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B2B Small Business Content Marketing:
2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America
FOREWORD
Hello Content Marketers!
Welcome to B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
When we recently surveyed 1,416 business-to-business (B2B) marketers from North America,* we found some key differences between
B2B small business marketers (10-99 employees) and their B2B enterprise peers (1,000+ employees). For example, B2B small marketers:
 Use an average of 12 content marketing tactics, whereas their enterprise peers use 16
 Rate social media (other than blogs) as the content marketing tactic they use most often, whereas their enterprise peers use video most often
 Agree with their enterprise peers that in-person events are the most effective content marketing tactic, but have more confidence in books and blogs than those peers do
 Use an average of five social media platforms, whereas their enterprise peers use four
 Outsource content creation much less frequently than their enterprise peers do.
Plus, more B2B small business marketers (57%) than enterprise marketers (46%) are planning to increase their content marketing budgets
over the next 12 months.
Of course there are similarities, too. For instance, both B2B small business and enterprise marketers have a ways to go in terms of content
marketing effectiveness: Just over 30% of both groups rate their organizations as effective at content marketing.
Here we take a closer look at how B2B small business marketers approach content marketing. We think you’ll find the results interesting.
On with the content marketing revolution…
Joe Pulizzi
Founder
Content Marketing Institute
*See page 19 for study demographics.
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OVERVIEW
94% of B2B small business marketers use content marketing.
Percentage of B2B Small Business Marketers
Using Content Marketing
6%
do not
use content
marketing
94%
use content
marketing
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
3
CONTENT MARKETING BY TACTIC
B2B small business marketers use an average
of 12 content marketing tactics.
Number of Tactics
B2B Small Business Marketers Use
7%
20+ Tactics
12%
16-19 Tactics
 B2B small business marketers use
13-15 Tactics
23%
10-12 Tactics
23%
27%
5-9 Tactics
1-4 Tactics
0
6%
Average: 12
10
20
30
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
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an average of 12 content marketing
tactics, whereas their B2B enterprise peers use 16.
40
CONTENT MARKETING BY TACTIC
Content Marketing Usage Among
B2B Small Business Marketers
(by Tactic)
22%
20%
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
5
15%
10%
Games/Gamification
22%
Annual Reports
24% 23%
these tactics with greater frequency
than their B2B small business peers
do, with one exception: B2B small
business marketers use blogs more
frequently (76% vs. 70%).
Podcasts
28% 27%
Licensed/Syndicated Content
33% %
31 29%
Digital Magazines
36%
Mobile Apps
Infographics
Webinars/Webcasts
White Papers
Articles on Other Websites
In-person Events
Videos
Case Studies
Blogs
eNewsletters
0
Articles on Your Website
20
Social Media—Other than Blogs
40
Research Reports
42%
39%
22%
Virtual Conferences
60
 B2B enterprise marketers use all of 60%
Mobile Content
64%
eBooks
69%
Books
73% %
71
Print Magazines
76% 75%
Microsites
80
social media (other than blogs) the
most, whereas their B2B enterprise peers use videos the most (87%).
82% 81%
Branded Content Tools
86%
 B2B small business marketers use
Print Newsletters
100
TACTIC EFFECTIVENESS
Confidence Gap
Effectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among
B2B Small Business Marketers
Believe It’s Effective
Believe It’s Less Effective
In-person Events
64%
36%
38%
Case Studies
62%
40%
Blogs
60%
57% Research Reports
43%
eNewsletters
56%
44%
Videos
44%
56%
56% Webinars/Webcasts
44%
Books
45%
55%
eBooks
47%
53%
47%
53% White Papers
Microsites
48%
52%
49%
51% Articles on Other Websites
50%
50% Articles on Your Website
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
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 Like their B2B enterprise peers (71%), B2B small business marketers consider in person events to be the most effective
content marketing tactic.
 B2B small business marketers and their
enterprise peers rate most items here
similarly in terms of effectiveness, with two
exceptions: Small business marketers have
more confidence in books (55% vs. 35%) and
blogs (60% vs. 46%) than their enterprise
peers do.
SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
Percentage of B2B Small Business Marketers
Who Use Various Social Media Platforms
to Distribute Content
LinkedIn
83%
Twitter
81%
Facebook
80%
62%
YouTube
 B2B small business marketers use an
average of five social media platforms,
whereas their B2B enterprise peers use
an average of four.
40%
Google+
27%
Pinterest
SlideShare
24%
17%
Vimeo
StumbleUpon
 B2B small business marketers
11%
Flickr 10%
Instagram 9%
Foursquare 8%
Tumblr
Quora
8%
5%
Other 3%
0
20
40
60
80
100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
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most often use LinkedIn, Twitter, and
Facebook, whereas their B2B enterprise
peers most often use Facebook,
Twitter, and YouTube.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
B2B small business marketers cite brand awareness as
their top goal for content marketing.
Organizational Goals for
Content Marketing
(B2B Small Businesses)
82%
Customer Acquisition
78%
Lead Generation
74%
Customer Retention/Loyalty 69%
Thought Leadership
67%
Website Traffic
66%
Engagement
63%
Sales
49%
Lead Management/Nurturing 47%
Brand Awareness
0
10 20 30
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
8
 Brand awareness is the top goal for
both B2B small business marketers and their B2B enterprise peers.
MEASUREMENT CRITERIA
B2B small business marketers most often use website
traffic to measure content marketing success.
Measurement Criteria for
Content Marketing Success
(B2B Small Businesses)
62%
Sales Lead Quality 53%
Sales Lead Quantity 48%
Social Media Sharing 48%
SEO Ranking
47%
Direct Sales
44%
Website Traffic
Qualitative Feedback from Customers
Time Spent on Website
Inbound Links
38%
41%
 Like their B2B enterprise peers (64%),
44%
Benchmark Lift of Company Awareness 27%
Increased Customer Loyalty
24%
Benchmark Lift of Product/Service Awareness 22%
15%
Cost Savings 5%
Cross-selling
0
9
10 20 30
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
B2B small business marketers most
often use website traffic to measure
content marketing success.
BUDGET
57% of B2B small business marketers plan to increase their
content marketing budget over the next 12 months.
Content Marketing Spending
Among B2B Small Business Marketers
(Over Next 12 Months)
Decrease
2%
Unsure
10%
 57% of B2B small business marketers
Increase
48%
Remain the
Same
32%
Significantly
Increase
9%
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
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plan to increase the amount they
allocate to content marketing,
compared with 46% of their B2B
enterprise peers.
BUDGET
On average, B2B small business marketers allocate
31% of their marketing budget to content marketing.
Percentage of Marketing Budget
Spent on Content Marketing
(B2B Small Businesses)
100%
0%
75-99%
50-74%
9%
 B2B small business marketers
25-49%
16%
10-24%
17%
13%
5-9%
12%
1-4%
0%
3%
Did Not Answer/Unsure
0
allocate 31% of their budget to
content marketing, whereas their
B2B enterprise peers allocate 24%.
11%
10
20
16%
30
Average: 31%
40
50
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
11
60
INSOURCING VS. OUTSOURCING
39% of B2B small business marketers outsource
content creation.
Insourcing vs. Outsourcing
of Content Creation
(B2B Small Businesses)
Outsourced Only
outsource content creation less
frequently (39%) than their B2B
enterprise peers (65%) do.
3%
39%
Both
0
 B2B small business marketers
57%
In-House Only
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
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SEGMENTATION
Nearly all B2B small business marketers segment
their content.
How B2B Small Business Marketers
Tailor Content
61%
Profile of Individual Decision Makers
53%
Company Characteristics
None
Other
0
tailor their content in at least one way, compared with 92% of their B2B
enterprise peers.
43%
Stage in the Buying Cycle
Personalized Content Preferences
 90% of B2B small business marketers 21%
9%
4%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
13
CONTENT MARKETING CHALLENGES
Producing enough content is the top challenge faced
by B2B small business marketers.
Challenges that B2B Small Business
Content Marketers Face
Producing Enough Content
64%
Producing the Kind of Content that Engages 54%
Producing a Variety of Content 43%
Lack of Budget
38%
33%
Lack of Knowledge, Training, and Resources 29%
Lack of Buy-in/Vision 25%
Lack of Integration Across Marketing 23%
Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals 13%
Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness
0
10 20 30
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
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 B2B small business marketers are more challenged with producing
enough content than their B2B
enterprise peers are (64% vs. 53%);
however, they are less challenged
in all others areas shown here,
especially with lack of integration
across marketing (23% vs. 58%) and
lack of buy-in/vision (25% vs. 38%).
CONTENT MARKETING CHALLENGES
Biggest Content Marketing Challenge
for B2B Small Business Marketers
Producing Enough Content 26%
Producing the Kind of Content that Engages 21%
13%
Lack of Buy-in/Vision 10%
Lack of Budget
 B2B small business marketers cite
Inability to Measure Content Effectiveness 6%
Lack of Knowledge, Training, and Resources 6%
Lack of Integration Across Marketing 3%
Producing a Variety of Content 3%
Finding Trained Content Marketing Professionals
0
10 20 30
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
15
2%
producing enough content as their
biggest challenge, whereas their B2B enterprise peers cite producing the
kind of content that engages.
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Just 34% of B2B small business marketers believe
they are effective at content marketing.
How B2B Small Business Marketers Rate
the Effectiveness of Their Organization’s
Use of Content Marketing
5%
29%
5
4
3
Very Effective
2
1
17%
44%
Not At All Effective
0
10 20 30
3%
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America:
Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
16
 B2B small business marketers
and their B2B enterprise peers rate
their organizations similarly
in terms of content marketing
effectiveness, with just 32% of
enterprise marketers rating their
organizations a 5 or 4.
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Profile of a best-in-class B2B small business marketer.
Comparison of Most Effective B2B Small Business Content Marketers
with Least Effective B2B Small Business Content Marketers
Most Effective
Overall/Average
Least Effective
Percentage of marketing budget
allocated to content marketing
46%
31%
14%
Average number of tactics used
14
12
9
6
5
3
Plan to increase content marketing
spend over the next year
60%
57%
46%
Tailor content to profile of
decision maker
73%
60%
43%
Challenged with producing
engaging content
41%
54%
65%
Challenged with producing
enough content
60%
63%
68%
Average number of social platforms used
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
17
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
Profile of a best-in-class B2B small business marketer.
The most effective B2B small business marketers, when compared with their less
effective B2B small business peers:
 Allocate a greater percentage of their marketing budget to content marketing
 Use more content marketing tactics
 Use more social media platforms to deliver content
 Tailor content to specific profiles/personas much more frequently
 Are far less challenged with producing engaging content
 Are less challenged with producing enough content
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DEMOGRAPHICS
B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America was produced by
Content Marketing Institute and sponsored by Outbrain.
This report is based on the responses of 398 small business (10-99 employees) and 216 enterprise (1,000+
employees) marketers, who were part of a larger business-to-business (B2B) North America survey, B2B Content
Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
The electronic survey was mailed to a sample of B2B marketers from among subscribers of MarketingProfs
and Content Marketing Institute in August 2012. A total of 1,416 B2B marketers from North America responded,
representing a full range of industries (advertising/marketing, software, consulting, manufacturing, healthcare,
finance, and others), functional areas, and company sizes.
Industry Classification, B2B Small Business
Other
24%
5%
Healthcare/Medical/ 5%
Pharmaceutical
5%
Business
6%
Services (Other)
Publishing/
Media
Manufacturing
Advertising/
Marketing
Job Title/Function, B2B Small Business
Industry Classification, B2B Enterprise
24%
Software Design/
Development/Distribution
17%
7% 7%
Internet/
Online Services
Consulting
Other
23%
Publishing/
Media
Insurance
4%
4%
4%
Manufacturing
16%
Software Design/
Development/Distribution
16%
9%
Content Creation/
Management
6%
Job Title/Function, B2B Enterprise
Other
6%
Sales/Business
Management
7%
Consulting
Corporate
Management/Owner 2%
Marketing
Administration/Support
7%
Marketing/Advertising/
Communications/PR
General
Management
43%
9%
Corporate
Management/Owner
22%
Healthcare/Medical/
5%
Pharmaceutical
7%
6%
Computer & Peripheral
6%
Advertising/
Equipment
Business
Services (Other)
Marketing
Banking/
Accounting/Financial
Telecommunications
2013 B2B Small Business Content Marketing Trends—North America: Content Marketing Institute/Outbrain
19
Sales/Business
Management
4%
2%
Sales
Administration/Support
2%
Other
5%
General
Management
6%
Content
Creation/Management
9%
Marketing/Advertising/
Communications/PR
Marketing
Administration/Support
9%
62%
About the Content Marketing Institute:
The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global
View additional content marketing
content marketing education and training organization. CMI
research at the CMI website.
For more insights on content marketing for
teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers
small businesses, register for the
through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content
Content Marketing World
Small Biz Summit being held
Marketing World event is the largest content marketing-focused
September 12, 2013.
event. 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. Get more content marketing resources at ContentMarketingInstitute.com. CMI is a
division of Z Squared Media, a 2012 Inc. 500 company.
About Outbrain:
Outbrain, the leading content discovery platform, is on a mission to help readers find the most interesting
content online, while giving publishers and brands the ability to reach a highly engaged audience.
Using personalized links, Outbrain recommends content across a network of more than 300 premium
publishers, including CNN, Fox News, Hearst, Rolling Stone, US Weekly, and Mashable. Links to content
on a publisher’s own site increase stickiness, while links to high-quality third-party content increase site
traffic and generate revenue.
Outbrain is currently installed on more than 100,000 sites and generates more than 85 billion
recommendations per month.
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