Studies show that 75 to 90 percent of the buying journey is completed before a B2B buyer ever speaks with a sales rep and more than half of those buyers are seeking and engaging with content before they make a purchase decision. In our latest data report, Content Marketing: Through the Eyes of the Business Buyer, we take a deep dive into these latest trends in the B2B buying process and couple it with data collected from our own audience insights. The result is an in-depth look at how companies and marketers are approaching content today whether that is display, social media, case studies, mobile apps or gamification.
Learn The Methods Companies are Using to Discover Other Companies and the Data Behind It All
Here at Business.com, content marketing is no longer a job function but a platform in which we conduct business. The old days of ads without context and leads without nurturing are gone and you need content to fuel your customers at all stages of their purchasing journey. Here are some of the highlights of the report:
- Content marketing has quickly emerged as an essential lead generation channel. Over 50% of companies are interested in white paper leads and nearly 40% are interested in hosted webinars that feature their company or product.
- As many as 41% of buyers said they waited longer to initiate contact with B2B vendors than they did a year ago, and at least 33% of buyers said their purchasing process took longer than it did a year ago.
- 90% of unique visitors will consume content and leave without converting, or they will provide you with personal information, but not yet buy.
- B2B small business marketers reportedly use on average 12 content marketing tactics
- 3 out of 4 people are willing to provide more detailed buying plans to access a white paper such as email, name and company rather than an infographic or video.
- Buyers spend just 21% of the buying cycle in conversations with salespeople, 23% of the time in conversations with peers and colleagues, and 56% of the buying cycle searching for and engaging with content.
If 2013 was the year of experimenting with branded content, this year and next is when we should master branded content. Download the full report and findings here: http://www.business.com/resources/content-marketing-through-the-eyes-of-the-business-buyer/
The post Content Marketing as a Platform [Data Report] appeared first on Business.com Blog.
