I recently attended a Technology Association of Georgia Marketing Society event regarding content marketing. The star-studded panel included experts from SunTrust, Google, Forrester Research and Prominent Placement. These marketing gurus reinforced that content marketing is a key driver in B2B lead generation. Here are a few top take-aways from the event:
B2B buyers are searching online first, talking to users second, and reaching out to vendors third.
Eighty-six percent of B2B decision-makers use social media to make their decisions.
Sixty-one percent of B2B buyers are spending an average of an hour a day consuming content.
While “content marketing” is a relatively new industry buzz word, the truth is that businesses have been producing this content for decades – dating back to the snail mail newsletter. Today’s digital landscape has flung the content marketing gates wide open, making it imperative for B2B companies to generate large quantities of content for a multitude of channels.
According to Content Marketing Institute, 87 percent of B2B marketers say social media is their favorite content marketing channel, but we will begin to see webinars, videos, presentation slides and blogs rise in popularity. In fact, 68 percent of chief marketing officers expect to see their content marketing budgets increase this year.
As a top Atlanta and New Orleans PR and marketing agency, we manage many of our client’s content marketing platforms. For these clients, we regularly see LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and e-newsletters as the top referring websites to their corporate sites. What content marketing channel is most fruitful for your company? Tweet us!