By Joe Pulizzi published October 19, 2016

Content Marketing Research

[New Research] B2C Marketers Need to Give

Content Marketing Time

If you follow Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs annual research, you learned three
weeks ago that our most recent survey shows that content marketing has taken a turn for the
better. Sixty-two percent of B2B marketers consider their organizations overall approach to
content marketing to be much more or somewhat more successful than one year ago. The same
trend holds true for 63% of B2C marketers as we see with todays release of B2C Content
Marketing2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and TrendsNorth America sponsored by Hightail.
63% B2C marketers say approach to #contentmarketing is more successful than 1 year ago via
@cmicontent. Click To Tweet
As I detailed in my blog post about B2B marketers, there are several reasons why marketers are
reporting that their organizations are more successful with content marketing this year; B2C
marketers report that theyre doing a better job with content creation (77%) and developing or
adjusting their content marketing strategy (71%).
77% B2C marketers are doing a better job with #content creation via @cmicontent. #research
Click To Tweet
But what can we learn from the 23% of B2C marketers who say their overall success is about the
same as one year ago? To what factors do they attribute their stagnancy? The top two reasons
they cite are strategy issues (49%) and not enough time devoted to content marketing (48%).

Quick hits vs. long-term results

One of the disconnects we observed in the research is that while 71% of B2C respondents agree
that their organization is focused more on building long-term relationships than on getting quick
(campaign-like) results from their content marketing, only 52% agree that their leadership team
gives them ample time to produce content marketing results.

How can you build long-term relationships without time?

Too often, marketers expect quick results from content marketing, but it simply doesnt work that
way. In a metaphor borrowed from Chris Moritz, associate director of customer experience
strategy at MRM//McCann, content marketing is like your 401(k) plan. No one should expect
great 401(k) results at the beginning; rather, they should see the returns increase over time
because of the compounded growth. Of course, if you want to see bigger returns faster, you can
invest more at the beginning. In content marketing, quicker returns means paying to promote
your best content to build an audience.
In #contentmarketing, quicker returns means paying to promote your best content says
@joepulizzi. Click To Tweet
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
The One Ingredient Your Content Marketing Program Is Missing

Need for commitment

Time and commitment also go hand in hand. Your organization must be committed to content
marketing in it for the long haul if youre going to see results and eventually be able to
demonstrate ROI. As I have said, patience is often a missing, yet crucial ingredient if you want to
be successful. Time and again, we see that it takes 12 to 24 months to get results which is why
commitment is so important. Its a critical piece in building your subscriber base.

It takes 12-24 months to get results from your #contentmarketing efforts says @joepulizzi. Click
To Tweet
The B2C research shows that only 60% of respondents organizations are extremely or very
committed to content marketing. If the rest are lukewarm and/or think that content marketing is
just an experiment or that it will generate quick results, they are wasting time and money.
60% of respondents organizations are extremely or very committed to #contentmarketing
via@cmicontent. Click To Tweet
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
Go All In With Content Marketing or Do Nothing: #CMWorld

Everything about content marketing takes time

Its not just great content that takes time:

Strategy takes time.

Figuring out the best places to distribute content takes time.

Determining what works and what doesnt takes time.

Measurement takes time.

Getting results takes time.

Dont get me wrong: B2C marketers are doing a lot of great things; there are many positive
findings in this years B2C report. For instance:

74% report having a content marketing strategy (40% said its documented and another
34% have a verbal strategy).

76% of those who have a strategy said it includes a plan to operate content marketing as
an ongoing business process, not simply as a campaign.

78% agree they can demonstrate, with metrics, how content marketing has increased
audience engagement (thats encouraging news, as brand awareness and engagement are
cited as B2C organizations top two goals for content marketing over the next 12
months).

View the report to see these and other interesting findings including a chart on how the B2C
top performers (those who rated their organizations most highly in terms of overall content
marketing success) stand apart from their peers.
B2C Content Marketing 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends North America from
Content Marketing Institute
Download the complete B2C Content Marketing2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends
North America sponsored by Hightail. Want to get same-day notice of Content Marketing

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute