The demand for online content is soaring, but B2B marketers are struggling to satiate consumers by producing enough quality blogs and articles capable of engaging with audiences, according to a new study.
A survey of 600 business-to-business (B2B) marketers by Finite found that 35% are struggling to publish enough content on a consistent basis amid challenges caused by the pandemic.
Marketers revealed that more key decision-makers are leaning on the power of digital content in the absence of physical interactions, both in meetings and at conferences.
While content creation continues to be a stumbling block, 26% of respondents also admit that their output often misses the target even when they finally get it out of the door.
Engaging with the right people at the right time is often a challenge, as is measuring the return on investment (ROI) for campaigns, with 16% claiming that this is the single biggest difficulty they face.
Content marketing remains a top priority for B2B marketers and, on the whole, 68% are confident in their general approach to the practice.
A lack of clearly defined key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics for measuring success could undermine these best intentions though as 18% admit to never having outlined KPIs.
The study noted that higher-ups are often “obsessed” with ROI, but just 8% of marketers said that they were able to effectively link the gold standard performance measure to content plans.
More baffling for Finite is the fact that only 70% believe that SEO is valuable, when it should generally be considered a core pillar of content marketing efforts due to how big a role Google and other search engines play in discovery and awareness.
Refinitiv digital performance director James Rowland added: “Many decision-makers are working from home and in this virtual environment, they are consuming much more content online. Search engines in many cases are the gateways to this.”
