Research digested: B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024, Content Marketing Institute

A snapshot of useful research for L&D workplace professionals . . .

Why read this research?

This annual report from the Content Marketing Institute, now in its 14th year, provides a snapshot of B2B marketing, the trends, challenges and tactics that marketing teams are grappling with.

About this research

Just over a thousand (1,080) 1,080 marketers took part in the survey in July 2023. The report is based on the responses of 894 marketers mostly from the US.

Standout stats

Our area of interest is content, what works and what the barriers are to creating effective content.  The research reveals that three biggest content creation challenges for marketing teams are:

  • Creating the right content for their audience is a challenge (57%). This is a change from many years when “creating enough content” was the most frequently cited challenge.
  • Creating content consistently (54%)
  • Differentiating our content (54%)

And when it comes to content types, short articles lead the way (94%), followed by (84%) and case studies/customer stories (78%). These are followed by long articles (71%) data visualisations/visual content (60%) and thought leadership ebooks and white papers (59%).

Case studies and videos (53%) are the most effective content types, followed by thought leadership and white papers (51%), short articles (47%) and research reports (43%).

The most effective distribution channels are in-person events (56%), followed by webinars (51%), emails (not newsletters) 44% and social media platforms (44%).

Final word

This research provides useful benchmarking data for marketers. High value content such as case studies continues to be effective in driving engagement and events are a popular distribution channel.

If you are building campaigns then focus on the content formats that work and the distribution channels that your audience finds engaging – sounds simple but the research shows this remains a challenge for marketers. This research will help make the case for investing in high value content and investing in the channels that your audiences prefer.

 

Report reading time: 10 minutes

Media: Article

Link: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/b2b-content-marketing-trends-research/