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	Welcome................................................................................................................................................. 3
	Usage & Overall Effectiveness.............................................................................................................. 4
	Strategy & Organization........................................................................................................................ 6
	Goals & Metrics..................................................................................................................................... 10
	Content Creation & Distribution........................................................................................................ 13
	Budgets & Spending............................................................................................................................ 22
	Challenges & Initiatives....................................................................................................................... 24
	Comparison Chart: Differences Between Manufacturing Marketers and B2B Marketers Overall..... 29
	Comparison Chart: Most Effective vs. Least Effective Manufacturing Content Marketers......... 30
	Demographics...................................................................................................................................... 31
	About..................................................................................................................................................... 32
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPONSORED BY:
Greetings Content Marketers,
Welcome to our second annual report on how business-to-business (B2B) manufacturers
approach content marketing. Throughout this report you’ll see comparisons with last year, as
well as with the overall sample of B2B marketers who took our annual content marketing survey.
Manufacturing marketers are placing much more emphasis on sales as a goal for content
marketing than they did last year. They’re also turning increasingly toward videos as a tactic
and LinkedIn and Twitter as platforms to distribute content. There is, however, a disconnect
between tactic usage and effectiveness. And among all groups we’ve studied this year,
manufacturing marketers are having the most difficulty with measuring content marketing
effectiveness and ROI.
In many ways, manufacturing marketers appear to be “all over the map” with content
marketing. With more education on best practices, a laser focus on determining what works
best for their particular company, and a concentrated effort to document their content
marketing strategy, changes both big and small can help marketers see the results they desire.
We look forward to providing you with resources along the way.
Yours in content,
Joe
Joe Pulizzi
Founder
Content Marketing Institute
3
WELCOME
SPONSORED BY:
4
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USAGE & OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Does your organization
use content marketing?
82% say yes
Last year, 86% of B2B manufacturing marketers
said they use content marketing.
Back then, we defined content marketing as the
“creation and distribution of educational and/or
compelling content in multiple media formats to
attract and/or retain customers.”
This year, we defined content marketing as
“a strategic marketing approach focused on
creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and
consistent content to attract and retain a clearly
defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive
profitable customer action.”
The new definition—crafted by Content
Marketing Institute in early 2014—better reflects
how content marketing has grown from the mere
“creation and distribution” of content to a formal
business discipline.
Percentageof
ManufacturingMarketers
UsingContentMarketing
82%
Yes
18%
No
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
5
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USAGE & OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Overall, how effective is
your organization at
content marketing?
26% say they are effective
Note: For purposes of our annual survey,
we define effectiveness as “accomplishing
your overall objectives.” Those who rate their
organizations a 4 or 5 (on a scale of 1 to 5, with
5 being “Very Effective” and 1 being “Not at all
Effective”) are the “most effective” or “best-in-
class.” The 1s and 2s are considered the “least
effective,” while the 3s are neutral.
Last year, 30% of manufacturing marketers said
they were effective at content marketing. Even
though there is a decrease this year, having a
documented content marketing strategy helps
in this regard (53% of manufacturing marketers
who have one say they are effective).
HowManufacturingMarketersRate
theEffectivenessoftheirOrganization’s
UseofContentMarketing
0 10 20 30 40 50
Very Effective 4%
22%
44%
23%
Not At All Effective 4%
5
4
3
2
1
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
6
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STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION
Does your organization
have a content marketing
strategy?
20% say they have a
documented strategy
Last year, 21% of manufacturing marketers
said they had a documented content marketing
strategy.
The 20% of manufacturing marketers who have
a documented content marketing strategy are
less challenged with content marketing when
compared with their peers who have a verbal-
only strategy or no strategy at all.
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
PercentageofManufacturingMarketers
WhoHaveaContentMarketingStrategy
0 10 20 30 40 50
Yes, and it is documented 20%
Yes, but it is not documented 50%
No 25%
Unsure 4%
7
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STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION
How closely does your
content marketing strategy
guide your organization’s
content marketing efforts?
34% say very closely
Having a strategy is one thing—following it is
another. The more effective the manufacturing
marketer, the more likely it is that his or her
organization follows the strategy very closely
(56% of the most effective follow their strategy
very closely).
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Percentage of Manufacturing Marketers
Who Say Strategy Guides Efforts
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Very closely 34%
Somewhat 58%
We rarely use it 6%
Unsure 2%
8
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STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION
Does your organization
have a dedicated content
marketing group?
37% say yes
The numbers on this chart are for all
manufacturing marketers, but the most
effective among them are more likely to have a
dedicated group (67% vs. 37%).
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Percentage of Manufacturing Marketers Who
Have a Dedicated Content Marketing Group
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Yes, and it functions independently as its own unit 8%
Yes, and it works horizontally across the organization silos 29%
No, but planning to have one 19%
No, and no plans to have one that I know of 44%
9
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STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION
Which area in your
organization is accountable
for content marketing?
40% say product marketing
Among all segments we’ve studied,
manufacturing marketers are far more likely
to organize content marketing under product
marketing. For example, only 19% of B2B
marketers overall report to product marketing.
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
AreasAccountablefor
ContentMarketing(Manufacturers)
Product Marketing
PR/Corporate Communications
Demand Gen Marketing
Owner/C-level
Social Team/Social CRM
Other
No One, Unsure, or No Answer
40%
22%
13%
4%
3%
5%
14%
10
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GOALS & METRICS
How important are each
of the following content
marketing goals to your
organization?
89% say brand awareness is
the most important goal
Note: Percentages shown represent marketers who
rated each goal a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale where
5 = “Very Important” and 1 = “Not at all Important.”
In comparison with their B2B peers overall,
manufacturing marketers are more focused on
sales as a goal (85% vs. 75%). In addition, far more
manufacturing marketers cited sales as a goal this
year than they did last year (85% vs. 56% last year).
Although brand awareness remains the top goal
(89% this year vs. 87% last year), there also is
more emphasis on leads (last year, only 36% cited
lead management/nurturing as a goal).
Manufacturers’ Organizational Goals
for Content Marketing
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Brand Awareness
Sales
Lead Generation
Engagement
Customer Retention/Loyalty
Lead Nurturing
Customer Evangelism
Upsell/Cross-sell
89%
85%
80%
77%
75%
66%
54%
47%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
11
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Which metrics does your
organization use to assess
content marketing success?
67% say website traffic
Note: Fewer than 20% cited the following
metrics: Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness
(16%), Benchmark Lift of Product/Service
Awareness (15%), Cost Savings (8%), and
Customer Renewal Rates (8%).
As they did last year, manufacturing marketers
said website traffic is their top metric (63% last
year vs. 67% this year).
B2B marketers overall (63%) also cited website
traffic as the top metric.
More manufacturing marketers than B2B
marketers overall cited sales as a metric
(48% vs. 43%).
GOALS & METRICS
Manufacturers’ Metrics for
Content Marketing Success
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Website Traffic
Sales
Sales Lead Quality
Higher Conversion Rates
SEO Ranking
Time Spent on Website
Sales Lead Quantity
Qualitative Feedback from Customers
Subscriber Growth
Inbound Links
67%
48%
46%
44%
43%
43%
35%
34%
26%
25%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
12
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How successful is your
organization at tracking
the ROI of its content
marketing program?
Only 12% say they
are successful
Marketers across all B2B segments have
difficulty tracking the ROI of their content
marketing programs; however, the challenge
is more pronounced among manufacturing
marketers (21% of B2B marketers overall say
they are successful in this area).
GOALS & METRICS
HowManufacturingMarketersRate
theirOrganization’sSuccess
atTrackingROI
0 10 20 30 40 50
Very Successful 2%
10%
26%
27%
Not At All Successful 15%
We Do Not Track 20%
5
4
3
2
1
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
13
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Compared with one year
ago, how much content is
your organization creating?
65% are creating more
Last year, 70% of manufacturing marketers
said they were producing more content, so this
percentage has gone down a bit. In contrast,
70% of their B2B peers overall say they are
creating more content this year.
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
ChangeinAmountofContentCreation
AmongManufacturers
(OverLast12Months)
Significantly More
More
Same Amount
Less
Unsure
21%
44%
7%
26%
2%
14
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How many different
audiences does your
organization target
with separate content
marketing strategies?
The average number is 5
There is a correlation between company size
and the number of audiences a marketer
targets. For example, small manufacturing
companies (10-99 employees) target 3
audiences, on average, while enterprise firms
(1,000+ employees) target an average of 5. This
is higher than the B2B overall sample, which
targets 4 on average.
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
NumberofAudiencesthat
ManufacturingMarketersTarget
0 10 20 30 40 50
7%
11%
28%
41%
4%
8%
10+
7-10
4-6
2-3
1
Unsure
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
15
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Which content marketing
tactics does your
organization use?
87% use videos
Note: Fewer than 50% said they use the following
tactics: Webinars/Webcasts (48%), Branded
Content Tools (47%), Infographics (42%), Mobile
Apps (38%), Research Reports (38%), Print
Newsletters (36%), Digital Magazines (35%),
eBooks (18%), Books (17%), Podcasts (17%), Virtual
Conferences (15%), and Games/Gamification (6%).
The use of videos increased from 80% last year to
87% this year (last year, it was third on this list).
The tactic that increased the most is microsites
(42% last year vs. 56% this year).
The use of all of the other tactics shown on
this chart has increased as well, except for in-
person events, print magazines, and online
presentations, which all showed slight decreases
(by 2 to 4 percentage points).
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
Manufacturers’
Content Marketing Tactic Usage
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Videos
eNewsletters
Social Media Content – other than blogs
Articles on Your Website
Illustrations/Photos
In-person Events
Case Studies
White Papers
Print Magazines
Blogs
Microsites
Online Presentations
87%
85%
85%
84%
82%
79%
75%
70%
60%
56%
52%
65%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
16
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How effective are the
following tactics that
you use?
66% say in-person events
are effective
Of all the tactics that manufacturing
marketers use, these are the 10 they say are
most effective. Once again this year—and
like their B2B peers overall—manufacturing
marketers say in-person events are the most
effective tactic.
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
In-person Events
Videos
Webinars/Webcasts
Case Studies
White Papers
Illustrations/Photos
Microsites
eNewsletters
eBooks
Articles on Your Website
Manufacturers’ Effectiveness Ratings
for Content Marketing Tactics
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
66%
65%
62%
61%
56%
55%
52%
51%
50%
49%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
17
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Which social media
platforms does your
organization use to
distribute content?
89% use LinkedIn
Note: Fewer than 20% said they use the following
platforms: Instagram (16%), Flickr (13%), Vimeo (11%),
Foursquare (8%), Tumblr (8%), StumbleUpon (7%), Vine
(7%), and SnapChat (5%).
The percentage of manufacturing marketers who
use each of these platforms has risen over the last
year, but the average number used is still 5 (B2B
marketers overall use an average of 6).
Even though more manufacturers are using YouTube
this year (83% vs. 81% last year), LinkedIn has
surpassed it as the most often used platform. Last
year, 73% were using LinkedIn, compared with 89%
this year.
Following LinkedIn, the second biggest increase
in usage was for Twitter (63% last year vs. 78%
this year).
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
LinkedIn
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
SlideShare
Manufacturers’ Social Media Platform Usage
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
89%
83%
80%
78%
51%
24%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
18
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How effective are the
social media platforms
that you use?
YouTube is rated the
most effective
As with last year, manufacturing marketers say
YouTube is the most effective platform (59%
last year vs. 66% this year).
Following YouTube, the second biggest increase
was for Twitter (35% said it was effective last
year vs. 43% this year).
Confidence in LinkedIn dropped by 2
percentage points, but rose slightly for
Facebook and Google+.
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
YouTube
LinkedIn
Twitter
SlideShare
Facebook
Google+
Manufacturers’ Effectiveness Ratings
for Social Media Platforms
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
66%
54%
43%
30%
30%
21%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
19
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How often does your
organization publish new
content that supports
its content marketing
program?
27% say daily or multiple
times per week
Manufacturing marketers are far less likely than
their B2B peers overall to publish new content
daily or multiple times per week (27% vs. 42%).
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
HowOftenManufacturingMarketers
PublishNewContent
Daily
Multiple Times per Week
Weekly
Multiple Times per Month
Monthly
Less than Once per Month
11%14%
16%
16%
22%
20%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
20
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Which paid advertising
methods do you use to
promote/distribute
content?
85% use print or other
offline promotion
This was a new question on the survey this year.
Manufacturing marketers are far more likely to
use print or other offline promotion as a paid
method to promote/distribute content when
compared with all other marketers, both B2B
(52%) and B2C (71%).
Whereas B2B marketers overall use 3 paid
methods, on average, manufacturing marketers
use 4. Compared with their B2B peers,
manufacturing marketers also use more traditional
online banner ads (69% vs. 49%), SEM (68% vs.
58%), and native advertising (46% vs. 34%).
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
Manufacturers’ Paid Advertising Usage
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Print or Other Offline Promotion
Traditional Online Banner Ads
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Native Advertising
Social Ads (e.g., LinkedIn ads)
Promoted Posts (e.g., promoted Tweets)
85%
69%
68%
46%
43%
38%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
21
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How effective are the
paid advertising methods
that you use to distribute
content?
Search engine marketing
(SEM) is considered to be the
most effective
Even though 85% of manufacturing marketers use
paid print or other offline promotion, only 34% of
them say it’s effective. Like their B2B peers overall
(57%), manufacturing marketers say SEM is the
most effective paid method.
CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION
Manufacturers’ Effectiveness Ratings
for Paid Advertising Methods
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Promoted Posts (e.g., promoted Tweets)
Print or Other Offline Promotion
Native Advertising
Social Ads (e.g., LinkedIn ads)
Traditional Online Banner Ads
52%
39%
34%
32%
30%
28%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
22
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Approximately what
percentage of your
organization’s total
marketing budget (not
including staff) is spent on
content marketing?
The average is 22%
Manufacturing marketers allocate less to
content marketing when compared with their
B2B peers overall (22% vs. 28%). Last year,
manufacturing marketers allocated 21%, on
average.
BUDGETS & SPENDING
PercentageofMarketingBudget
ManufacturersSpendonContentMarketing
0 10 20 30 40 50
100%
75-99%
50-74%
25-49%
10-24%
1-9%
0%
Unsure
0%
2%
7%
19%
15%
34%
3%
20%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
23
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How do you expect your
organization’s content
marketing budget to
change in the next 12
months?
47% say they will increase
spending
Nearly half (47%) of manufacturing marketers
plan to increase their content marketing
spending during the next 12 months vs. 55%
of B2B marketers overall. Last year, 46% of
manufacturing marketers said they planned to
increase spending.
BUDGETS & SPENDING
ContentMarketingSpending
AmongManufacturers
(OverNext12Months)
0 10 20 30 40 50
Significantly Increase 7%
Decrease 2%
Increase
Remain the Same
40%
42%
Unsure 8%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
24
CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES
 Measuring Content Effectiveness.............................................................................................................................62%................................ 49%
 Producing Engaging Content....................................................................................................................................62%................................ 54%
 Producing Content Consistently..............................................................................................................................59%................................ 50%
 Lack of Budget...........................................................................................................................................................56%................................ 41%
 Lack of Integration Across Marketing.......................................................................................................................55%................................ 30%
 Gaps in Knowledge and Skills of Internal Team......................................................................................................53%................................ 34%
 Lack of Buy-in/Vision from Higher-Ups....................................................................................................................53%................................ 29%
 Producing a Variety of Content.................................................................................................................................49%................................ 42%
 Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals..................................................................................................43%................................ 32%
 Technology-related Challenges................................................................................................................................32%................................ 20%
With regard to content marketing, how challenged are you with each of the following?
Producing engaging content and measuring effectiveness are the most often cited challenges
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Manufacturing
Marketers
Overall Sample
of B2B Marketers
25
CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES
Which content marketing initiatives are you working on?
66% are focused on organizing website content and improving conversions
New this year, we presented marketers with a list of 28 initiatives. We asked them to select one of three options for each: working
on now, plan to begin working on within 12 months, and not a priority.
Manufacturing marketers are working on an average of 13 initiatives, and plan to begin working on 8 more, on average,
over the next 12 months.
The highest percentages of manufacturing marketers are presently working on:
 Doing better at converting website visitors: 66%
 Organizing content on website: 66%
 Creating more engaging/higher-quality content: 62%
 Better understanding of audience: 61%
 Finding more/better ways to repurpose content: 61%
As for which they plan to begin working on within 12 months, the highest percentages selected:
 Measuring content marketing ROI: 43%
 Developing a documented content marketing strategy: 42%
 Better understanding of what content is effective—and what isn’t: 38%
 Content curation strategies: 37%
 Understanding/using content marketing technology: 35%
The initiatives appearing on the following pages are the 12 that received the highest combined percentages of “working on now”
and “plan to begin working on within 12 months.”
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26
CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES
Better at Converting
Website Visitors Creating Visual Content
Creating More
Engaging/Higher-Quality Content
Now Within 12 Months Not a Priority No Answer
66% 62%25% 60%29%
10% 8%
22%
8%
3% 3% 3%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
SPONSORED BY:
27
CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES
Finding More/Better Ways
to Repurpose Content
Better Understanding of
What Content is
Effective—and What Isn’t
Organizing Content on Website
Now Within 12 Months Not a Priority No Answer
61% 66%22% 49%38%
8% 10%
27%
8%
3% 4% 3%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
SPONSORED BY:
28
CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES
Better Understanding of Audience Creating a Greater Variety of Content
Measuring Content
Marketing ROI
Now Within 12 Months
Not a Priority No Answer
61% 42%
43%
51%
34%
11% 12%
25%
11%
2%
Optimizing Content
57%
27%
12%
4%
3% 3%
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
SPONSORED BY:
29
DEMOGRAPHICS
 Uses content marketing.............................................................................................................................................82%....................86%
 Considers organization to be effective at content marketing.................................................................................26%....................38%
 Has a documented content marketing strategy.......................................................................................................20%....................35%
 Has a content marketing strategy, but it’s not documented...................................................................................50%....................48%
 Does not have a documented strategy.....................................................................................................................25%....................14%
 Has a dedicated content marketing group...............................................................................................................37%....................47%
 Is successful at tracking ROI......................................................................................................................................12%....................21%
 Average number of tactics used..................................................................................................................................12...................... 13
 Average number of social platforms used...................................................................................................................5........................ 6
 Average number of paid advertising methods used to promote/distribute content................................................4........................ 3
 Average number of audiences targeted.......................................................................................................................5........................ 4
 Publishes new content daily or multiple times per week........................................................................................27%....................42%
 Percentage of total budget allocated to content marketing....................................................................................22%....................28%
 Plan to increase content marketing spend over next 12 months............................................................................47%....................55%
 Average number of initiatives working on now..........................................................................................................13...................... 13
 Average number of initiatives planning to begin working on within 12 months.......................................................8........................ 8
MFG
Marketers
Overall
Sample of
B2B
Marketers
Differences Between Manufacturing Marketers
and B2B Marketers Overall
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
SPONSORED BY:
 Has a documented content marketing strategy.........................................................................................40%................... 20%.................... 2%
 Has a content marketing strategy, but it’s not documented.....................................................................54%................... 50%................... 42%
 Does not have a documented strategy........................................................................................................2%.................... 25%................... 54%
 Has a dedicated content marketing group.................................................................................................67%................... 37%................... 14%
 Is successful at tracking ROI........................................................................................................................27%................... 12%.................... 4%
 Average number of tactics used................................................................................................................... 14...................... 12.......................13
 Average number of social platforms used.....................................................................................................6........................ 5.........................5	
 Average number of paid advertising methods used to promote/distribute content..................................4........................ 4.........................4
 Publishes new content daily or multiple times per week..........................................................................40%................... 27%................... 17%
 Percentage of total budget allocated to content marketing......................................................................35%................... 22%................... 13%
 Plan to increase content marketing spend over next 12 months..............................................................54%................... 47%................... 44%
 Average number of initiatives working on now........................................................................................... 14...................... 13.......................12
 Average number of initiatives planning to begin working on within 12 months.........................................7........................ 8.........................9
Most
Effective, MFG
Most Effective vs. Least Effective Manufacturing
Content Marketers Total
Sample, MFG
Least
Effective, MFG
30
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DEMOGRAPHICS
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Chart term definitions: A “best-in-class” content marketer (aka “most effective”) is one who rates his or her organization a 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”
and 1 being “Not at all Effective.” Those who rate themselves 1 or 2 are the “least effective.” The numbers under “total sample” represent total manufacturing respondents.
DEMOGRAPHICS
2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs was produced by Content Marketing
Institute and sponsored by Fathom.
The fifth annual content marketing survey, from which the results of this report were generated, was mailed electronically to a sample of marketers
using lists from Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, Brightcove, Blackbaud, the Business Marketing Association (BMA), EnVeritas Group (EVG),
The Association for Data-driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA), the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA), Industry Week, New Equipment Digest,
WTWH Media, and Corporate Financial Group. A total of 5,167 recipients from around the globe—representing a full range of industries, functional areas,
and company sizes—responded throughout July and August 2014.
This report presents the findings from the 217
respondents who said they were B2B manufacturing
marketers in North America.
Sections of this report compare the manufacturing
respondents with the overall sample of 1,820 B2B
marketers from North America, whose responses
were previously reported on in the Content Marketing
Institute/MarketingProfs study, B2B Content Marketing:
2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
Additional reports based on the annual survey are
available at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/
research. Special thanks to MarketingProfs for their
assistance with the annual survey and the B2B North
America and B2C North America reports.
B2B Manufacturing
Job Title/Function
Size of B2B Manufacturing Company
(by Employees)
41%
59%
16%
6%
35%
21%
3%
6%
6%
4%
3%
■ Marketing/Advertising/
Communications/PR Management
■ Marketing Administration/Support
■ General Management (GM/VP)
■ Sales and Business Management
■ Corporate Management/Owner
■ Content Creation/Management
■ Other
■ Large (1,000+ Employees)
■ Midsize (100-999 Employees)
■ Small (10-99 Employees)
■ Micro (Fewer than 10 Employees)
31
SPONSORED BY:
32
ABOUT
About Content Marketing Institute
Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content marketing education and
training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers
through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World event,
the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September, and Content
Marketing World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief
Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for
some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012, 2013, and 2014 Inc. 500 company. View all CMI research at www.
contentmarketinginstitute.com/research. Learn how to create a documented content marketing strategy, a key
component for improving overall content marketing effectiveness.
About Fathom
Fathom fuels profitable growth through content strategy and execution, digital marketing services, and sales/analytics
consulting that serve a greater purpose. The greater purpose is fulfilling the mission of its customers’ growth plans, as well as
inspiring transformation in its own people, local communities, and larger world. With origins in SEO for B2B manufacturing,
Fathom today is a full-service agency that helps manufacturing companies across the country expand their customer
bases and turn existing customers into advocates. The company also has intimate knowledge and deep experience in the
technology, healthcare, education, financial services, and consumer brands sectors. In today’s buyer-first world, Fathom
embraces the call for all companies to act as media publishers that build audiences with resourceful content.
Visit FathomDelivers.com/MFG15, call us at 866-896-9432, or email at MFG15@FathomDelivers.com.
SPONSORED BY:
To learn more about
content marketing for
manufacturers, attend a
full-day Industry Lab
at Content Marketing World
on September 11, 2015.

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2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing - Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America

  • 1.
  • 2. 2  Welcome................................................................................................................................................. 3  Usage & Overall Effectiveness.............................................................................................................. 4  Strategy & Organization........................................................................................................................ 6  Goals & Metrics..................................................................................................................................... 10  Content Creation & Distribution........................................................................................................ 13  Budgets & Spending............................................................................................................................ 22  Challenges & Initiatives....................................................................................................................... 24  Comparison Chart: Differences Between Manufacturing Marketers and B2B Marketers Overall..... 29  Comparison Chart: Most Effective vs. Least Effective Manufacturing Content Marketers......... 30  Demographics...................................................................................................................................... 31  About..................................................................................................................................................... 32 TABLE OF CONTENTS SPONSORED BY:
  • 3. Greetings Content Marketers, Welcome to our second annual report on how business-to-business (B2B) manufacturers approach content marketing. Throughout this report you’ll see comparisons with last year, as well as with the overall sample of B2B marketers who took our annual content marketing survey. Manufacturing marketers are placing much more emphasis on sales as a goal for content marketing than they did last year. They’re also turning increasingly toward videos as a tactic and LinkedIn and Twitter as platforms to distribute content. There is, however, a disconnect between tactic usage and effectiveness. And among all groups we’ve studied this year, manufacturing marketers are having the most difficulty with measuring content marketing effectiveness and ROI. In many ways, manufacturing marketers appear to be “all over the map” with content marketing. With more education on best practices, a laser focus on determining what works best for their particular company, and a concentrated effort to document their content marketing strategy, changes both big and small can help marketers see the results they desire. We look forward to providing you with resources along the way. Yours in content, Joe Joe Pulizzi Founder Content Marketing Institute 3 WELCOME SPONSORED BY:
  • 4. 4 SPONSORED BY: USAGE & OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS Does your organization use content marketing? 82% say yes Last year, 86% of B2B manufacturing marketers said they use content marketing. Back then, we defined content marketing as the “creation and distribution of educational and/or compelling content in multiple media formats to attract and/or retain customers.” This year, we defined content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” The new definition—crafted by Content Marketing Institute in early 2014—better reflects how content marketing has grown from the mere “creation and distribution” of content to a formal business discipline. Percentageof ManufacturingMarketers UsingContentMarketing 82% Yes 18% No 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 5. 5 SPONSORED BY: USAGE & OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS Overall, how effective is your organization at content marketing? 26% say they are effective Note: For purposes of our annual survey, we define effectiveness as “accomplishing your overall objectives.” Those who rate their organizations a 4 or 5 (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective” and 1 being “Not at all Effective”) are the “most effective” or “best-in- class.” The 1s and 2s are considered the “least effective,” while the 3s are neutral. Last year, 30% of manufacturing marketers said they were effective at content marketing. Even though there is a decrease this year, having a documented content marketing strategy helps in this regard (53% of manufacturing marketers who have one say they are effective). HowManufacturingMarketersRate theEffectivenessoftheirOrganization’s UseofContentMarketing 0 10 20 30 40 50 Very Effective 4% 22% 44% 23% Not At All Effective 4% 5 4 3 2 1 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 6. 6 SPONSORED BY: STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION Does your organization have a content marketing strategy? 20% say they have a documented strategy Last year, 21% of manufacturing marketers said they had a documented content marketing strategy. The 20% of manufacturing marketers who have a documented content marketing strategy are less challenged with content marketing when compared with their peers who have a verbal- only strategy or no strategy at all. 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs PercentageofManufacturingMarketers WhoHaveaContentMarketingStrategy 0 10 20 30 40 50 Yes, and it is documented 20% Yes, but it is not documented 50% No 25% Unsure 4%
  • 7. 7 SPONSORED BY: STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION How closely does your content marketing strategy guide your organization’s content marketing efforts? 34% say very closely Having a strategy is one thing—following it is another. The more effective the manufacturing marketer, the more likely it is that his or her organization follows the strategy very closely (56% of the most effective follow their strategy very closely). 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs Percentage of Manufacturing Marketers Who Say Strategy Guides Efforts 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Very closely 34% Somewhat 58% We rarely use it 6% Unsure 2%
  • 8. 8 SPONSORED BY: STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION Does your organization have a dedicated content marketing group? 37% say yes The numbers on this chart are for all manufacturing marketers, but the most effective among them are more likely to have a dedicated group (67% vs. 37%). 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs Percentage of Manufacturing Marketers Who Have a Dedicated Content Marketing Group 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Yes, and it functions independently as its own unit 8% Yes, and it works horizontally across the organization silos 29% No, but planning to have one 19% No, and no plans to have one that I know of 44%
  • 9. 9 SPONSORED BY: STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION Which area in your organization is accountable for content marketing? 40% say product marketing Among all segments we’ve studied, manufacturing marketers are far more likely to organize content marketing under product marketing. For example, only 19% of B2B marketers overall report to product marketing. 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs AreasAccountablefor ContentMarketing(Manufacturers) Product Marketing PR/Corporate Communications Demand Gen Marketing Owner/C-level Social Team/Social CRM Other No One, Unsure, or No Answer 40% 22% 13% 4% 3% 5% 14%
  • 10. 10 SPONSORED BY: GOALS & METRICS How important are each of the following content marketing goals to your organization? 89% say brand awareness is the most important goal Note: Percentages shown represent marketers who rated each goal a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale where 5 = “Very Important” and 1 = “Not at all Important.” In comparison with their B2B peers overall, manufacturing marketers are more focused on sales as a goal (85% vs. 75%). In addition, far more manufacturing marketers cited sales as a goal this year than they did last year (85% vs. 56% last year). Although brand awareness remains the top goal (89% this year vs. 87% last year), there also is more emphasis on leads (last year, only 36% cited lead management/nurturing as a goal). Manufacturers’ Organizational Goals for Content Marketing 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Brand Awareness Sales Lead Generation Engagement Customer Retention/Loyalty Lead Nurturing Customer Evangelism Upsell/Cross-sell 89% 85% 80% 77% 75% 66% 54% 47% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 11. 11 SPONSORED BY: Which metrics does your organization use to assess content marketing success? 67% say website traffic Note: Fewer than 20% cited the following metrics: Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness (16%), Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness (15%), Cost Savings (8%), and Customer Renewal Rates (8%). As they did last year, manufacturing marketers said website traffic is their top metric (63% last year vs. 67% this year). B2B marketers overall (63%) also cited website traffic as the top metric. More manufacturing marketers than B2B marketers overall cited sales as a metric (48% vs. 43%). GOALS & METRICS Manufacturers’ Metrics for Content Marketing Success 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Website Traffic Sales Sales Lead Quality Higher Conversion Rates SEO Ranking Time Spent on Website Sales Lead Quantity Qualitative Feedback from Customers Subscriber Growth Inbound Links 67% 48% 46% 44% 43% 43% 35% 34% 26% 25% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 12. 12 SPONSORED BY: How successful is your organization at tracking the ROI of its content marketing program? Only 12% say they are successful Marketers across all B2B segments have difficulty tracking the ROI of their content marketing programs; however, the challenge is more pronounced among manufacturing marketers (21% of B2B marketers overall say they are successful in this area). GOALS & METRICS HowManufacturingMarketersRate theirOrganization’sSuccess atTrackingROI 0 10 20 30 40 50 Very Successful 2% 10% 26% 27% Not At All Successful 15% We Do Not Track 20% 5 4 3 2 1 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 13. 13 SPONSORED BY: Compared with one year ago, how much content is your organization creating? 65% are creating more Last year, 70% of manufacturing marketers said they were producing more content, so this percentage has gone down a bit. In contrast, 70% of their B2B peers overall say they are creating more content this year. CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs ChangeinAmountofContentCreation AmongManufacturers (OverLast12Months) Significantly More More Same Amount Less Unsure 21% 44% 7% 26% 2%
  • 14. 14 SPONSORED BY: How many different audiences does your organization target with separate content marketing strategies? The average number is 5 There is a correlation between company size and the number of audiences a marketer targets. For example, small manufacturing companies (10-99 employees) target 3 audiences, on average, while enterprise firms (1,000+ employees) target an average of 5. This is higher than the B2B overall sample, which targets 4 on average. CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION NumberofAudiencesthat ManufacturingMarketersTarget 0 10 20 30 40 50 7% 11% 28% 41% 4% 8% 10+ 7-10 4-6 2-3 1 Unsure 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 15. 15 SPONSORED BY: Which content marketing tactics does your organization use? 87% use videos Note: Fewer than 50% said they use the following tactics: Webinars/Webcasts (48%), Branded Content Tools (47%), Infographics (42%), Mobile Apps (38%), Research Reports (38%), Print Newsletters (36%), Digital Magazines (35%), eBooks (18%), Books (17%), Podcasts (17%), Virtual Conferences (15%), and Games/Gamification (6%). The use of videos increased from 80% last year to 87% this year (last year, it was third on this list). The tactic that increased the most is microsites (42% last year vs. 56% this year). The use of all of the other tactics shown on this chart has increased as well, except for in- person events, print magazines, and online presentations, which all showed slight decreases (by 2 to 4 percentage points). CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION Manufacturers’ Content Marketing Tactic Usage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Videos eNewsletters Social Media Content – other than blogs Articles on Your Website Illustrations/Photos In-person Events Case Studies White Papers Print Magazines Blogs Microsites Online Presentations 87% 85% 85% 84% 82% 79% 75% 70% 60% 56% 52% 65% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 16. 16 SPONSORED BY: How effective are the following tactics that you use? 66% say in-person events are effective Of all the tactics that manufacturing marketers use, these are the 10 they say are most effective. Once again this year—and like their B2B peers overall—manufacturing marketers say in-person events are the most effective tactic. CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION In-person Events Videos Webinars/Webcasts Case Studies White Papers Illustrations/Photos Microsites eNewsletters eBooks Articles on Your Website Manufacturers’ Effectiveness Ratings for Content Marketing Tactics 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 66% 65% 62% 61% 56% 55% 52% 51% 50% 49% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 17. 17 SPONSORED BY: Which social media platforms does your organization use to distribute content? 89% use LinkedIn Note: Fewer than 20% said they use the following platforms: Instagram (16%), Flickr (13%), Vimeo (11%), Foursquare (8%), Tumblr (8%), StumbleUpon (7%), Vine (7%), and SnapChat (5%). The percentage of manufacturing marketers who use each of these platforms has risen over the last year, but the average number used is still 5 (B2B marketers overall use an average of 6). Even though more manufacturers are using YouTube this year (83% vs. 81% last year), LinkedIn has surpassed it as the most often used platform. Last year, 73% were using LinkedIn, compared with 89% this year. Following LinkedIn, the second biggest increase in usage was for Twitter (63% last year vs. 78% this year). CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION LinkedIn YouTube Facebook Twitter Google+ SlideShare Manufacturers’ Social Media Platform Usage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 89% 83% 80% 78% 51% 24% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 18. 18 SPONSORED BY: How effective are the social media platforms that you use? YouTube is rated the most effective As with last year, manufacturing marketers say YouTube is the most effective platform (59% last year vs. 66% this year). Following YouTube, the second biggest increase was for Twitter (35% said it was effective last year vs. 43% this year). Confidence in LinkedIn dropped by 2 percentage points, but rose slightly for Facebook and Google+. CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION YouTube LinkedIn Twitter SlideShare Facebook Google+ Manufacturers’ Effectiveness Ratings for Social Media Platforms 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 66% 54% 43% 30% 30% 21% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 19. 19 SPONSORED BY: How often does your organization publish new content that supports its content marketing program? 27% say daily or multiple times per week Manufacturing marketers are far less likely than their B2B peers overall to publish new content daily or multiple times per week (27% vs. 42%). CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION HowOftenManufacturingMarketers PublishNewContent Daily Multiple Times per Week Weekly Multiple Times per Month Monthly Less than Once per Month 11%14% 16% 16% 22% 20% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 20. 20 SPONSORED BY: Which paid advertising methods do you use to promote/distribute content? 85% use print or other offline promotion This was a new question on the survey this year. Manufacturing marketers are far more likely to use print or other offline promotion as a paid method to promote/distribute content when compared with all other marketers, both B2B (52%) and B2C (71%). Whereas B2B marketers overall use 3 paid methods, on average, manufacturing marketers use 4. Compared with their B2B peers, manufacturing marketers also use more traditional online banner ads (69% vs. 49%), SEM (68% vs. 58%), and native advertising (46% vs. 34%). CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION Manufacturers’ Paid Advertising Usage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Print or Other Offline Promotion Traditional Online Banner Ads Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Native Advertising Social Ads (e.g., LinkedIn ads) Promoted Posts (e.g., promoted Tweets) 85% 69% 68% 46% 43% 38% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 21. 21 SPONSORED BY: How effective are the paid advertising methods that you use to distribute content? Search engine marketing (SEM) is considered to be the most effective Even though 85% of manufacturing marketers use paid print or other offline promotion, only 34% of them say it’s effective. Like their B2B peers overall (57%), manufacturing marketers say SEM is the most effective paid method. CONTENT CREATION & DISTRIBUTION Manufacturers’ Effectiveness Ratings for Paid Advertising Methods 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Promoted Posts (e.g., promoted Tweets) Print or Other Offline Promotion Native Advertising Social Ads (e.g., LinkedIn ads) Traditional Online Banner Ads 52% 39% 34% 32% 30% 28% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 22. 22 SPONSORED BY: Approximately what percentage of your organization’s total marketing budget (not including staff) is spent on content marketing? The average is 22% Manufacturing marketers allocate less to content marketing when compared with their B2B peers overall (22% vs. 28%). Last year, manufacturing marketers allocated 21%, on average. BUDGETS & SPENDING PercentageofMarketingBudget ManufacturersSpendonContentMarketing 0 10 20 30 40 50 100% 75-99% 50-74% 25-49% 10-24% 1-9% 0% Unsure 0% 2% 7% 19% 15% 34% 3% 20% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 23. 23 SPONSORED BY: How do you expect your organization’s content marketing budget to change in the next 12 months? 47% say they will increase spending Nearly half (47%) of manufacturing marketers plan to increase their content marketing spending during the next 12 months vs. 55% of B2B marketers overall. Last year, 46% of manufacturing marketers said they planned to increase spending. BUDGETS & SPENDING ContentMarketingSpending AmongManufacturers (OverNext12Months) 0 10 20 30 40 50 Significantly Increase 7% Decrease 2% Increase Remain the Same 40% 42% Unsure 8% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
  • 24. 24 CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES  Measuring Content Effectiveness.............................................................................................................................62%................................ 49%  Producing Engaging Content....................................................................................................................................62%................................ 54%  Producing Content Consistently..............................................................................................................................59%................................ 50%  Lack of Budget...........................................................................................................................................................56%................................ 41%  Lack of Integration Across Marketing.......................................................................................................................55%................................ 30%  Gaps in Knowledge and Skills of Internal Team......................................................................................................53%................................ 34%  Lack of Buy-in/Vision from Higher-Ups....................................................................................................................53%................................ 29%  Producing a Variety of Content.................................................................................................................................49%................................ 42%  Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals..................................................................................................43%................................ 32%  Technology-related Challenges................................................................................................................................32%................................ 20% With regard to content marketing, how challenged are you with each of the following? Producing engaging content and measuring effectiveness are the most often cited challenges 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs Manufacturing Marketers Overall Sample of B2B Marketers
  • 25. 25 CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES Which content marketing initiatives are you working on? 66% are focused on organizing website content and improving conversions New this year, we presented marketers with a list of 28 initiatives. We asked them to select one of three options for each: working on now, plan to begin working on within 12 months, and not a priority. Manufacturing marketers are working on an average of 13 initiatives, and plan to begin working on 8 more, on average, over the next 12 months. The highest percentages of manufacturing marketers are presently working on:  Doing better at converting website visitors: 66%  Organizing content on website: 66%  Creating more engaging/higher-quality content: 62%  Better understanding of audience: 61%  Finding more/better ways to repurpose content: 61% As for which they plan to begin working on within 12 months, the highest percentages selected:  Measuring content marketing ROI: 43%  Developing a documented content marketing strategy: 42%  Better understanding of what content is effective—and what isn’t: 38%  Content curation strategies: 37%  Understanding/using content marketing technology: 35% The initiatives appearing on the following pages are the 12 that received the highest combined percentages of “working on now” and “plan to begin working on within 12 months.” SPONSORED BY:
  • 26. 26 CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES Better at Converting Website Visitors Creating Visual Content Creating More Engaging/Higher-Quality Content Now Within 12 Months Not a Priority No Answer 66% 62%25% 60%29% 10% 8% 22% 8% 3% 3% 3% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs SPONSORED BY:
  • 27. 27 CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES Finding More/Better Ways to Repurpose Content Better Understanding of What Content is Effective—and What Isn’t Organizing Content on Website Now Within 12 Months Not a Priority No Answer 61% 66%22% 49%38% 8% 10% 27% 8% 3% 4% 3% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs SPONSORED BY:
  • 28. 28 CHALLENGES & INITIATIVES Better Understanding of Audience Creating a Greater Variety of Content Measuring Content Marketing ROI Now Within 12 Months Not a Priority No Answer 61% 42% 43% 51% 34% 11% 12% 25% 11% 2% Optimizing Content 57% 27% 12% 4% 3% 3% 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs SPONSORED BY:
  • 29. 29 DEMOGRAPHICS  Uses content marketing.............................................................................................................................................82%....................86%  Considers organization to be effective at content marketing.................................................................................26%....................38%  Has a documented content marketing strategy.......................................................................................................20%....................35%  Has a content marketing strategy, but it’s not documented...................................................................................50%....................48%  Does not have a documented strategy.....................................................................................................................25%....................14%  Has a dedicated content marketing group...............................................................................................................37%....................47%  Is successful at tracking ROI......................................................................................................................................12%....................21%  Average number of tactics used..................................................................................................................................12...................... 13  Average number of social platforms used...................................................................................................................5........................ 6  Average number of paid advertising methods used to promote/distribute content................................................4........................ 3  Average number of audiences targeted.......................................................................................................................5........................ 4  Publishes new content daily or multiple times per week........................................................................................27%....................42%  Percentage of total budget allocated to content marketing....................................................................................22%....................28%  Plan to increase content marketing spend over next 12 months............................................................................47%....................55%  Average number of initiatives working on now..........................................................................................................13...................... 13  Average number of initiatives planning to begin working on within 12 months.......................................................8........................ 8 MFG Marketers Overall Sample of B2B Marketers Differences Between Manufacturing Marketers and B2B Marketers Overall 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs SPONSORED BY:
  • 30.  Has a documented content marketing strategy.........................................................................................40%................... 20%.................... 2%  Has a content marketing strategy, but it’s not documented.....................................................................54%................... 50%................... 42%  Does not have a documented strategy........................................................................................................2%.................... 25%................... 54%  Has a dedicated content marketing group.................................................................................................67%................... 37%................... 14%  Is successful at tracking ROI........................................................................................................................27%................... 12%.................... 4%  Average number of tactics used................................................................................................................... 14...................... 12.......................13  Average number of social platforms used.....................................................................................................6........................ 5.........................5  Average number of paid advertising methods used to promote/distribute content..................................4........................ 4.........................4  Publishes new content daily or multiple times per week..........................................................................40%................... 27%................... 17%  Percentage of total budget allocated to content marketing......................................................................35%................... 22%................... 13%  Plan to increase content marketing spend over next 12 months..............................................................54%................... 47%................... 44%  Average number of initiatives working on now........................................................................................... 14...................... 13.......................12  Average number of initiatives planning to begin working on within 12 months.........................................7........................ 8.........................9 Most Effective, MFG Most Effective vs. Least Effective Manufacturing Content Marketers Total Sample, MFG Least Effective, MFG 30 SPONSORED BY: DEMOGRAPHICS 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs Chart term definitions: A “best-in-class” content marketer (aka “most effective”) is one who rates his or her organization a 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective” and 1 being “Not at all Effective.” Those who rate themselves 1 or 2 are the “least effective.” The numbers under “total sample” represent total manufacturing respondents.
  • 31. DEMOGRAPHICS 2015 B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs was produced by Content Marketing Institute and sponsored by Fathom. The fifth annual content marketing survey, from which the results of this report were generated, was mailed electronically to a sample of marketers using lists from Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, Brightcove, Blackbaud, the Business Marketing Association (BMA), EnVeritas Group (EVG), The Association for Data-driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA), the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA), Industry Week, New Equipment Digest, WTWH Media, and Corporate Financial Group. A total of 5,167 recipients from around the globe—representing a full range of industries, functional areas, and company sizes—responded throughout July and August 2014. This report presents the findings from the 217 respondents who said they were B2B manufacturing marketers in North America. Sections of this report compare the manufacturing respondents with the overall sample of 1,820 B2B marketers from North America, whose responses were previously reported on in the Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs study, B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. Additional reports based on the annual survey are available at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/ research. Special thanks to MarketingProfs for their assistance with the annual survey and the B2B North America and B2C North America reports. B2B Manufacturing Job Title/Function Size of B2B Manufacturing Company (by Employees) 41% 59% 16% 6% 35% 21% 3% 6% 6% 4% 3% ■ Marketing/Advertising/ Communications/PR Management ■ Marketing Administration/Support ■ General Management (GM/VP) ■ Sales and Business Management ■ Corporate Management/Owner ■ Content Creation/Management ■ Other ■ Large (1,000+ Employees) ■ Midsize (100-999 Employees) ■ Small (10-99 Employees) ■ Micro (Fewer than 10 Employees) 31 SPONSORED BY:
  • 32. 32 ABOUT About Content Marketing Institute Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content marketing education and training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September, and Content Marketing World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012, 2013, and 2014 Inc. 500 company. View all CMI research at www. contentmarketinginstitute.com/research. Learn how to create a documented content marketing strategy, a key component for improving overall content marketing effectiveness. About Fathom Fathom fuels profitable growth through content strategy and execution, digital marketing services, and sales/analytics consulting that serve a greater purpose. The greater purpose is fulfilling the mission of its customers’ growth plans, as well as inspiring transformation in its own people, local communities, and larger world. With origins in SEO for B2B manufacturing, Fathom today is a full-service agency that helps manufacturing companies across the country expand their customer bases and turn existing customers into advocates. The company also has intimate knowledge and deep experience in the technology, healthcare, education, financial services, and consumer brands sectors. In today’s buyer-first world, Fathom embraces the call for all companies to act as media publishers that build audiences with resourceful content. Visit FathomDelivers.com/MFG15, call us at 866-896-9432, or email at MFG15@FathomDelivers.com. SPONSORED BY: To learn more about content marketing for manufacturers, attend a full-day Industry Lab at Content Marketing World on September 11, 2015.