers, either directly or indirectly. The longer the sales
40%
41% cycle, the more valuable content becomes.
39%
30% 35%
It’s critical to have what the content buyers are looking
for when they are self-educating early in the sales
20%
20% cycle.
10%
12% The buying stages and buyer personas involved in a long
0% and complex sales cycle are definable, so content can be
Long and complex sales Short and direct sales Both types of sales cycles created and targeted for each persona and stage.
cycle involving multiple cycle involving one or two encountered equally
decision-makers decision-makers

Content Marketing Benchmark Survey, Demand Metric and Ascend2, January 2014, n=521

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ABOUT DEMAND METRIC & ASCEND2
About Demand Metric
Demand Metric is a global marketing research & advisory firm serving a membership community of over 40,000 marketing
professionals, CEOs, and business owners with advisory services, 100+ research & benchmark reports, 20+ consulting
methodologies, 50+ training e-workshops & courses, and a library of 500+ practical tools and templates.

Using Demand Metric resources, members complete projects faster and with greater confidence, boosting respect for the
marketing team and making it easier to justify needed resources. Our 1,200+ corporate clients range from start-ups to consulting
firms to members of the Global 1000.

To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: www.demandmetric.com.

About Ascend2
Ascend2 is a market research firm with over 50,000 research subscribers and survey panelists comprised of sales & marketing
professionals. Each month they field new research studies and generate reports that typically include 12 to 18 pages of charts and
analytical commentary.

Demand Metric partners with Ascend2 to leverage their panel of research survey panelists and develop additional benchmark
reports for community members.

Learn more about Ascend2 at www.Ascend2.com.

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APPENDIX – SURVEY BACKGROUND
Surveys are conducted online from a panel of more than 50,000 Ascend2 research subscribers, representing US and
international marketing and sales decision-makers and practitioners in a range of contact roles, company types, sizes and
geographic regions.

The questionnaire used incorporates standardized research practices across all studies while maintaining a proven 3-minute
survey format. Survey findings are examined in a quantitative context by experienced analysts and reported objectively.

The Demand Metric and Ascend2 2014 Content Marketing Benchmark Report was administered online in January 2014. During
this period, 521 responses were collected that were qualified and complete enough for inclusion in the analysis.

Summarized below is the basic categorization data collected about respondents to enable filtering and analysis of the data:

Primary Role of Respondent: Employee Size:

 Owner or Officer (35%)  Enterprise – More than 1000 (16%)

 Marketing or Sales Management (42%)  SMB – 10 to 1000 (58%)
 Marketing or Sales Staff (15%)  Fewer than 10 – Not Included (26%)
 Other (8%)

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 Benchmark Report

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