2013 Content Marketing Study: The results

he proliferation of social media, the shrinking
of the traditional publishing industry, mobile,
and our “always on” culture have contributed to
an environment where it is no longer enough to
just tell consumers or business partners that your
product or service is the best. You must show
them. And do it while developing a relationship
with multiple audiences.
Marketing today requires
communication in a focused
and targeted manner.
Information must be both timely
and personalized. Campaigns
must cross multiple online and
offline platforms.
A company’s ability to
successfully market its services
is becoming more dependent
on its ability to produce quality content for these
various channels. We have seen firsthand how
difficult this can be for many businesses. For this
reason, we set out to investigate the challenges
and opportunities businesses in Southeast
Wisconsin experience as they implement
content marketing.
This survey is the third research project
Clear Verve Marketing has conducted. In 2010,
we partnered with McGrath Marketing on
research studying the social media efforts of
accountants and attorneys. In 2011, we
conducted a similar survey in the nonprofit
industry. This survey differs slightly in focus and
encompasses a broader range of industries. Its
focus on content marketing –
the generation of the content
to be distributed both online
and offline – is a direct result
of the increased sophistication
of online marketing tactics and
the continual integration of
online and offline marketing
strategies. Results between
the various surveys are not
directly comparable, but we
will reference past results from time to time as
anecdotal or potentially indicative of trends. To
help align responses between the surveys, this
survey included questions about social media use
as well as content marketing use.
T
There is no question about it
Marketing has evolved.

his content marketing survey was conducted in June 2013. More than 200 people participated in
the survey, representing the following industries:
Respondents (236 total) also came from the arts and entertainment industries, manufacturing, and
skilled trade industries. We asked survey participants 28 questions in all.
T
Nonprofit
13.9%
Marketing/
communications
13.5%
Health Care
10.6%
Education
5.9%
Banking
4.6%
Information
Technology
4.2%
+ -
x =
Accounting
3.8%
Human
Resources
3.8%
About the survey
3

articipants came from a wide range of businesses, ranging from self-employed individuals to
large, well-known entities such as Kohler Company, the Milwaukee Admirals, the YMCA, Children’s
Hospital and Health System, various school districts, and the PGA Tour.
P
Company breakdown
1 sole proprietor 10.17%
2-9 24.15%
10-24 14.10%
50-99 6.78%
100-499 13.14%
1000 or more 19.92%
Other sized 11.74%
Social media policy
Although content marketing has existed for years, social media is
the driver behind the current content marketing revolution.
We originally asked this question in our 2010 social media
survey. That survey, which included responses from more than
600 accountants and attorneys, showed that at the time, only
30 percent of firms had a social media policy. Our 2011 survey
of nonprofits indicated that 36 percent of organizations had a
social media policy at the time. This survey, which crossed a
wide variety of industries, showed that more than 40 percent
of companies currently have a social media policy. While these
results certainly do not provide an apples-to-apples comparison,
they do indicate that, although there is a long way to go, more
organizations are becoming aware of the importance of social
media policies.
Does your company have
a policy regarding the
use of social media?
4
14.41%
No 45.34%
Yes 40.25%
Don’t Know
Full-time employees of participants’ businesses

To be used for work purposes and communication of goals, mission and program activities.
NOT to be used to check personal messages, watch movies, YouTube videos and other
similar items.
We encourage the use of social media among employees, particularly to encourage the
sharing and promotion of our company’s content. We ask that when mentioning our
company in social media, it is in a positive and professional manner.
Advises individuals to be thoughtful on SM and remember their comments are a direct
reflection of our business. However we only have three people who post messages on
behalf of our agency. Upper management advises not to connect with coworkers.
Be responsible. Be truthful. Be transparent in your messages and motives.
We have corporate and business social media channels supported by specific employees.
We train social media content managers if they are to publish on behalf of the company.
We discourage non-trained employees from publishing on behalf of the company.
There are two individuals in the administration who monitor Facebook and Twitter and post
information. As a school we are careful about protecting the children so no names or other
identifying information is given. The security is set up so that others cannot tag people in
our pictures.
Social media policy descriptions
from respondents
5
Reply Retweet HFavorite ...More

• 77 percent of respondents use social media as part of their marketing plan.
• 66.5 percent of respondents use buttons on their company’s website to promote the platforms on
which they publish content. The most common sites were Facebook, with nearly 80 percent of
respondents promoting Facebook pages; and Twitter, with 56 percent of respondents promoting
Twitter feeds.
How is social media used?
Blogger
8.28%
Facebook
79.62%
Google+
18.47%
LinkedIn
42.68%
Pinterest
12.74%
Twitter
56.69%
You Tube
31.85%
6

news
@
ot surprisingly, nearly 90 percent of respondents post content to Facebook. Eighty percent of
companies post content to their own website. Company e-newsletters and Twitter tied for third
place with 68 percent of respondents implementing these two marketing strategies. Offline,
many businesses (45 percent and 31 percent respectively) publish content in direct mail and print
newsletter pieces.
N
So where does all this content go?
Facebook
89.91%
Company
website
80.89%
White papers 12.74% N Instagram 8.28% N Tumblr 5.10%
Twitter
68.79%
E-newsletters
68.15%
LinkedIn
59.24%
Direct mail
45.88%
You Tube
39.49%
Blog
36.31%
Print
newsletters
31.21%
Online ads/
Google
25.48%
Pinterest
17.20%
7

early 90 percent of respondents say they use content marketing to build awareness and
understanding of their brand. Other common reasons for engaging in content marketing include:
N
Why do businesses use content marketing?
Search engine
optimization
Promote events Lead generation
& cultivation
Advertising
In addition, 47 percent of respondents reported using content marketing for
professional networking purposes.
68% 54% 47% 30%
Why don’t businesses
use content marketing?
8
Of the respondents that do not engage in content marketing, the most common reasons cited
(44 percent total) were related to social media challenges, namely lack of understanding of how to
use social media and company policy prohibiting the use of social media. More than 20 percent
(22%) of respondents were concerned about the ability to generate quality content and 16 percent
were concerned about an ability to demonstrate ROI.
However, nearly 55 percent of the businesses that are not currently using content marketing plan to
use it in the future. Of the businesses that plan to use content marketing in the future, just over 25
percent believed it would be necessary to learn more about social media distribution channels
before embarking on a content marketing strategy. Additionally, 16 percent believed it was
important that co-workers or colleagues agreed to assist in content generation.

early 43 percent of respondents have found that posting photos generates the
best response. Announcements and videos came in a distant second and third,
with 23 and 19 percent of respondents reporting that these types of posts generate
much response. Only 17 percent of respondents reported that social dialogue
generated much response, however social dialogue was the top-ranked response
in “generates some response” ranking.
N
What type of content generates
the most response?
43%
photos
19%
  l l  
video
announcements
23%
9

ontent marketing is a lot of work. Organizations that distribute information online and offline
must remember to take photos and write articles. Employees must take the time to distribute this
information in social media channels or in more traditional channels such as printed publications
or direct mail. Despite the fact that content creation and social media posting can consume a great
deal of an employee’s time, our survey showed that slightly more than one third of businesses do not
have a plan for content creation and distribution. This lack of planning undoubtedly results in missed
opportunities and inefficiencies in work flow.
C
The content marketing planning challenge
Yes
66%
No
34%
f the businesses that have a plan for content creation and distribution, nearly 55 percent of
those plans were created by internal marketing staff and 15 percent of the plans were created by
administrative personnel. Interestingly, nearly 18 percent of respondents were not sure who had
created their content marketing plan.
This lack of planning is reflected in the responses given when survey participants were asked about the
challenges involved with content marketing. The most common challenges cited included the amount of
time needed to create content, and an inability to generate relevant and interesting content. Responses
included:
• Content development has been an issue for companies since the dawn of time. In times past, it was
developing stories for newsletters. It is tough to take the time internally do develop content. Experts
are too busy with their work to provide information and assets or there is the perception that there
is not enough new/interesting content to disseminate.
• Not enough staff or financial resources to do as much as we’d like.
• It’s almost too easy lending itself to avoidable amateur mistakes (like misspelling, grammatical
errors, etc.).
• Measuring its success. Keeping it fresh and different from everyone else.
• The proliferation of online outlets is staggering.
• It’s time consuming and takes longer to show results.
• Can be damaging if it’s done incorrectly or inconsistently.
O
Does your business have a plan for
content generation and distribution?
10

espite the disadvantages of executing a content marketing strategy, most survey respondents
have positive feelings about content marketing and know that content marketing is – as one
respondent stated, “It’s where consumers are today. If you aren’t relating to them where they are, you
are missing them and not getting them to help your bottom line.”
Although many survey respondents believe the ROI of content marketing is hard to track, respondents
generally had positive feelings about content marketing’s ability to affect a business’ bottom line.
When asked about content marketing’s impact on the bottom line, respondents stated:
• It gets us in someone’s head and once we’re there they might contact us to work with them,
which leads to an increased bottom line.
• It reminds current clients we are still there for them and usually a few will call to have us go
ahead with another quote/project of theirs.
• It’s hard to draw a direct link between the two, but it feels safe to say that without content
marketing, there would be less of a bottom line.
• We are just starting to revive our content marketing because we believe it will contribute to our
bottom line. No other reason to do it!
• We have had successful business referrals through this tool.
• Content marketing has positioned us as thought leaders in our field. Many of our clients look to
our blog for information and turn to us with questions. Ultimately, that leads to business.
Respondents also had positive feelings about content marketing’s effect on awareness for their
organization. Responses included:
• Reaches a large audience quickly. Readers can share with their network opening up new
contacts we wouldn’t have had exposure to otherwise.
• It helps with SEO and is a nice way to have information available to prospective clients that
shows what is important to us and relevant to them.
• Reaching people that we don’t have a specific personal connection with already; creating a
community feeling with a broad network that doesn’t meet in person regularly.
• Content marketing expands and diversifies our audience.
• It supports SEO and helps bring more attention to our organization for fundraising/
membership purposes.
D
Content marketing advantages
11

Content marketing advantages
Another advantage to content marketing that was cited by respondents was its ability to position an
organization as an expert in a particular field.
• It is a more subtle way to market to potential customers or centers of influence and makes our
brand appear more credible.
• Keeps us as a trusted source with our trade audience and viewed as experts in the industry.
• Reminds clients and prospects of what services we offer.
• We feel by giving our customers more information they are more informed about our products.
So when it comes time to buy, it will be from us.
• Exposure of our thought leadership through social media creates wider conversation
opportunities than we’d otherwise be able to generate.
Questions
Despite greater awareness of the impact of content marketing and increased use of social media
channels, many respondents had questions about content marketing. The most common questions
related to best practices include these:
• How often to post content?
• When’s the best time of day to post content?
• What key words to use to attract readers?
• How to attract loyal readers?
• How to manage lists?
The other subject of concern related to making content generation easier. Questions such as
“is there a simple way to manage and execute or a template?” illustrate a need to find a way to
manage the workload that effective content marketing creates.
12

In conclusion
There is no doubt that many businesses recognize the significance of content marketing, its
advantages, and its challenges. As the number of communications channels and the volume
of information available at the click of a mouse increases, the importance of generating quality
content increases. Results of this survey indicate many companies recognize this challenge. Some
are responding accordingly, planning their strategy and doing their best to generate quality content.
Others are continuing to take a more cautious approach, feeling that they do not have the necessary
training or information to effectively execute a content marketing strategy.
Although marketing strategies change, one thing is certain: content marketing is here to stay. In
today’s business environment, planning is important but should not get in the way of trying something
new. We hope that you have learned something from your peers’ responses to our content marketing
survey. Now get out there and share what you know!
“It engages our members, makes them feel part of the organization,
which increases their loyalty.
“Helps spread the word about the great work that our organization
is doing, keeps people informed of the work we are doing or
planning to do.
Real comments on content marketing from our study.
13

clearverve.com
Conducted in 2013 by:

2013 Content Marketing Study: The results

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