The term content marketing is bantered about – a lot.

Depending on who you talk to, its meaning varies.

• Some definitions make sense
• Others leave you still scratching your head

Perhaps what makes defining content marketing so difficult is its many facets.

Content marketing shares information that customers and potential customers~

• Value
• Need
• Appreciate

Tons of tweets, posts, articles, and white papers do not equal content marketing. Necessarily.

Content marketing done right motivates the recipient to respond in a way that benefits your business.

• More leads
• More sales
• More referrals

The Content Marketing Institute, together with Marketing Profs and Brightcove, Inc., released B2B Content Marketing 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America.

The following are five trends I found interesting.

#1 – Small Companies Assign Oversight

The good news – companies have strategy for content marketing.

The quasi good news – only 44 percent have documented strategy – even though the majority (91 percent) of marketers use content marketing.

That may explain the avalanche of useless content.

An interesting twist was that small companies (10-99 employees) are more inclined to have someone assigned to oversee that strategy.

• 78 percent for small companies
• 58 percent for large

Of course, the question remains – is the right person assigned responsibility?

#2 – Infographics Soar

Do you feel like every other person has an infographic they want you to use?

More than half (51 percent) of marketers in the survey use infographics. That was an increase from last year’s result of 38 percent.

Personally, I appreciate the effort to simplify data. Sadly, however, I have seen too many infographics that do just the opposite, in my humble opinion.

#3 – Nothing Replaces In-Person

The survey shows that for the fourth year in a row, business-to-business (B2B) marketers rate in-person events as the most effective tactic.

The following are the top 5 results.

1. In-person events (70 percent)
2. Case studies (65 percent)
3. Videos (63 percent)
4. Webinars/webcasts (63 percent)
5. Blogs (62 percent)

An interesting result within a result – case studies rank above videos.

People love a good story.

#4 – Slideshare Gaining Popularity

You have seen my obsession with SlideShare.

Apparently, I am not alone.

The survey reports the social media platforms with the largest increase in use are ~

• SlideShare
• Google+
• Instagram

However, they do not move the top 3 out of place.

1. LinkedIn (91 percent)
2. Twitter (85 percent)
3. Facebook (81 percent)

Remember, these are B2B marketers (over 1,200 responding to the survey).

#5 – Time Remains Elusive

The number one challenge for B2B marketers is lack of time.

Following close on the heels of time is the challenge of producing enough content (55 percent vs 63 percent for lack of time).

As a business writer, I did a little happy dance to see that the number one (64 percent) outsourced function is writing.

The right business writer helps B2B marketers overcome a lack of time and producing enough content to be successful.

Interesting Content

When you deliver interesting, valuable content to your customers and potential customers, they will reward you with their business.

• Do you have content marketing strategy?
• Have you seen the 2014 survey?
• If so, what results did you find interesting?

Share your thoughts in Comments.

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