2018北美制造业内容营销报告（英文版）_38页-4mb

2018 Manufacturing Content Marketing Report Summary

Core Content and Key Insights

This report, published by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) in 2018, provides an overview of content marketing practices among manufacturers in North America. It highlights trends, benchmarks, and strategies that manufacturing marketers are adopting, emphasizing the importance of content marketing maturity, team structure, budget allocation, and the use of content types and distribution formats.

Content Marketing Maturity Levels

The report categorizes manufacturing marketers into five maturity levels:

• Sophisticated/Mature: 4%
• Mature: 18%
• Adolescent: 30%
• Young/First Steps: 34%
• First Steps: 12%

Marketers in more mature organizations are more likely to have a documented strategy, commit to content marketing, and allocate a higher percentage of their marketing budget to content marketing.

Commitment and Success

• 51% of manufacturers describe their organization as somewhat committed to content marketing.
• 38% are extremely/very committed.
• 55% rate their overall content marketing approach as moderately successful.
• 34% report that their content marketing success has increased compared to the previous year.

Content Creation and Distribution

• 20% of respondents rate their project management flow during content creation as excellent or very good.
• 49% rate it as fair or poor.
• The most effective content types are videos (pre-produced), email, and LinkedIn.
• The most effective content distribution formats are blogs, webinars/webcasts/virtual events, and print magazines.
• The most effective social media platforms are YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Budgets and Spending

• The average percentage of total marketing budget spent on content marketing is 22%.
• Young/First Steps organizations spend 15% on content marketing.
• Adolescent organizations spend 23%.
• Sophisticated/Mature organizations spend 32%.
• 38% of respondents expect an increase in their content marketing budget over the next 12 months.

Outsourcing and Team Organization

• 58% of manufacturing marketers outsource at least one content marketing activity.
• 57% have small (or one-person) marketing/content marketing teams.
• 46% of respondents are in the young/first steps phase.
• 30% are in the adolescent phase.
• 22% are in the mature/sophisticated phase.

Goals and Metrics

• 34% of respondents say their organization does an excellent, very good, or good job in aligning metrics with content marketing goals.
• 47% rate their organization as doing a fair or poor job.
• 70% of marketers can demonstrate how content marketing has increased audience engagement and lead generation.
• 42% can show how it has increased sales.
• 21% can demonstrate how it has decreased the cost of customer acquisition.
• 52% of respondents who do not measure ROI cite the reasons as "we need an easier way to do this" and "we don’t know how to do this."

Methodology and Demographics

• The survey was conducted by CMI and sponsored by IEEE GlobalSpec Media Solutions.
• It was sent to a global sample of marketers using lists from CMI, MarketingProfs, ADMA, WTWH Media, and TFM.
• A total of 2,190 respondents participated, with 155 specifically indicating their organization is a for-profit manufacturer in North America.
• The survey included a range of company sizes and industries.

Key Takeaways

• Content marketing is becoming increasingly important in the manufacturing sector.
• A documented strategy and strong commitment are foundational to success.
• More mature organizations are better at measuring ROI and aligning content with business goals.
• Budget allocation for content marketing is growing, with more mature organizations investing a higher percentage.
• The use of digital technologies, such as analytics tools and email marketing platforms, is widespread.
• There is a clear trend toward using more sophisticated content types and distribution formats.
• Outsourcing is common, especially among smaller organizations.
• There is a need for better education and training in content marketing practices to improve ROI measurement and effectiveness.