As a B2B tech copywriting agency, Radix has a great first-hand view of the types of content that marketers in the tech sector are producing. In this presentation, we sift through every project the Radix team worked on in 2014 to uncover the year’s big trends.

1. 2014: The Year Social Content Dominated B2B
Technology Marketing?
The irrepressible rise of social, and four more trends that rocked
our copywriting world last year

2. Hi, we’re Radix Communications.
(Pleased to meet you.)
Our team writes marketing content for top
B2B technology brands.
Like Oracle, Salesforce.com, Sprint and Veeam.
We work with some of the UK’s top B2B agencies,
as well as a number of tech brands directly.

3. In 2014, we wrote copy for 716 content
projects, for over 30 different brands.
(That’s quite a lot of content.)
This presentation is about the trends we
noticed when we crunched the numbers
on those projects.

4. We wondered how our own experience
stacked up against research done by the
Content Marketing Institute and others
into the types of content marketers said
they were creating in 2014.
So we’ve crunched those numbers, too.

5. So what changed for us during 2014?

6. 1. We worked on more
content types than
ever before
But are marketers
experimenting more with
content marketing or just
producing more content?

7. This
hasn’t
changed
over the past 12
months.2
However...
70%
of B2B
Marketers are
now creating more
content than they
did previously.3
1 & 3
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Bud-
gets, and Trends—North America, p. 19 and 17
2
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Bud-
gets, and Trends—North America, p. 9
Research
from CMI and
MarketingProfs
shows that marketers
use 13 different
content tactics, on
average.1

8. What was our experience?
Here at Radix, we worked on 25 different content
formats for clients in 2014 – up from 15 in 2013.
New for us in 2014 were: ad copy, direct mail,
press releases, workbooks, branded magazines,
slideshares, parallax scrolling sites and webinar slide
decks.

9. Here’s how our 2014 work stacked up against previous years
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
2014
2013
2012

10. In 2014, Radix saw
a 36% increase
over 2013 in the
number of client
content marketing
projects we
worked on.*
*
Based on analysis of 716 individual projects across 31 different
client organisations in 2014.

11. 2. Social media
continued to
dominate our order
book
…with social-native
content enjoying a huge
boom

12. For
the
previous two
years, usage had
remained at
87%.5
4
B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, p. 20
5
B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, and Content Marketing
Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America,
pages 5 and 9 respectively
Industry
research shows
that social media
content saw a 5.7%
increase in usage over
the past year, with 92% of
B2B content marketers
now employing it as a
content tactic.4

13. What was our experience?
Our social copy work has grown every year since
2012 and is by far the most common type of project
we work on here at Radix.
In 2014, we saw a swing towards social-native content.
Our clients aren’t just using social as a means to an
end (getting people to click through to something) but
as a valid content medium in its own right.
So we’ve been writing copy for lots of social-native
content designed to be consumed on social media
platforms (and liked and shared).

14. In 2014, social media dominated our output
Types of content we wrote copy for in 2014, based on 716 individual content projects for 31
B2B technology brands.
0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00%
Social Media
Case Studies
Infographics
White Papers
Ad Copy
Video Scripts
Brochures
Datasheets
ebooks
Blog Posts
Account Based Content
Articles
Webinar Slide Decks
Direct Mail
Web Copy
Press Releases
Newsletters
Slideshares
Checklists
Survey Reports
Advertorial
Workbooks
Branded Magazine
Comic Strips
Parallax Scrolling Sites

15. We’ve
seen a
steady climb
in social media
copywriting work, with
a 41% rise between
2012 and 2014.

16. 3. Visual content is
still in high demand
But do infographics and
video still dominate?

17. 6
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing:
2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, page 19
CMI/
MarketingProfs’
research shows that
video is the most popular
visual tactic, used by 76%
of B2B marketers, while
illustrations/photos are used
by 69% and infographics
are used by 62%.
There
was a 22%
increase in usage
of infographics
by marketers in
2014.6

18. The range of content used remained mostly unchanged in the wider B2B community - here are
the main tactics used in 2014, with 6 out of the 14 main tactics being visually focused.
Illustrations/photos
are a new category
for the report by CMI
and MarketingProfs.

19. At
Radix, we
saw demand for
infographic copy
decrease by 52%
in 2014 and video
scripts decrease
by 49%.
What was our experience?

20. Despite the decrease in infographic and video work
here at Radix, overall demand for copy for visual
content was high. 2014 was the first year we wrote
copy for slideshares, webinars and parallax scrolling
websites.
And four of the case studies we worked on in 2014
were video case studies.

21. 4. The strange case of
the B2B blogs
Who’s writing them for
marketing teams?

22. 7
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing:
2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, page 19
… blogs are
now used by
80% of B2B
marketers.7
After
recording
a minor dip in
blogging during 2013,
the latest CMI/Marketing
Profs benchmarking
survey reveals
that…

23. Radix
saw a
59% reduction in
the number of blog
posts commissioned
from us by clients
during 2014.
Meanwhile, here in sunny Cornwall…

24. Blog posts were in the top 3 content types Radix
worked on in 2012. By the end of 2014, they were
just about ready to drop out of our top 10.
Could it be that B2B marketers prefer internal
subject matter experts to write authoritative posts,
due to Google’s recent algorithm changes? Or could
they be outsourcing to cheapo, blogs-by-the-yard
content farms*? We’re not sure, but…
* Radix is not a content farm. Or if we were, we’d be one of those farms where everything is
hand-reared, milk-fed and 100% organic.

25. 8
Holger Schulze - B2B Content Marketing Report, page 16
... industry
research from Holger
Schulze suggests that
blogging is the most
outsourced B2B content
marketing format, second
only to analyst research
reports.8

26. 5. Traditional content
‘not dead’ shocker
Is it possible
that the death of the
white paper has been
over-exaggerated?

27. 9
The CMO Content Marketing Show, 10 December 2014
“[...] I haven’t really seen an actual white
paper in quite a few years.”
Sylvia Jensen, Director of EMEA Marketing,
Oracle Marketing Cloud9

28. During
the past year,
research by CMI
and MarketingProfs
shows that
white paper use
has increased by
8%.
And
over the
same period, the
use of case studies
as a content tactic
has also increased
by 8%.10
10
B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, B2B Content
Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets, and B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and
Trends—North America, pages 19, 9 and 5 respectively

29. From
2012 to 2014,
Radix has seen a
229% increase in client
demand for white papers
and a 26% lift in requests
for case studies in 2014,
after a lull in 2013.
What was our experience?

30. In 2014, Radix’s
work on
ebooks almost
halved from
2013, but...
Despite
their hype
over the last 3
years, industry research
shows that ebooks have
yet to be adopted
by 40% of B2B
marketers.11
11
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing:
2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, page 19
White papers? Surely everyone’s doing ebooks nowadays?

31. …our white paper work is increasing year on year.
Despite rumours of its demise, could it be that the
white paper is in fact healthier than ever? And could
that be because white papers are actually extremely
useful for guiding buyers to a decision?
(We think so.)

32. 12
Eccolo Media - 2015 B2B Technology Content Survey Report Volume Two
When
asked by
Eccolo Media to rank
the top 5 content assets
they found most influential
in buying decisions, only 7%
of B2B technology buyers
ranked ebooks in their
top 5...
But
white
papers were
in the top 5 for
33% of survey
respondents.12

33. So that was 2014
– but what does
2015 hold for B2B
copywriters?
There’s still room for
plenty of change.

34. Content will go non-linear
Fiona Campbell-Howes, MD, Radix Communications
“Based on our experience over the past few years, the traditional
white paper isn’t going away any time soon. They’re too useful as a
format to help tech buyers make a decision. But I still expect to see
marketers experimenting with new formats in 2015 – including more
non-linear, user-driven narratives, more account-based content, and
more humour.”

35. “We expect (and are planning) a lot more interactive content. Things
like graders, quizzes and online calculators – that deliver value and
collect great data about the prospect. I also expect more rich web
experiences and hard-working content that lives on a web page,
with little, sugar-filled feeding troughs for when the Google spiders
visit.”
Richer interactive experiences for B2B audiences
Doug Kessler, Creative Director and Co-founder of Velocity Partners

36. “For us it’s less about how you say it in 2015, and more about what
you have to say. Today’s canny customers can see through artfully
produced content. Don’t start with ‘We want to do a slideshare/
infographic’; start with ‘What do we have to tell the world?’ Having
said that – in a crowded marketplace, go for the element of surprise
in 2015. Experiment with new formats. Surprising content that makes
people smile will work well this year.”
It’s time to surprise people
Sonja Jefferson, Managing Director and Founder of Valuable Content

37. Sources
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks,
Budgets, and Trends—North America
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks,
Budgets, and Trends—North America
Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs - B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks,
Budgets, and Trends—North America
Holger Schulze - B2B Content Marketing Report
Eccolo Media - 2015 B2B Technology Content Survey Report Volume Two

38. About Radix
Radix is a copywriting agency for the content marketing era. We work with
marketers to develop programmes of content that guide customers through
every stage of the buying process.
We specialise in the B2B technology sector, with expertise in enterprise
hardware and software, networking and electronics.
We’ve written for innovative tech companies large and small, including Sprint,
Fujitsu, Gemalto, Civica, Salesforce.com, Veeam, Experian, Oracle and Spirent.
We have a monthly podcast explores trends and issues in B2B technology
copywriting. You can listen to it here.