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Guess the Top Content Marketing Goal for B2C and B2B
What’s your organization’s top content marketing goal? Would you like to know if it’s the same as 79% of B2C (business-to-consumer) and 82% of B2B (business-to-business) companies?
A study from MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) says that “B2B marketers remain slightly more likely than B2C marketers to be using content marketing (93% and 90%, respectively), per the studies, with the former also more likely to rate their efforts as being effective (42% and 34%, respectively). Adoption and effectiveness appear to be on the increase for both groups.”
Before I get to the top content marketing goal, here are some interesting comparisons between B2C and B2B:
- This year, 72% of B2C marketers said they’re creating more content than they did one year ago, about on par with the 73% of B2B marketers increasing their level of output. Meanwhile, 60% of B2C content marketers plan to increase their content marketing budgets over the next 12 months, as do 58% of B2B content marketers.
- B2B marketers still allocate a higher share of their budgets to content marketing than their B2C counterparts, though (30% and 24%, respectively).
- For B2C content marketers, the most widely used tactics are social media other than blogs (88%), articles on their websites (78%), e-newsletters (76%) and blogs (72%), with the same order of adoption apparent among B2B marketers.
- Facebook is – predictably – the most commonly used social platform to distribute content among B2C content marketers (by 89%), and is also rated the most effective by its users (62%). For B2B marketers, LinkedIn is both most-used and most-highly rated.
- Web traffic is the top content marketing metric for both B2C (66%) and B2B (63%) marketers. Social media sharing is relatively more important to B2C respondents, who are far less interested in measuring sales quality and quantity.
- Lack of time is the top challenge faced by both B2C (57%) and B2B (69%) content marketers. B2C respondents are relatively more concerned with producing the kind of content that engages, while B2B marketers are more concerned with producing enough content.
- 39% of B2C marketers have a documented content strategy, compared to 44% of B2B marketers.
Okay now. The TOP content marketing goal for both B2C and B2B: Brand awareness! B2C (79%) and B2B (82%).
Customer acquisition (71%) and retention/loyalty (65%) are the next-most common goals for B2C respondents, while lead generation is next among B2B respondents.
And, again… what’s your organization’s top content marketing goal? Is it the same as this study indicates? Please share.
Chart: MarketingCharts
Nonprofits Must Reach Millennials with Multichannel Marketing
If your favorite nonprofit organization wants to guarantee its sustainability and growth, it needs to build relationships with Millennials - those born after 1980. This generation is generous with their wallets and time.
According to The Millennial Impact Report, a research project by Achieve and Johnson Grossnickle & Associates, three-quarters of Millennials made a gift to a charity and 63% reported that they volunteered in 2011. Take a look at their current and future potential:
- While the majority of those gifts (58%) were $100 or less per organization, the typical Millennial supported five organizations in 2011
- 87% said they expect to support at least as many organizations in 2012
- 15% of Millennials gave gifts of $500 or more to individual nonprofits
- 90% of respondents said they expect to volunteer as much or more in 2012 than in 2011
- By a margin of more than two-to-one, Millennials who volunteer for nonprofits are more likely to make donations
Reaching this generation and getting them on board as brand ambassadors and supporters is crucial. The time to build these relationships is now.
So, how to access Millennials?
When asked how they prefer to learn about nonprofits, the majority chose Web sites (65%). Surprisingly, 35% (combined) said they prefer print and face-to-face in addition to social media and e-newsletters.
What this tells nonprofit marketers is that they must use a multichannel approach when communicating with this generation. Relying on one or two will put them at a disadvantage.
Plus, with three-quarters of surveyed Millennials owning Smartphones, nonprofit marketers need to factor in small screen sizes for e-mail and Web site content. Especially when the Web site serves as THE epicenter of their marketing and communications messaging and positioning, all other channels should lead back to the site as a central information hub.
With this new information in hand, nonprofits can now put more energy and time into their Web sites. According to the report, they should ensure that sites include a “unique, purposeful and concise mission, easy-to-use navigation, a clear call to action, and photos that help show what they do.”
Consistency in look, feel, content, design, and professionalism in all channels should help nonprofits build and maintain their brand identity and image.
Does your favorite nonprofit communicate in several channels? Which ones are they using effectively?
