Manufacturing marketers are lagging behind their B2B counterparts in the content stakes and need to do more to provide articles and case studies that prioritise informational needs rather than brand messages, according to a new Content Marketing Institute (CMI) study.
The latest part of CMI’s 2019 “Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends” report focuses on the manufacturing industry. It found that many are still struggling with certain aspects of their campaigns, though the long sales cycle that is inherent to the sector is magnifying certain issues.
For example, just 21% of the hundreds of respondents said that their company now has a documented strategy for content in place. Meanwhile, only 51% said that they aim to meet the wants and needs of B2B buyers with the materials they produce, which is way behind the 73% of B2B North American content marketers who do overall.
This shortfall is made worse by the fact that manufacturers need to interact and engage with multiple decision-makers during a lengthy sales cycle, so it can be argued that they need to be doing even better on average to have a chance of securing new leads and driving traffic.
CMI’s Research Director Lisa Murton Beets added: “There’s a clear way for manufacturing marketers to turn around their perspective. They need to stop creating content without taking the time to first understand and prioritize the audience’s informational needs. This goes back to the importance of having a documented content marketing strategy.”
Finally, of the marketing brands planning to increase content spend, 56% will invest more in content creation.
