The document summarizes key findings from the 2020 B2B Content Marketing Trends and Budgets report. It finds that 84% of B2B marketers rate their content marketing as moderately or extremely successful. The most successful 5% are more likely to have a documented content strategy (69% vs 62% in 2018). Top goals for B2B content include brand awareness, education, and lead generation. Half of content is for top-of-funnel awareness, while blog posts and social media are most common content types.

1. Extremely Successful
Very Successful
Moderately Successful
Minimally Successful
Not At All Successful
58%
15%
21%
5%
1%
22%
14%
50%
11%
3%
Top-of-the -funnel
(generating awareness/ interest)
Mid-funnel (consideration / intent)
Late-stage (evaluation / purchase)
Post-sale (loyalty /brand advocacy)
Other areas
50%
23%
22%
5%
6+
4-5
2-3
1
Today, I want to talk to you about the top 2020 B2B marketing
trends in content marketing. I want to specially thank the
Content Marketing Institute, Marketing Profs and Sitecore for
putting together this report. I will be sharing the contents of the
survey and the report.
The organization’s overall level of content marketing success is cited
as moderately successful extremely successful. 84% of people of the
B2B marketers said that they're at least moderately successful.
What I really like to know is the secret of the top 5% who rated their
content marketing efforts as extremely successful.
Now, what helps in that a percentage of B2B marketers have a
documented content strategy. A documented content marketing
strategy is as 69% for the most successful in 2020. Contrast that with
2018 with only 62% of highly successfully B2B marketers having a
content marketing strategy. Going from 62 to 69% may not seem like
a lot, but that's a 10% increase over two years.
So it's great to see that more and more content marketers have a
content marketing strategy, whether it's in a Word document, a
Google document or something fancier. Out of all respondents, 41%
say they have a documented content marketing strategy in 2020.
Now what are some goals that content marketers have in the last 12
months? Here's some of their goals for content marketing rated in
order of most popular:
Now I think the first one should not just be brand awareness but to
generate demand and sales because that's part of the reason why
we're doing content marketing is to generate sales.
Now the percentage of total content that B2B marketers have
created in the last 12 months is 50% which goes to the top of the
funnel, which is generating awareness and interest. 22% goes to mid
funnel, which is when users are in the consideration. Late stage is at
14% where the audience is in the evaluation and purchase stage.
Now what would be good is if more content was written for the late
stage because that's where you're trying to convince your buyers to
say that you are the premium brand and they should buy from you.
Another interesting thing is that 11% of the content goes to
post-sales. Now that would be good to, to increase loyalty and
customer loyalty for your sales.
There a graphic on how to everything from building brand
awareness to converting leads. It lists the top three activities in each.
So to build brand awareness, 31% say blog posts and short articles
are the way to go. I'll just be sharing the top one from each category
to secure leads in person. Events are the best at 19% now to nurture
leads. Content marketers in general agree that email newsletters at
41% nurture leads the best. To convert leads, it goes between
in-person events at 25% and case studies at 23%.
Now what are the exact content types that B to B marketers have
used in the last 12 months? I'll just list the top five here. It's social
media content (95%), blog posts and short articles (89%), email
newsletters (81%) in person events (73%), and videos excluding live
streaming (71%) so a lot of B2B marketers are using the full gambit of
content types.
About 50% have roughly two to three buyer personas content
marketers are writing for. Roughly 23% have four to five personas
they're writing for. But I think that two to three personas is enough
for good content for B2B marketing.
How B2B Marketers Rate Their Organization's
Overall Level of Content Marketing Success
Percentage of B2B Marketers
With a Documented Content Marketing
Goals B2B Marketers Have Achieved by
Using Content Marketing Successfully in
Last 12 Months
Percentage of Total Content
B2B Marketers Created for Content Marketing
Purposes in Last 12 Months
Content Types 828 Marketers Used in Last 12
Months (Top 10)
Number of Different Audiences B2B Marketers
Create Content For
Goals of Content Marketing
Customer Journey
Content Types for B2B Marketing
Number of Buyer Personas
Documented Content Strategy
2020 B2B CONTENT
MARKETING TRENDS
AND BUDGETS
Base: B2B content marketers; aided list.
2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Base: B2B content marketers; aided list.
2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
69%
2020 2019* 2018*
65%
39%
14%
62%
37%
16%
41%
16%
Most Successful All Respondants Least Successful
*As reported in the 2019 and 2018 versions of this report
CREATE
BRAND
AWARENESS
EDUCATE
THEIR
AUDIENCES
BUILD
CREDIBILITY
AND TRUST
GENERATE
DEMAND AND
LEADS
NURTURE
SUBSCRIBERS,
AUDIENCES
AND LEADS
*See 2019 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America
Create brand awareness
All Respondants
86%
79%
75%
70%
68%
63%
52%
53%
45%
45%
0%
As Reported One
Year Ago*
81%
73%
68%
68%
58%
54%
49%
45%
43%
40%
1%
Educate audience(s)
Build credibility/trust
Generate demand/leads
Nurture subscribers/ audiences/leads
Build loyalty with existing clients/customers
Drive attendance to one or more in-person events
Generate sales/ revenue
Build a subscribed audience
Support the launch of a new product
None of the above
Base: B2B content marketers. Aided list; multiple responses permitted.
2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Base: B2B content marketers who answered the question. Percentages were required to equal 100%.
2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
Base: B2B content marketers whose organization used more than one content type for
content marketing purposes in the last 12 months
2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs
TO BUILD
AWARENESS
Blog Posts/Short
Articles
Social Media Content
(e.g., tweet , stories)
In-Person Events
(31%)
(25%)
(8%)
TO SECURE
LEADS
In-Person Events
Webinars / Online
Events
Ebooks/ Guides
(19%)
(25%)
(8%)
TO NURTURE
LEADS
Email Newsletters
Blog Posts/Short
Articles
Case Studies
In-Person Events &
(31%)
(13%)
(tied at 9%)
TO CONVERT
LEADS
In-Person Events
Case Studies
Events
Webinars/ Online
(25%)
(23%)
(11%)
Social Media Content (e.g., tweets, stories)
Blog Posts/ Short Articles
Email Newsletters
In-Person Events
Videos (excluding livestreaming)
Case Studies
Infographics/ Charts/ Photos/ Data Viz
Webinars/Online Events
White Papers
Ebooks/Guides
95%
89%
81%
73%
69%
67%
57%
55%
51%
0 100
71%
Other content types used in last 12 months:
Long-Form Text (e.g., articles 3,000+ words)
(380%); Research Reports (34%); Print Magazines
(24%); Podcasts (21%); Livestreaming Content
(1O%); Print Books (9%); and Other (12%).
Base: B2B content marketers; aided list.
2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, North America: Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs