Content marketing is getting better by the year, according to The Content Marketing Institute. The organization released its seventh annual research report with MarketingProfs, titled: B2B Content Marketing: 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends — North America, which shows that more than half (62%) of B2B marketers surveyed said their organization’s overall content marketing approach is much more or somewhat more successful than one year ago — compared to 91% of top performers.
“After analyzing the findings, I truly feel the momentum we are seeing in the industry is taking a turn for the better,” said Joe Pulizzi, Founder of The Content Marketing Institute, in a statement. “One important distinction among marketers who are consistently top performers is their level of commitment. It’s clear if you want to be successful with your content marketing you need to make it a priority.”
This year, The Content Marketing Institute redesigned the survey in order to better reflect the maturing content marketing industry. The company shifted the emphasis on content marketing effectiveness to focus more on its success, and the findings show that B2B marketers have attributed success to two main factors: content creation (85%) and strategy (72%).
Additionally, the study showed that 75% of marketers agreed that their team uses metrics to demonstrate how content marketing has increased audience engagement, while 72% said it has attributed to an increase in leads.
“Measurement can be a challenging area of content marketing, so it’s encouraging to see marketers making progress with tying content marketing to business results,” said Lisa Murton Beets, Research Director at The Content Marketing Institute and author of the report, in an interview with Demand Gen Report.
Other key findings from the research include:
- 76% of B2B marketers surveyed said they always or frequently prioritize delivering content quality over content quantity;
- 70% of respondents said they are likely to produce more content in 2017 compared to 2016; and
- 52% of those surveyed said blogs will be the most critical component to content marketing success.