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B2B
Content Marketing
2014
Benchmarks, Budgets,
and Trends–North America
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Overview: The State of B2B Content Marketing IN NORTH AMERICA
Greetings Content Marketers,
We have good news to report! B2B content marketers in North America are making strides: 42% consider
themselves effective, up from 36% last year.
Moreover, we also can begin to understand why marketers are feeling more confident: For the first time, we
asked marketers whether they have a documented content strategy (44% do) and a person who oversees
content marketing strategy (73% do). Our findings tell us that there are distinct differences between those who
have a strategy and those who do not. Marketers who do are not only more effective but also less challenged
with every aspect of content marketing.
Even though we’ve made great strides, the industry is clearly still in the early adoption phase. However, some
marketers are seeing substantial success. Read on to find out what a best-in-class content marketer does
differently and delve into many other findings as well.
On with the content marketing revolution!
Joe Pulizzi
Founder
Content Marketing Institute
Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer
MarketingProfs
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USAGE
93% of B2B marketers use content marketing.
Percentage of B2B Marketers
Using Content Marketing
7%
do not
use content
marketing
 Last year, 91% of B2B marketers
said they used content marketing.
93%
use content
marketing
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
42% of B2B marketers say they are effective
at content marketing.
How B2B Marketers Rate the
Effectiveness of Their Organization’s
Use of Content Marketing
5
4
3
Very Effective
9%
33%
41%
 Last year, 36% of B2B marketers said
they were effective at content marketing.
14%
2
1
Not At All Effective
0
10 20 30
2%
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Profile of a best-in-class B2B content marketer.
Comparison of Most Effective B2B Content Marketers
with Least Effective B2B Content Marketers
Most Effective
Overall/Average
Least Effective
Has a documented content strategy
66%
44%
11%
Has someone who oversees
content marketing strategy
86%
73%
46%
15
13
10
Average number of
social media platforms used
7
6
4
Percent of marketing budget
spent on content marketing
39%
30%
16%
Challenged with producing
engaging content
35%
47%
61%
Average number of tactics used
• “Most Effective” = Respondents who rated their organization’s use of content marketing as 4 or 5 in terms
of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “Very Effective”)
• “Least Effective” = Respondents who rated their organization’s use of content marketing as 1 or 2 in terms
of effectiveness (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “Not At All Effective”)
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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STRATEGY
44% of B2B marketers have a documented
content strategy.
Percentage of B2B Marketers Who
Have a Documented Content Strategy
6%
 B2B marketers who have a documented
content strategy are far more likely to
consider themselves effective (66% vs. 11%).
Unsure
49%
44%
Yes

48% of smaller B2B organizations (10-99
employees) have a documented content strategy, compared with 41% of large
organizations (1,000+ employees).
No
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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STRATEGY
73% of B2B organizations have someone in place
to oversee content marketing strategy.
Percentage of B2B Marketers
with Someone Who Oversees
Content Marketing Strategy
5%
Unsure
22%
No
73%
Yes
 The majority of the most effective B2B
marketers (86%) have someone who
oversees content marketing strategy;
however, only 46% of less effective
marketers do.

Small companies (10-99 employees) are more likely than large companies (1,000+ employees) to have someone who oversees content marketing strategy (78% vs. 58%).
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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CONTENT VOLUME
73% of B2B content marketers are producing more
content than they did one year ago.
Change in Amount of
B2B Content Creation
(Over Last 12 Months)
2%
Unsure
5%
Less
20%
Same Amount
32%
Significantly
More
41%
More

78% of the most effective B2B marketers
are creating more content than they did
one year ago, compared with 57% of
their least effective peers.

B2B marketers who have a documented
content strategy are creating more
content than they did one year ago,
compared with those who do not have
a documented strategy (80% vs. 66%).
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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TACTIC USAGE
B2B marketers use an average of 13 content
marketing tactics.
B2B Content Marketing Usage
100
(by Tactic)
87%
81%80%
80
 Tactic usage has
remained relatively consistent when
compared with last year.
76% 76%
73% 73%

68%
64% 63% 62%
60
51%
35% 34%
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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Games/Gamification
Print Newsletters
Annual Reports
25%24%
22% 10%
Virtual Conferences
26%
Licensed/Syndicated Content
25%
27%
Podcasts
Mobile Apps
Books
eBooks
Print Magazines
Mobile Content
Branded Content Tools
Microsites
Research Reports
Infographics
Webinars/Webcasts
Online Presentations
30%28%
White Papers
Articles on Other Websites
Videos
Case Studies
In-person Events
Blogs
eNewsletters
0
Articles on Your Website
20
Social Media – Other than Blogs
40
Digital Magazines
44%
40% % %
38 38
Infographics has seen the largest year-over-
year increase in usage. Last year, 38% of B2B marketers were using infographics, compared with 51% this year.
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TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS
B2B content marketers have increasing confidence
with most tactics.
Confidence Gap
Effectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among B2B Users
Believe It’s Effective
70%
65%
63%
63%
62%
60%
59%
59%
58%
57%
Believe It’s Less Effective
In-person Events
Case Studies
Videos
Webinars/Webcasts
Blogs
eNewsletters
Research Reports
White Papers
Articles on Your Website
eBooks
30%
35%
37%
37%
38%
40%
41%
41%
 For the fourth year in a row, B2B
marketers overall have rated in-person events as the most effective tactic they use.

Best-in-class B2B marketers,
however, rate blogs as the most
effective tactic (79%), which surpasses
how they rate in-person events (76%);
only 29% of their least effective peers
rate blogs as effective.
42%
43%
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
B2B marketers are using social media more frequently
than last year.
B2B
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Google+
SlideShare
Pinterest
Instagram 22%
Vimeo
22%
Flickr 16%
40%
34%
55%
91%
85%
81%
73%
 B2B content marketers are using every
social media platform listed here more
often than they did last year.
 Social media platforms that had the
biggest increase in use from last year
to this year are SlideShare, Google+,
and Instagram.
15% StumbleUpon
14% Foursquare
14% Tumblr
14% Vine
0
20
40
 B2B content marketers use an average
of 6 social media platforms, up from 5
last year.
60
80
100
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SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS
Although adoption rates for social media are high,
B2B marketers are unsure of its effectiveness.
Confidence Gap
Effectiveness Ratings of Social Media Platforms
Among B2B Users
Believe It’s Effective
62%
50%
Believe It’s Less Effective
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
48%
45% SlideShare
Vimeo
40%
30% Facebook
26% Pinterest
23% Instagram
22% Vine
21%
Google+
38%
50%
52%
55%
60%
70%
74%

After LinkedIn, large companies
(1,000+ employees) consider YouTube
to be second most effective, whereas
small companies (10-99 employees)
say SlideShare and Twitter are second
most effective.
 49% of small companies consider
SlideShare effective, compared with
38% of large companies.
77%
78%
79%
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
Brand awareness continues to be the top organizational
goal for B2B content marketing.
Organizational Goals for
B2B Content Marketing
82%
Lead Generation
74%
Customer Acquisition
71%
Thought Leadership
68%
Engagement
64%
Customer Retention/Loyalty 57%
Website Traffic
57%
Lead Management/Nurturing 47%
Sales
45%
Brand Awareness
0
10 20 30
 B2B marketers have consistently cited
brand awareness as their top goal for
the last four years.

80% of the most effective B2B content
marketers cite lead generation as a goal, compared with 64% of their least
effective peers.
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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MEASUREMENT
B2B marketers have cited Web traffic and sales lead quality as
their top content marketing metrics for the last three years.
Metrics for B2B
Content Marketing Success
63%
Sales Lead Quality
54%
Social Media Sharing 50%
Sales Lead Quantity 48%
SEO Ranking
44%
Time Spent on Website 40%
Direct Sales 39%
Web Traffic
Qualitative Feedback from Customers
34%
Subscriber Growth 32%
39%
Inbound Links
Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness 29%
Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness
Increased Customer Loyalty
14%
Cost Savings 6%
21%
24%
Cross-selling
0
10 20 30
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B2B marketers cited each of these criterion a bit more frequently than they did last year,
with the exception of direct sales, qualitative feedback from customers, inbound links,
and increased customer loyalty, all of which
decreased slightly. Subscriber growth was
a new option.
 The least effective B2B marketers place more importance on direct sales, citing it as their
fourth top criterion (tied with social media
sharing). The most effective marketers rank
direct sales as their eighth most important
criterion.
 Over the last four years, direct sales has
consistently gone down in importance as a
measurement criterion.
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
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
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BUDGET
58% of B2B marketers plan to increase their content
marketing budget over the next 12 months.
B2B Content Marketing Spending
(Over Next 12 Months)
1%
Decrease
10%
Significantly
8%
Unsure
Increase
48%
Increase
32%
Remain the
Same
 More B2B marketers plan to increase
their content marketing budgets this
year, compared with last year (54%).

All B2B marketers plan to increase
content marketing spending at similar
rates, even those who rate themselves
as least effective.

More small companies (10-99 employees)
than large companies (1,000+ employees)
plan to increase their content marketing
budgets over the next 12 months
(60% vs. 52%).
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BUDGET
On average, 30% of B2B marketing budgets are
allocated to content marketing.
Percent of Total Marketing Budget
Spent on B2B Content Marketing
2%
5%
11%
15%
100%
75%-99%
50%-74%
25%-49%
10%-24%
5%-9%
1%-4%
2%
0%
12%
11%
21%

The most effective B2B marketers
spend a higher percentage (39%) of
their budgets on content marketing
than their least effective peers do (16%).
20%
Unsure
0
 The average amount allocated to
B2B content marketing rose from 26%
in 2012 to 33% in 2013, and has now
settled firmly in between.
10
20
30
Average Spent: 30%
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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING
Large B2B companies outsource content creation
more frequently than small companies.
Insourcing vs. Outsourcing
of B2B Content Creation
Overall/Average
Large Companies
(1,000+ Employees)
Small Companies
(10-99 Employees)
In-house Only
56%
28%
66%
Outsourced Only
1%
1%
1%
Both
43%
72%
33%
 There has been no change from last
year in how much content B2B marketers
create in-house and how much they
outsource.
 There are no real differences between how much content the most effective and the least effective B2B marketers outsource.
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INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING
Writing and design are the two functions most likely to
be outsourced.
Functions that
B2B Marketers Outsource
64%
54%
Writing
Design
Content Distribution/Syndication 30%
Editing
22%
Measurement/Analytics 13%
Content Planning & Strategy 8%
Buyer Persona Creation 5%
0
10 20 30
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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SEGMENTATION
B2B marketers most often tailor content based
on industry trends.
How B2B Organizations Tailor Content
65%
Industry Trends
Company Characteristics
43%
Stage in the Buying Cycle
Personalized Content Preferences
Competitors’ Content
None
0
4%
10
20
 The most effective B2B marketers tailor
content more often by every category
listed here.
59%
Profile of Individual Decision Makers
 Nearly all (95%) B2B marketers segment their content in at least one way.
55%
21%
11%
30
40
50
60
70
80
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CHALLENGES
Challenges have remained fairly consistent year
over year.
Challenges that
B2B Content Marketers Face
69%
Producing Enough Content 55%
Lack of Time
Producing the Kind of Content that Engages
Lack of Budget
39%
Producing a Variety of Content
47%
38%
33%
Lack of Integration Across Marketing 26%
Inability to Collect Information from SMEs 25%
Lack of Knowledge and Training 25%
Lack of Buy-in/Vision 23%
Lack of Integration Across HR 15%
Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals 10%
Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness
0
10 20 30

Aside from lack of time, B2B marketers
consistently cite producing enough content and producing the kind of content that
engages as their top challenges.
 Challenges are fairly similar to those of years past; however, B2B marketers are gaining strides in their ability to produce a variety
of content.
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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CHALLENGES
Marketers at large companies face different challenges
than marketers at small companies.
Biggest B2B Content Marketing Challenge
(by Company Size)
Large Companies
Small Companies
Producing the Kind of
Content that Engages
16%
8%
Lack of Integration
Across Marketing
15%
1%
Lack of Budget
13%
9%
Lack of Time
13%
34%
Lack of Buy-in/Vision
11%
8%
Inability to Collect Information
from SMEs
7%
5%
Producing Enough Content
5%
13%
Inability to Measure
Content Effectiveness
4%
6%
Lack of Knowledge and Training
4%
2%
Producing a Variety of Content
2%
3%
Finding Trained
Content Marketing Professionals
1%
2%
Lack of Integration Across HR
1%
2%
(1,000+ Employees)
(10-99 Employees)
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B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America was produced by Content
Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs and sponsored by Brightcove.
The fourth 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, King Content, The Association for Data-driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA), the Direct Marketing Association
UK (DMA), Industry Week, and New Equipment Digest. A total of 4,397 recipients from around the globe—representing a full
range of industries, functional areas, and company sizes—responded throughout July and August 2013.
B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America reports on the findings from 1,217 (out of
the total 4,397) respondents who identified themselves as B2B marketers in North America.
B2B Industry Classification
Banking/Accounting/
Financial
3%
Other
Advertising/
Marketing
18%
27%
Healthcare/Medical/
Pharmaceutical
4%
Software
Business
Services (Other)
Consulting
5%
11%
Manufacturing
Publishing/
Media
5%
10%
Internet/Online
Services
5%
12%
Size of B2B Company
(by Employees)
Large
(1,000+ Employees)
19%
Midsize
Micro
(Fewer than
10 Employees)
B2B Job Title/Function
Advertising/Marketing
Communications/PR
40%
30%
(100-999
Employees)
22%
Small
(10-99 Employees)
31%
Corporate
Management/Owner
25%
Content
Creation/
Management
9%
Other
5%
Marketing
Administration/
Sales/Business
Support
Management
General
Consultant Management
4%
4%
6%
7%
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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, 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 and
2013 Inc. 500 company. View all original CMI research at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/research.
About MarketingProfs:
MarketingProfs (www.marketingprofs.com) is a marketing education and training company that offers actionable
know-how designed to make you a smarter marketer. More than 600,000 MarketingProfs members rely on our free daily
publications, virtual conferences, and more to stay up-to-date on the most important trends in marketing—and how to
apply them to their businesses.
About Brightcove:
Brightcove Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOV), a leading global provider of cloud services for video, offers a family of products used
to revolutionize the way organizations deliver video experiences. The company’s products include Video Cloud, the
market-leading online video platform and Zencoder, a leading cloud-based media processing service and HTML5
video player technology. Brightcove has more than 6,300 customers in over 65 countries that rely on Brightcove cloud
content services to build and operate video experiences across PCs, smartphones, tablets, and connected TVs. For more
information, visit http://www.brightcove.com.
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