The Content Marketing Institute’s 13th Annual B2B Content Marketing report continues a long tradition of examining trends relating to the strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Last year’s report explored how the pandemic changed how organizations perceive content marketing. It found that content marketing took a more prominent role as organizations lost the ability to meet face-to-face with prospects and customers.

This year’s report continues the theme: Seventy-one percent of content marketers said that content marketing has become more critical to their organization over the last year. But with only forty percent of B2B marketers having a documented content marketing strategy, too many marketers are creating content for the sake of creating content. Consequently, their efforts are falling short.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing needs a strategy with resources behind it in order to be truly effective. Far too many content marketers are either operating alone or with a small staff trying to do too much. In fact, forty-six percent of all marketers surveyed said that one person (or group) in their organization is responsible for all types of content produced.

Based on this reality, it’s not surprising that for the past three years, only around twenty-nine percent of those surveyed said their organizations are extremely or very successful with content marketing.

Where can success be found in 2023? In addition to the return of in-person events, signs point to the combination of video and Case Studies: a Video Testimonial.

Your Latest Powerful Tool: Video Testimonials

Why are we so bullish on creating Video Testimonials for your B2B product or service? It’s because they represent a combination of what works: video content marketing and Case Studies.

Video content marketing involves the use of video to raise a brand’s profile. When done well, video can be a powerful way for a brand to spread its message. And besides, people love consuming videos. Take a look at the popularity of videos on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. According to the Content Marketing Institute, the use of videos has increased to seventy-five percent in 2022 from sixty-six percent in 2021.

A Case Study is an in-depth description of how your organization’s product or service has benefitted particular clients, solved their pain points, and helped them meet business goals. Again, Case Study usage remains strong in 2022 at sixty-seven percent.

Similarly, when asked what B2B content assets produced the best results in the last twelve months, thirty-six percent of respondents pointed to Case Studies, and thirty-six percent pointed to videos. By the way, in-person events took the top spot at forty-eight percent.

What we urge our clients to do is leverage the power of video and social proof to create Video Testimonials. We do this because of one giant, underlying truth: More than ninety-two percent of B2B buyers say that they are more likely to purchase a product or service after they have read a trusted review about it.

More B2B Content Marketing Takeaways

Here are some key takeaways from the 13th Annual B2B Content Marketing Report:

• Get help. Forty-seven percent of respondents reported that they expect their organization to hire or contract content producers in 2023 (e.g., writers, designers, and videographers). Why go through the expense of hiring more staff when SuccessKit can efficiently produce your content for you?
• Ditch paid content distribution. The percentage of marketers using one or more paid distribution channels decreased to sixty-seven percent, compared with eighty-one percent the previous year. You don’t need to pay to distribute content when you can create content that you can easily distribute through your website and your sales team.
• Don’t get left behind. Seventy-eight percent of content marketers said their organizations will invest/continue to invest in video in 2023, up from sixty-nine percent the previous year. Video is the future, so don’t get left behind in the Video Testimonial push.

Preparing for 2023

Remember: You are not alone.

Reach out to SuccessKit to gather the expertise you need and lessen the burden on your marketing team. Our clients have found that this is an excellent way to create content that motivates B2B buyers.

The team at SuccessKit is here to help you reach your content marketing goals in 2023. Whether you need to create a Case Study or Video Testimonial, we have the experience you are looking for. Schedule a meeting with us to learn how we can help.