90+ Important B2B Content Marketing Statistics

When executed correctly, content marketing can attract, engage, and retain new customers– Yet, despite the various benefits of content marketing, many B2B organizations have miles to go before they can build a successful content marketing program.

For this reason, I’ve compiled more than 90 content marketing statistics surrounding the current state of B2B marketing.

Keep reading these content marketing statistics for new insights, best practices, and inspiration.

The Importance of Content Marketing

47% of B2B buyers consume three to five pieces of content prior to engaging with a salesperson (source).
60% of people are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it (source).
84% of people expect brands to produce content (source).
Content marketing services revenue is expected to reach $50 billion in 2019, up from $26.5 billion in 2014 (source).
Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads (source).
92% of content marketers say their organization views content as a business asset (source).

B2B Content Marketing Strategy

91% of B2B marketers say they use content marketing in their overall strategy (source).
In comparison, 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing (source).
37% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy, while 38% have a strategy without formal documentation (source).
62% of B2B organizations successful in content marketing have a documented strategy (source).
75% of B2B marketers without a content marketing strategy say they plan to develop one within 12 months (source).
The top two reasons B2B marketers don’t plan to develop a content marketing strategy are a small team (67%) and lack of time (44%) (source).
89% of B2B organizations most successful at content marketing say they are extremely/very committed to content marketing (source).

Content Marketing Maturity

Only 9% of B2B marketers describe their content marketing maturity level as sophisticated – defined as providing accurate measurement to the business, scaling across the organization (source).
25% rank their maturity level as mature. These B2B marketers are finding success, yet are challenged with integration across the organization (source).
31% call their maturity level adolescent. At this point, the marketers have developed a business case, are seeing early success, and becoming more sophisticated with measurement and scaling (source).
25% say they have a young maturity level. These B2B marketers have growing pains and are challenged with creating a cohesive strategy and measurement plan (source).
The last 9% are taking the first steps with content marketing. These B2B marketers haven’t made content marketing a process yet (source).

B2B Content Marketing Success

Almost 65% of B2B marketers say their current overall content marketing success has increased (much more/somewhat more) compared to one year ago (source).
78% say higher quality, more efficient content creation led to the increase in content marketing success (source).
72% say the development or adjustment in strategy is a contributing factor to the increase in content marketing success (source).

Content Marketing ROI

55% of B2B organizations successful at content marketing measure the ROI of their efforts (source).
71% of marketing executives say the biggest challenge in proving the ROI of their marketing efforts is attributing social and content to revenue (source).
More than 70% of B2B marketers say they can demonstrate, with metrics, how content marketing has increased audience engagement and their number of leads (source).
51% of B2B marketers can prove how content marketing has increased sales (source).
Only 25% of B2B marketers can show how content marketing has decreased the cost of customer acquisition (source).
47% of B2B organizations don’t measure the ROI of their content marketing efforts, with the top two reasons being no formal justification required and the need for an easier way to measure ROI (source).
54% of B2B organizations most successful at content marketing say they do an excellent/very good job of aligning metrics with content marketing goals (source).
60% of B2B marketers measure success with web traffic, while 51% use sales lead quality, and 45% use social media sharing (source).

B2B Content Marketing Challenges

61% of marketers say generating traffic and leads is a top inbound marketing challenge at their organization (source).
20% of marketers say targeting content for an international audience is a top inbound marketing challenge at their organization (source).
39% of marketers say proving the ROI of marketing activities is a top inbound marketing challenge at their organization (source).
27% of marketers say securing enough budget is a top challenge at their organization (source).
Only 18% of content marketers feel their organization has the right technology in place to manage their content marketing efforts (source).
45% of content marketers say they have the right tools to manage content marketing efforts but aren’t using them to their potential (source).
37% of content marketers say their organization lacks the technology to manage their content marketing efforts (source).
66% of content marketers say they need more education on how to better use technology to manage content as a business asset (source).
64% of content marketers say they need more education on how to build a scalable content strategy (source).

Priorities and Plans

54% of marketers say growing traffic to the company website is a top inbound marketing priority in the next 12 months (source).
42% of marketers say proving the ROI of marketing activities is a top inbound marketing priority in the next 12 months (source).
24% of marketers plan to add messaging apps to their content strategy in the next year (source).
11% of marketers plan to add podcasting to their marketing efforts in the next 12 months. (source).
46% of marketers plan to add Facebook video to their content strategy in the next year (source).
48% of marketers plan to add YouTube to their content strategy in the next year (source).
8% of marketers plan to add Medium to their marketing efforts in the next 12 months (source).

Spending

For B2B organizations, the average percentage of the total marketing budget spent on content marketing is 26% (source).
B2B organizations most successful at content marketing spend 40% of their total marketing budget (not including staff) on content marketing, while the least successful spend 14% (source).
Organizations in the sophisticated/mature phase of content marketing say they spend 33% of their total marketing budget on content marketing (source).
Meanwhile, those in the adolescent phase spend 25%, and those in the young/first steps phase spend 19% (source).
46% of B2B marketers expect their organization’s content marketing budget to stay the same in the next 12 months, while 38% predict an increase (source).

Content Creation and Workflow

88% of organizations most successful at B2B content marketers say their organization values creativity and craft in content creation and production (source).
The top five digital technologies B2B marketers use to manage content marketing efforts are analytics tools (87%), email marketing technology (70%), content management systems (63%), marketing automation software (55%), and webinar/online presentation platforms (43%) (source).
70% of content marketers have style and brand guidelines in place (source).
94% of B2B marketers always or frequently ensure that content is fact-based and/or credible.
72% of B2B marketers always or frequently consider how content impacts the overall experience a person has with their organization (source).
60% of content marketers have a content team at their organization (source).
Best-in-class organizations are 93% more likely to use data to personalize content or communications (source).
70% of B2B marketers always or frequently prioritize delivering content quality over content quantity (source).
67% of B2B marketers always or frequently focus on creating content for their audience vs. their brand (source).
61% of B2B marketers always or frequently differentiate content from the competition’s content (source).
60% of B2B marketers always or frequently prioritize providing the right content to the right person at the right time (source).
58% of B2B marketers say they always or frequently deliver content consistently on a defined, regularly scheduled basis (source).
53% of content marketers say they have a formal workflow process for planning, creating, and delivering content (source).
41% of B2B marketers say they always or frequently craft content based on specific points of the buyer’s journey (source).
70% of B2B organizations most successful at content marketing say the flow of content-creation projects is excellent or very good (source).
47% of B2B marketers say they outsource content creation, such as writers, designers, and video production (source).

B2B Content Marketing Distribution

The top five formats B2B marketers use to distribute content for content marketing purposes are email (93%), social media (92%), blogs (79%), in-person events (56%), and webinars/webcasts/virtual events (55%) (source).
B2B Organizations most successful at content marketing use an average of five formats to distribute content, while the least successful use four (source).
92% of organizations most successful at B2B content marketing say their organization is focused on building audiences (source).

Thought Leadership

60% of creators who publish thought leadership believes it enhances their organization’s brand reputation (source).
88% of business decision-makers say thought leadership increased their respect and admiration for the organization. That number jumps to 89% for C-suite executives (source).
B2B marketers are more likely (64%) to use social media to gain thought leadership than B2C marketers (54%) (source).

Blogging

59% of B2B marketers consider blogs to be the most valuable content (source).
Companies that blog have 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links, and 434% more indexed pages (source).
53% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority (source).
B2B marketers are more likely to use blogging (75%) than B2C marketers (61%) (source).

Social Media

87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content (source).
84% of buyers share business-related content on LinkedIn (source).
78% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform for content marketing efforts, followed by Twitter (48%) and Facebook (42%) (source).
The top six social media platforms B2B marketers use for their content marketing efforts are LinkedIn (97%), Twitter (87%), Facebook (86%), YouTube (60%), Instagram (30%), and Google+ (28%) (source).
Organizations most successful at B2B content marketers use an average of five social platforms, while the least successful use four (source).
Social platforms less commonly used for B2B content marketing include SlideShare (19%), Pinterest (12%), Medium (6%), and Snapchat (3%) (source).
B2C marketers are more likely to use live video (30%) compared to B2B marketers (24%) (source).

Email

94% of buyers share business content via email (source).
The top seven types of email B2B organizations use as part of their content marketing efforts are event emails (63%), lead nurturing (51%), monthly newsletters (48%), automated confirmation emails (45%), drip campaigns (45%), promotional emails (42%), and ad hoc newsletters (31%) (source).
Organizations most successful at B2B content marketers use an average of four types of emails, while the least successful use only three (source).

Final Thoughts about these Content Marketing Statistics

Whether you’re starting from scratch or just looking to scale your current content marketing program, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. We hope this content marketing statistics will help!

Remember, not all content is created equal. To be successful with content marketing, businesses must focus on creating something valuable for every phase of the buyer’s journey.

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JUDIT JAMES