New research from the Content Marketing Institute and IEEE GlobalSpec Media Solutions examines how manufacturers looking to take their content marketing to the next level can learn a lot from other companies that are further along with their own approach.
“As a marketer, you may think there isn’t much you can do to change your program’s content marketing maturity—that it simply takes time,” said Lisa Murton Beets, research director at the Content Marketing Institute, in a news release. “However, content marketing maturity doesn’t necessarily depend on how long a company has had a content marketing approach.”
The firms recently released the Manufacturing Content Marketing 2018: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America report.
Nearly half of respondents (46 percent) said their organization is in the young/first steps phase of content marketing maturity
Thirty percent are in the adolescent phase; and 22 percent are in the sophisticated/mature phase.
Those who are further along in maturity report a stronger commitment to content marketing
They are also more likely to have a documented content marketing strategy, and do several other things differently than those in the young/first steps phase.
“A skilled team can move the dial forward quickly—but that’s not likely to happen without a strong commitment to content marketing,” she added. “And while it’s true that commitment can strengthen based on results over time, how can you move forward if your organization isn’t strongly committed in the first place?”
Key highlights:
- Manufacturers in the sophisticated/mature phase of content marketing maturity are 5.6 times more likely than those in the young/first steps to report their organization is extremely/very committed to content marketing (73 percent vs. 13 percent).
- 55 percent of manufacturing marketers surveyed characterize their organization’s overall content marketing approach as “moderately” successful. Reported success is higher among those in the sophisticated/mature phase (33 percent of whom characterize their approach as “extremely” or “very” successful).
- 56 percent of manufacturing marketers surveyed said their organization’s overall content marketing approach is “much more” or “somewhat more” successful compared with one year ago.
- 58 percent of manufacturing marketers surveyed outsource at least one content marketing activity, with content creation being the most frequently cited (49 percent).
- The processes involved with content creation are an issue for manufacturing marketers: 20 percent report the project flow within their organization as excellent/very good; 31 percent rate it as good; and 49 percent rate it as fair or poor.
