The new year is officially upon us, and it’s time to start thinking about how to adapt content marketing strategies in 2019.

Luckily, the Content Marketing Institute’s “B2B Content Marketing 2019: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” report is here, and its results — gathered from nearly 2,000 respondents — speak volumes: Successful content marketers are prioritizing their audience, investing in sponsored social media posts and upping their content marketing budget.

Here, I’ll go over the report’s findings. If you’d like to keep things short and sweet, scroll down to the bottom where I’ll highlight the top takeaways. Let’s get started!

Content Marketing Success Pays Off

More and more B2B companies are upping their content marketing game, and the results are proving to be worth their efforts.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents rate their current content marketing as either moderately, very or extremely successful, a one percent increase from last year’s report (click here to read my previous post on the 2018 report).

Additionally, 68 percent rate their content marketing as being somewhat or much more successful than it was last year, compared to only 63 percent in the previous report.

Perhaps most telling is that the most successful organizations tend to be those with the most mature content marketing: Forty-nine percent of the most successful companies report that their content marketing is mature, and 33 percent report that their content marketing is sophisticated.

The same goes for commitment to content marketing: An impressive 58 percent of the most successful companies say that they’re extremely committed to content marketing. That’s more than double the percentage of all respondents.

Strategy Is Key

Even if you’re committed to content marketing, you need a documented strategy to see results (check out Jessica’s blog post on the importance of content strategy here). According to the report, 65 percent of the most successful organizations have a documented content marketing strategy, compared to just 14 percent of the leas successful organizations.

Why bother with a documented strategy? The survey’s respondents list many benefits, with team alignment, easier decision-making and increased focus on priorities being chief among them.

In terms of how they view their content strategy, 96 percent of the most successful companies say their audience views them as a trusted and credible source, 94 percent say that they value creativity and craft and 92 percent say they executive buy-in.

Audience Comes First

Personas are a crucial aspect of any comprehensive content marketing strategy, and the most successful companies know it (read Jessica’s blog post on personas here).

A staggering 77 percent of the most successful organizations use personas, compared to 55 percent of all organizations and 36 percent of the least successful.

To research their audience, most companies use sales team feedback, website analytics and/or keyword research. Given the value of information from sales, it’s clear that cross-team alignment is important.

Keep in mind that the biggest differences occurred between the most and least successful companies in the areas of primary research, customer conversions/panels and database analysis.

To nurture and grow their audience, most companies use email/email campaigns, educational content and/or clear calls-to-action (CTAs) for next steps.

The most successful companies tend to focus on CTAs for next steps, storytelling/relating to the audience and community building/audience participation much more than the least successful companies.

Content Creation and Distribution: An Inside Look

For marketers, thinking about the audience doesn’t end with persona development or research. Rather, the audience is the most important component of content marketing throughout the entire creation process.

While creating content, 90 percent of the most successful marketers prioritize the audience’s needs over their own sales or promotional message.

This is in line with respondents’ reasoning for using paid methods to distribute content: Eighty percent of all marketers and 83 percent of the most successful marketers do so in order to attract a new audience.

Marketers are doing their best to ensure they reach the widest audience, too, with 61 percent reporting that they post more content on social media than they did one year ago.

Respondents didn’t just use organic social media, either: Seventy percent of all marketers paid for sponsored social posts (that number jumps to 74 percent for the most successful). Additionally, 64 percent of all respondents pay for search engine marketing (SEM).

Prioritizing the audience seems to be working, too: Using content marketing, 81 percent of marketers created more brand awareness, 73 percent educated their audience 68 percent increased credibility and trust in the last 12 months.

Money, Money, Money

Content marketing spending is up across the board, with 56 percent of marketers saying that they increased their content creation budget in the last 12 months.

I’m also thrilled to see that in the next year, 35 percent of the most successful marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget.

Here at bizbuzzcontent, we’ve always known that content is worth its weight in gold, so it’s fantastic to see that so many other B2B companies agree.

Essential Takeaways

This year’s report revealed that the top content marketers aren’t just creating content for its own sake: They’re focusing on connecting and building credibility with their audience, and are willing to increase their budget in order to do so successfully.

Let’s recap some more of the report’s key findings:

• Content marketing success is on the rise.
• Ninety percent of the most successful companies prioritize their audience’s needs over their own promotional message.
• Seventy-seven percent of the most successful companies use personas.
• Sixty-five percent of the most successful companies have a documented content strategy.
• Fifty-eight percent of the most successful companies are extremely committed to content marketing.
• Thirty-five percent of the most successful companies plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next year.

Going forward, take a cue from top players and:

• Put your audience first.
• Focus on creating high-quality content that resonates.
• Create and document a comprehensive content strategy.
• Commit to content marketing on an organizational level.

After all, content marketing can do so much more than polish your images: It has the power to transform the way your prospects and customers view your company, build genuine trust with your audience and help your brand awareness skyrocket.

To find out more about how you can connect with your audience, develop a complete content strategy and get the most out of your content marketing efforts, take a look at our content creation and strategy services.

Were you surprised by any of the report’s findings? Did you learn anything new about how your own company can refine its content marketing efforts? Let me know in the comments!

Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z (we’ve officially run out of letters) — it’s increasingly confusing to keep up with the wealth of information surrounding the three most recent generations.

Here, I’ll make it easy: These tips and data-based insights can help you create content that appeals to teenagers. Simple as that.

Let’s dive in.

A Tech-Native Generation

Between iPhones, streaming services and high-speed internet connections, today’s young adults have never known a life that’s not inextricably intertwined with technology. As a result, they’re tethered to the online world 24/7.

According to a survey from CommScope, nearly 50 percent of teens check their phone between 10 and 30+ times per hour. That’s an average of (brace yourself) once every three minutes.

Knowing that, it’s not surprising that a whopping 63 percent can’t imagine life without their smartphone.

Why? Because they view smartphones as crucial aspects of their lives: A number of respondents reported that having their smartphone on hand makes them feel safer, more secure, connected to the world and social.

Contrary to what older generations might think, they’re perfectly aware of their dependence. In a report from AwesomenessTV, teens said that they’re more addicted to technology, more comfortable connecting online than in person and more willing to share information online than previous generations.

Additionally, 58 percent say it’s easier to be themselves online than in real life.

Takeaway

Teens are just as tech-dependent as they seem, so reach them where they are — online.

The Reign of Mobile

Rather than hopping on a desktop computer, teens prefer to access the web from the palm of their hand.

According to Think With Google, smartphones are the preferred devices for nearly 80 percent of teens.

What are they using their phones to do, exactly? In short, everything, from watching videos to communicating with friends to social networking.

Moreover, Gen Zers also view their smartphones as a one-stop shop: 53 percent of all teens use their smartphones to make online purchases.

The AwesomenessTV report goes into further detail, revealing that 71 percent of teens’ typical entertainment consumption consists of streaming, one-third of which is viewed from a mobile device. The most popular entertainment source is YouTube, followed closely by Netflix.

Takeaway

Teens live their lives on mobile devices, so the importance of mobile-optimized content cannot be overstated. And don’t forget about video.

Not All Ads Are Created Equal

Although teens don’t respond as positively to online ads as Millennials (Generation Y), they do have their preferred formats.

According to research from Millward Brown, desktop display and online search ads tied for the number one spot, with mobile display ads not far behind.

In terms of video ads, mobile reward ads (ads that give viewers a digital or real-world reward for watching) are far and away the most popular, with skippable pre-roll ads (like those that play before YouTube videos) taking second place.

And, despite Generation Z’s tendency to be attached at the hip with their smartphones, traditional ads are far from being dead in their eyes. Fifty-five percent respond positively to outdoor ads, and 53 percent like cinema ads. Unsurprisingly, radio ads (not pictured) are by far the least popular.

Takeaway

Teens respond positively to a variety of ads, but mobile reward videos (58 percent), cinema ads (53 percent) and skippable pre-roll ads (43 percent) take the cake.

Brand Relationships Matter

Finally, let’s take a look at some data from IBM that explores the value of relationships between teens and brands.

Decades ago, customers had to either write a letter, make a phone call or visit a physical location to communicate with brands. Today, with speedy internet connections at their fingertips, members of Gen Z expect a much more personal level of customer service.

Sixty-six percent of teens say they will continue to buy from a brand they like for a long time, but only if those brands value their opinions. Tried-and-true brands are preferred, too — 59 percent say they trust brands they’ve grown up with. For newer companies, that means respecting teens’ opinions is crucial.

Additionally, many brands are missing a big opportunity to gain teens’ trust through responsiveness. Four percent are dissatisfied with the response from brands, 20 percent are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 23 percent never received a response.

Brand responsiveness becomes increasingly important when you consider that nearly half of teens want brands to hear their voice.

Takeaway: Teens don’t just want to buy from brands, they want to have a conversation. To secure teens’ loyalty, show that their opinions matter.

The Bottom Line

Let’s review the takeaways from all the research we’ve examined:

• Teens are just as tech-dependent as they seem, so reach them where they are — online.
• Teens live their lives on mobile devices, so the importance of mobile-optimized content cannot be overstated.
• Teens respond positively to a variety of ads, but mobile reward videos (58 percent), cinema ads (53 percent) and skippable pre-roll ads (43 percent) take the cake.
• Teens don’t just want to buy from brands, they want to have a conversation. To secure teens’ loyalty, show that their opinions matter.

So, what does this mean for you? It means that you need to create high-quality digital content that’s easily accessed on popular platforms, optimize your content for mobile use, choose your ads’ formats carefully and diligently respond to teens’ comments and questions.

If you’d like to read more about reaching your target audience – be it teens or Baby Boomers – sign up for our email list and get instant access to your content strategy blueprint.

And, if you’d like to learn about creating content for Millennials, the generation with the most purchasing power, check out my previous blog post on the topic.

What do you think of these statistics and data? Do they surprise you, or were they expected? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Earlier this year, the RAIN Group conducted a survey of B2B businesses—488 buyers and 489 sellers—for their Top Performance in Sales Prospecting report.

The participants’ responses, particularly those of the buyers, contain a wealth of valuable insights for B2B sellers. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, many of those insights have to do with content and content marketing.

Here, I’ll go over the results of the survey, and then explain how you can use content to take your own B2B business to the next level.

The Results

Let’s examine the key results of the survey before we get into how exactly your content and communications can help seal the deal.

Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out to Buyers

According to the story, a massive 82 percent of B2B buyers accept meetings with sellers who reach out to them.

More importantly, the earlier it is in the sales process, the more receptive buyers are. During the sales process, buyers want to hear from sellers when they’re:

• Looking for new ideas to drive stronger business results (71 percent).
• Actively looking for a solution to solve a problem (62 percent).
• Evaluating providers (54 percent).

Reach Out in the Right Way

If you are planning to reach out to a buyer, it’s important to consider how you should reach out to them. In the survey, buyers narrowed their preferred methods of communication down to two major categories:

Email

• Eighty percent of buyers prefer being contacted via email.
• Fifty-eight percent of buyers have recently accepted a meeting with a seller over email.
• Only five percent of sellers say that bulk emails are effective.

Phone

• Fifty-seven percent of C-level and VP-level buyers prefer being contacted via the phone. The same goes for 51 percent of director-level buyers and 47 percent of manager-level buyers.
• Fifty-four percent of buyers have recently accepted a meeting with a seller over the phone.
• Communication via the phone is most popular in the tech industry (54 percent), followed by the professional services industry (50 percent) and the financial services industry (40 percent).

So, while email is always a safe choice, you should consider using the phone as well if you’re contacting a C- or VP-level buyer, or if you’re trying to secure the business of a tech company.

Read my previous post to learn how you can craft attention-grabbing email subject lines.

Be Prepared to Hear From Them

Although you should always try to make first contact with prospective buyers, it’s helpful to know why buyers might come to you. In the survey, buyers said they are likely to contact a seller if:

• They need a product or service (75 percent).
• The seller’s offerings fit their budget (64 percent).
• The seller offers to share something of value (63 percent).
• They have a pre-existing relationship with the seller (61 percent).
• They have previously done business together (60 percent).

Know That Content is King

According to the survey, certain types of content are more likely than others to catch a buyer’s eye. C-level buyers in particular are drawn to:

• Return on investment (ROI) cases (75 percent).
• Primary research data that’s relevant to their business (69 percent).
• Content that’s 100 percent customized to them (67 percent).
• Descriptions of the seller’s capabilities (67 percent).
• Insight on how the seller’s solution can help solve their business problems (66 percent).
• Best-practice methodology based on their area of expertise (65 percent).

Seal the Deal

Toward the end of the sales process, these factors have the most influence over a buyer’s final decision:

• The seller focused on the value they can deliver to them (96 percent).
• The seller collaborated with them (93 percent).
• The seller educated them with new ideas and perspectives (92 percent).
• The seller provided valuable insight related to their industry (92 percent).
• The seller deepened their understanding of their own needs (92 percent).

The Takeaways

These are the most important takeaways from the survey:

• Reach out to potential buyers earlier rather than later.
• Communicate via email as well as phone.
• Provide buyers with the information they need.
• Focus on value, collaboration, innovation, insight and identifying the buyer’s needs.

Use Content to Attract Buyers

As you may have noticed, content can help your B2B business improve in the areas that matter to buyers. Here’s how you can use high-quality content to generate more sales.

Show ‘Em What You’ve Got

Whether you reach out to the buyer or the buyer gets in touch with you, it’s essential that the buyer be able to glean what you offer, how much it will cost them and how your services or products can deliver better business results.

You can accomplish this by designing a clean and easily navigable website and filling it with succinct content that clearly explains what you have to offer. As Jessica explained in a previous post, you can make the most of your website by focusing on three key audiences:

1. Online visitors: In other words, the people who are visiting your site either directly or by clicking on links.
2. Search engines: Like Google or Bing – whether their search engine bots view your content as high quality or not matters.
3. Your business: Analyze whether your content aligns with your business and marketing goals.

Doing so can help buyers find your website and better understand what it is you do and what makes your business different.

Customize Your Content

What does it mean to customize your content to a prospective buyer? In short, it means that you tailor your content to pertain to their particular industry, needs and objectives. More often than not, this is accomplished through emails. Yes, it will take more time to completely customize your emails, but it will likely be worth the effort in the end.

After all, personalized subject lines increase email open rates by 26 percent, and segmented email campaigns generated a revenue increase of 760 percent (yes, 760).

Deliver Valuable Information

When a buyer is determining whether or not to use your products or services, they’re not going to be satisfied with catchy slogans or appealing logos, although both of those can certainly help.

What they’re really looking for is reliable, well-written information. That information can be delivered in a few ways, some of which we mentioned above:

• ROI cases.
• Primary (and relevant) research data.
• Case studies.
• White papers.
• E-books.
• Press releases.

No matter how you choose to deliver information, it should always reflect your business’ expertise, and be presented in an attractive and easy-to-read manner.

Altogether, the results of the RAIN Group’s survey serve to emphasize the importance of using high-quality content to create high-quality relationships with other businesses. When it comes to content, prioritizing quality over quantity will get you farther than a thousand generic emails ever could.

For more on using content to attract buyers, sign up for our mailing list and enjoy instant access to your content strategy blueprint.

Did the results of the survey surprise you? Do you think you gained any valuable insights from them? Let me know in the comments!

The word “brand” gets tossed around a lot when we want to refer to the personality and communication side of a company. But it turns out the concept of brands is a bit more complicated than that.

In this post, we’ll explore several aspects of developing and sharing your brand as well as how those efforts impact your content creation and strategy.

What is Brand Identity?

Renowned brand expert David Aaker introduced the Brand Identity Model (often called the Aaker Model) back in the 1990s, and it continues to set the standard for building brand equity today.

According to Aaker’s Model, brand identity is a unique set of associations representing what a brand stands for and promises to customers. These associations comprise four brand perspectives, each of which includes certain dimensions:

1. Brand-as-product: the product scope, attributes, quality, value, uses, users and country of origin.
2. Brand-as-organization: the organization’s attributes and local versus global organizations.
3. Brand-as-person: the brand’s personality and its relationship with customers.
4. Brand-as-symbol: the visual imagery and metaphors around the brand and the brand’s heritage.

In addition to the four perspectives, the Aaker Brand Identity Model differentiates between core identity and extended identity:

• Core brand identity is the essence of a brand and remains constant throughout the development of new products and moves to new markets.
• Extended brand identity is various identity elements that can be organized into cohesive and meaningful groups.

Aaker himself once gave six reasons why this kind of brand identity model is so important:

1. A brand is more than a tagline or a single thought. Instead, it’s a collection of phrases that describe the brand’s aspirational associations.
2. Not all brands can or should conform to the same dimensions, and this more complex model allows for custom dimensions that don’t have to be of equal importance.
3. The varied priority of identity elements (core versus extended) gives strategists a bit more room to determine if a program is on brand or not. Certain characteristics might work for a specific campaign but won’t be brand drivers. In some cases, extended identity elements become core elements down the road.
4. If brand essence is not compelling enough (for example, relatively generic characteristics like “trust”), they should not get so much focus that the whole brand suffers. Aaker says the essence in such a case should be optional.
5. Core identity elements should be elaborated upon to drive the creation of brand building programs that can bring the brand to life.
6. This brand model enables the brand to be scalable and adaptable for different products, markets and/or countries. The goal is for brands to be strong everywhere, rather than the same everywhere.

What is a Brand Positioning Statement?

A brand identity system is a thorough undertaking on its own, and a brand positioning statement builds on that brand identity. This statement is a helpful guidepost for content creators as they develop content for the company.

A positioning statement is an internal tool that describes your target market and how you want it to perceive your brand. According to experts from Cornell University, a good positioning statement follows six key guidelines:

1. Remains simple, memorable and tailored to the target market.
2. Differentiates your brand from competitors with an easy-to-understand picture of your brand.
3. Highlights credibility and how your brand can deliver on its promise.
4. Stakes out a particular position in the market that your brand can “own.”
5. Helps determine which decisions are aligned with and supportive of your brand.
6. Leaves room for growth.

The positioning statement should also include these three factors:

1. Point of Differentiation (POD) – how your brand benefits customers in ways that set you apart from competition.
2. Frame of Reference (FOR) – the market or segment in which your brand competes.
3. Reason to believe – evidence for why your target market can be confident in the POD and FOR.

The Cornell article goes on to provide a basic template for your brand positioning statement:

“For [insert Target Market], the [insert Brand] is the [insert POD] among all [insert FOR] because [insert Reason to Believe].”

While the brand positioning statement is internal and not necessarily used with the audience, upbeat, appealing language can help set the tone for content creators. Here’s an example of a brand positioning statement for a fictitious company selling kids’ rain boots:

“For active kids and parents, the Splash Rainboot keeps feet dry so rainy day playtime goes as long as you want it to. Unlike other rain boots, Splash Rainboot offers a lifetime guarantee, so you and your little one can seize the day—no matter what the weather is like.”

What is Brand Messaging?

Brand messaging is where you bring together the elements of your brand’s identity, including the positioning statement. It’s the actual words that help your target market understand how your brand is useful and what it stands for. Further, messaging is how people come to instantly recognize your brand.

Messaging comes in a range of forms – taglines, ad campaigns and headlines, for example. Typically brief, simple and even catchy, they are based on all the points that make up your identity and positioning: core and extended characteristics, differentiators in the market, how the brand delivers, etc.

The brand identity model from Aaker helps set the framework for what questions you will ask in the various categories, who you will ask and so on during the initial research phase. Here are some questions that we use from time to time (tailored for the client and scenario, of course):

• What is the big-picture view of what your product allows your target market to do?
• What is the reality today versus what the reality could be tomorrow with you as an option in the market?
• If you were to describe your company’s personality as you would describe a good friend, how would you describe that friend?
• What trends exist today that motivate your target market to seek your solution?

To find out if you’re creating your messages in the most effective way, we like this checklist:

• Does your brand messaging offer something different than the competition?
• Are your brand messages easy to understand and compelling?
• Are your brand messages based in reality and believable?
• Do the messages say interesting things that resonate with your target audience?

What are Brand Voice and Brand Tone?

Now that you’ve got the identity, positioning statement and main messaging, you need to think about the experience you’re going to create through your communications. Enter brand voice and brand tone.

Voice and tone are often used interchangeably in the context of brand expression. However, they’re actually two different things. Voice is a constant, while tone can change as an expression of the voice.

Brand voice is like the framework for your messaging. It reflects your core values and personality no matter the channel or platform. Will you be funny or inspiring? Very concise or somewhat poetic? Understanding your target audience will help you determine the most effective brand voice.

For more on defining and maintaining brand voice, check out this guide from Sprout Social. There you’ll read about reinforcing your brand’s beliefs, avoiding bait and switch communication and more.

Brand tone is the way you express your voice (think of the phrase “tone of voice” if that helps). So, if you’re going to be funny, are you going to do it with sarcasm, jokes or just general silliness? While the tone should be genuine to the voice, it can change depending on the kinds of content and which part of your target audience you’re speaking to.

How Does Brand Drive Content and Communications?

Not surprisingly, there is a relationship between branding and content marketing. First you have your brand identity exercises, then you set the positioning statement and main messages and create a style guide that will help guide the entire company to create consistent branded content.

Finally, you have what it takes to create written, image, video, etc. content in any channel. The best branding content will reach your audience looking clear, impressive and effortless. But to make it do that you’ll need to put in the work.

For more on how branding influences content strategy sign up for our mailing list and get instant access to your content strategy blueprint.

Have you spent time incorporating branding elements into your content creation? Tell me about it in the comments!