In last week’s post about the Content Marketing Awards, Mike Sawyer of Tier 1 Writing asked a question I hear often: “How can small-type guys compete [against larger brands] to gain some glory?”
My response: “There were a number of small companies that won Content Marketing Awards — they were not all big brands. In my opinion, the battlefield is equal, depending on the niche and the type of content.”
Yes, this is my opinion, but our newest B2B content marketing research report also confirms that small businesses are doing many things really well when it comes to content marketing — things that can certainly give them a competitive advantage and put them on equal footing with the “big guys.”
NEW VERSION OF THIS RESEARCH NOW AVAILABLE: B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
The report, B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America, sponsored by New Rainmaker, shows how marketers at small businesses (10–99 employees) have changed over the last year in terms of how they approach content marketing. It also shows how they compare with enterprise marketers in several key areas.
B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America from Content Marketing Institute
A few things struck me while looking at this year’s data:
Small business marketers are setting themselves up to be successful
Across B2B organizations of all sizes, marketers working at small businesses are the most likely to have a documented content strategy (for example, 48 percent of small business marketers have a documented strategy, compared with 41 percent of enterprise marketers). In addition, 78 percent of small businesses have someone in place to oversee that strategy (compared with 58 percent of enterprise companies).
Having these key pieces in place may help explain why small business marketers are feeling much more confident this year — in our 2013 study, just 34 percent said they were effective at content marketing; this year, that number has grown to 45 percent (click to tweet).
(Want to learn how to document a content marketing strategy? Download our guide on the 36 essential questions to answer.)
Small business marketers are using more content marketing tactics today, when compared with one year ago (click to tweet)
Just as they did last year, small business marketers rate social media content (other than blogs), articles on their website, and eNewsletters as the content marketing tactics they use most frequently. Most percentages shown here are fairly similar to last year’s findings, with the notable exceptions being infographics — which have risen from 39 percent last year to 48 percent this year — and mobile content — which has risen from 27 percent to 35 percent.
Their use of Google+, SlideShare, Instagram, and YouTube has risen substantially
Small business marketers are using all social media platforms more frequently this year. Compared with last year, the biggest jumps in usage have been with Google+ (40 percent to 61 percent), SlideShare (24 percent to 40 percent), Instagram (9 percent to 23 percent), and YouTube (62 percent to 75 percent) (click to tweet).
Over the next 12 months, 60 percent plan to increase their content marketing budget
More small business marketers are planning to increase spending when compared with their enterprise peers (52 percent) (click to tweet). In addition, this 60 percent figure is up from the 57 percent of small business marketers who said last year that they would increase spending.
They are gaining some control over content production issues
While small business marketers are still challenged with content production issues, the degree to which they are challenged has gone down over the last year. When compared with last year, the key challenges are less prevalent:
Producing enough content has decreased from 64 percent to 58 percent. (click to tweet)
Producing engaging content has decreased from 54 percent to 45 percent.
Producing a variety of content has decreased from 43 percent to 40 percent.
To learn more, download the full report for further insights and answers to questions like:
How do small business marketers measure content marketing success?
How much content creation do they outsource?
How do the most effective small business marketers do things differently when compared with their less effective peers?
Do you agree with the findings? Are they consistent with what you see in your own organization? Let us know in the comments!
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