© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation in Partnership with Ascend2. All Rights Reserved.

Benchmark Report

Content Marketing in 2014:

Sponsored By:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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4

5

6

7

8

Executive Summary

Content Marketing Objectives

Current Content Marketing Success

Obstacles to Content Marketing Success

Premium Content Usage

Content Type Effectiveness

12

14

15

Channel Effectiveness for Content

About Marketo

About Demand Metric & Ascend2

10

11

Content Campaign Resources

Content Marketing Software Usage

16 Content Type Execution Appendix – Survey Background 9

13 Content & The Sales Cycle

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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20%

28%

18%

27%

33%

31%

26%

43%

56%

20%

24%

24%

25%

26%

29%

32%

52%

53%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Increase social media engagement

Increase marketing ROI

Improve customer retention rate

Increase direct sales revenue

Improve organic search (SEO) rankings

Increase number of website visitors

Improve sales-readiness of leads

Increase brand or product awareness

Increase number of leads generated

Most Important Content Marketing Objectives

Enterprise SMB

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

CONTENT MARKETING OBJECTIVES

As a strategy, content marketing is capable of delivering

each of the benefits listed in Figure 1.

This data makes clear that lead generation is the

current top objective for content marketing strategies

with companies of all sizes.

As a lead generation strategy, content marketing is more

effective when paired with other objectives on this list, such

as increasing website visits and improving organic search

rankings.

While these latter objectives are not highly ranked,

they also are top drivers of lead generation

performance.

4

Figure 1: Most Important Content Marketing Objectives

8%

81%

12% 16%

67%

18%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Very successful Somewhatsuccessful

Not successful

Ratings of Current Content Marketing Success

Enterprise SMB

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

CURRENT CONTENT MARKETING SUCCESS

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Nearly three-quarters of all companies consider their

content marketing efforts only “Somewhat successful”.

Measuring success begins with having an objective and

then identifying and tracking related metrics. Merely

publishing quality content does not provide a means of

understanding its impact.

Twice as many small and mid-size businesses (16%) have

achieved “Very successful” status as have large enterprises

(8%).

Regardless of size, all organizations need a content

marketing dashboard to measure their success in this

area.

Figure 2: Rating of Current Content Marketing Program Success

OBSTACLES TO CONTENT MARKETING SUCCESS

6

Of the top two obstacles identified here, the first is

strategic in nature, the second tactical. To just publish

great content is not a strategy. You must have a goal.

The tactical obstacle is solved with money, and the

money comes from a business case built around the

strategy.

Strategy is less an issue for SMBs than their Enterprise

counterparts.

Creating content is a time and resource-intensive endeavor

and a major challenge for companies with limited

resources. Curating and repurposing existing content

requires fewer resources.

19%

23%

11%

41%

19%

18%

32%

49%

36%

13%

17%

21%

24%

24%

25%

38%

44%

52%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Lack of social followers to consume content

Lack of content outsourcing budget

Lack of premium content (may require registration)

Writing original articles and blog posts

Curating or repurposing existing content

Lack of marketing and sales alignment

Inability to measure content marketing ROI

Lack of internal content creation resources

Lack of an effective content marketing strategy

Obstacles to Content Marketing Success

Enterprise SMB

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

Figure 3: Most Challenging Obstacles to Content Marketing Success

PREMIUM CONTENT USAGE

Most content starts in written form, but ends up deployed

across a variety of content types.

When determining content types, it is imperative to

first understand the audience for the content. A single

piece of content is often deployed in a variety of types.

Premium content is more compelling and therefore

attracts more views and shares. It is a tactic that often

requires some form of registration to generate leads, the

most important content marketing objective.

Videos, eNewsletters and white papers are the most

frequently used types of premium content.

7

Figure 4: Premium Content Usage

6%

10%

29%

35%

33%

54%

42%

54%

56%

57%

2%

21%

32%

33%

41%

51%

54%

59%

62%

72%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

None of the above

Interactive apps

Product demos

Infographics

Research reports

Case studies

Webinars

White papers

eNewsletters

Videos

Premium Content Usage

Enterprise SMB

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

CONTENT TYPE EFFECTIVENESS

The distribution of responses to this question about

effective content types is fairly even, reinforcing the

truth that all forms of content can have impact.

Enterprises rank video content first, while SMBs rank it

fourth, perhaps reflecting the perceived barriers to

producing video content. These barriers are falling.

SMBs rank eNewsletters and webinars first with white

papers second.

Many organizations repurpose a single piece of

content, expressing it across a number of types.

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4%

1%

16%

11%

10%

11%

17%

17%

14%

4%

4%

7%

9%

12%

14%

15%

15%

20%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Infographics

News releases

White papers

Research reports

Articles

Case studies

Webinars

eNewsletters

Videos

Most Effective Content Types Used

Enterprise SMB

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

Figure 5: Most Effective Content Types Used

CONTENT TYPE EXECUTION

Video, one of the most effective content forms, is also

perceived as the hardest to execute.

Achieving studio quality video in-house is more difficult for

resource-starved companies of all sizes, but costs are

coming down as the production tools improve.

Research reports and white papers often benefit from

specialized skills that smaller organizations may not have.

Decisions about content type, however, should be

based on audience preference, not difficulty of

execution.

9

6%

7%

18%

12%

6%

4%

12%

9%

27%

4%

5%

8%

9%

9%

12%

13%

13%

27%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Articles

Infographics

White papers

Research reports

eNewsletters

News releases

Case studies

Webinars

Videos

Most Difficult Content Types to Execute

Enterprise SMB

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

Figure 6: Most Difficult Content Types to Execute

CONTENT CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

More than half (53%) of SMBs use only in-house

resources to execute content marketing campaigns.

68% of large enterprises outsource all or part of their

content marketing campaign creation and

implementation, gaining higher levels of expertise and

performance available outside the organization.

Outside resources are helpful for obtaining specialized

skills or to remain agile in the production of content.

10

Figure 7: Content Marketing Campaign Resources Used

6%

62%

32%

4%

44%

53%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Outsource all or mostcampaigns to an agency or

consultancy

Use a combination ofoutsourced and in-house

resources used

Use in-house resources only

Content Marketing Campaign Resources Used

Enterprise SMB

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

CONTENT MARKETING SOFTWARE USAGE

It’s not currently possible to automate the generation of

content, just about every other aspect of content marketing

can benefit from automation or management software.

Many software solutions are available to automate, track

and manage the content marketing process. However, 31%

of large organizations and 33% of SMBs don’t use such

software yet.

As firms invest more deeply in content marketing, the use

of software to help manage and automate the process will

become more compelling.

11

Figure 8: Content Marketing Software Usage

26%

43%

31%

21%

47%

33%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Extensive use ofmarketing software

Limited use ofmarketing software

We don’t use marketing software

Content Marketing Software Usage

Enterprise SMB

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

CHANNEL EFFECTIVENESS FOR CONTENT

Websites are a repository for content and the most

effective channel for the Enterprise segment. Email is a

highly ranked channel by organizations of all sizes.

Organizations that use multiple channels, optimizing

content for each one, tend to enjoy the greatest

success.

What’s most important is to understand why a channel is

effective.

Almost always, it is because it is preferred by the audience.

Content marketers must remain audience driven when

developing and delivering content, or risk losing

relevancy.

12

Figure 9: Most Effective Channels for Content Distribution

14%

17%

25%

22%

25%

19%

37%

62%

52%

8%

14%

16%

23%

23%

24%

37%

58%

68%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Direct mail or print ads

Paid search or online ads

Blogs

Organic search (SEO)

Offline events (tradeshows etc)

Online events (webinars etc)

Social media (other than blogs)

Email

Websites

Most Effective Channels for Content Distribution

Enterprise SMB

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

CONTENT & THE SALES CYCLE

Content marketing strategies can accomplish many

purposes, but ultimately, most marketers hope to influence

buyers, either directly or indirectly. The longer the sales

cycle, the more valuable content becomes.

It’s critical to have what the content buyers are looking

for when they are self-educating early in the sales

cycle.

The buying stages and buyer personas involved in a long

and complex sales cycle are definable, so content can be

created and targeted for each persona and stage.

13

Figure 10: Types of Sales Cycles Encountered

54%

12%

35%

41%

20%

39%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Long and complex salescycle involving multiple

decision-makers

Short and direct salescycle involving one or two

decision-makers

Both types of sales cyclesencountered equally

Types of Sales Cycles Encountered

Enterprise SMB

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

16

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:

Owner or Officer (35%)

Marketing or Sales Management (42%)

Marketing or Sales Staff (15%)

Other (8%)

Employee Size:

Enterprise – More than 1000 (16%)

SMB – 10 to 1000 (58%)

Fewer than 10 – Not Included (26%)

For more information, visit us at:

www.demandmetric.com

Demand Metric Research Corporation 562 Wellington Street

London, ON, Canada N6A 3R5

© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Benchmark Report

© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation in Partnership with Ascend2. All Rights Reserved.