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To boost content efficiency, B2Bs must rely on a single platform from beginning to end
How much are content marketing inefficiencies costing business-to-business (B2B) companies? April 2015 research by Gleanster in association with Kapost found that, due to poor management and arduous processes, US B2Bs spent a total of $958 million annually on inefficient and ineffective content marketing.
B2B marketers pointed to several production issues holding back content efficiency. More than nine in 10 cited meeting task deadlines as the most inefficient area of their content marketing efforts, while a similar percentage called out redundant content creation. Coordination inefficiencies—related to everything from people and channels to versions and schedules—also surfaced.
Large majorities of respondents were using various technologies to support content marketing creation and distribution efforts, from internal email and spreadsheets to email marketing platforms, project management tools and web content management.
However, Gleanster noted that using multiple tools often resulted in an inefficient content management process. Its solution? Content marketing platforms, which “represent a unique and emerging category of technology specifically designed to augment B2B content marketing operations via standardized workflow and approvals, customized production templates for different types of assets, a centralized calendar, collaboration, reporting and integration with marketing automation tools.” However, despite the technology’s ability to help B2Bs overcome content issues, it landed in third-to-last place in usage.
Q2 2015 polling by Starfleet Media found similar results when it looked at tools used for content marketing as well as lead generation. Nearly eight in 10 B2B marketing professionals worldwide used website analytics tools, the top response, and about three-quarters leveraged No. 2 marketing automation solutions. In comparison, just over three in 10 used collaboration or project management platforms to coordinate and track such efforts.
As such, Starfleet found that nearly seven in 10 B2Bs had issues managing content development effectively, and about half struggled to manage campaigns effectively.
Gleanster reported that among B2B content marketing platform users, 60% saw content effectiveness improve from documented alignment with customer personas, 50% had reduced costs related to headcount and outside resources due to more efficient workflows and processes as well as overall content management visibility, and 90% saw content production increase.
Technology can certainly help B2B marketers streamline content efforts and overcome inefficiencies, but it’s imperative to adopt one tool that can manage the process from soup to nuts.
B2B marketers pointed to several production issues holding back content efficiency. More than nine in 10 cited meeting task deadlines as the most inefficient area of their content marketing efforts, while a similar percentage called out redundant content creation. Coordination inefficiencies—related to everything from people and channels to versions and schedules—also surfaced.
Large majorities of respondents were using various technologies to support content marketing creation and distribution efforts, from internal email and spreadsheets to email marketing platforms, project management tools and web content management.
However, Gleanster noted that using multiple tools often resulted in an inefficient content management process. Its solution? Content marketing platforms, which “represent a unique and emerging category of technology specifically designed to augment B2B content marketing operations via standardized workflow and approvals, customized production templates for different types of assets, a centralized calendar, collaboration, reporting and integration with marketing automation tools.” However, despite the technology’s ability to help B2Bs overcome content issues, it landed in third-to-last place in usage.
Q2 2015 polling by Starfleet Media found similar results when it looked at tools used for content marketing as well as lead generation. Nearly eight in 10 B2B marketing professionals worldwide used website analytics tools, the top response, and about three-quarters leveraged No. 2 marketing automation solutions. In comparison, just over three in 10 used collaboration or project management platforms to coordinate and track such efforts.
As such, Starfleet found that nearly seven in 10 B2Bs had issues managing content development effectively, and about half struggled to manage campaigns effectively.
Gleanster reported that among B2B content marketing platform users, 60% saw content effectiveness improve from documented alignment with customer personas, 50% had reduced costs related to headcount and outside resources due to more efficient workflows and processes as well as overall content management visibility, and 90% saw content production increase.
Technology can certainly help B2B marketers streamline content efforts and overcome inefficiencies, but it’s imperative to adopt one tool that can manage the process from soup to nuts.
Image via aotaro
Nick Price
Blog
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