San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) March 16, 2016
Akoonu, Inc.™, a platform empowering marketers to execute strategic buyer-centric marketing, today announced the results of an Industry Benchmark Report that assesses the current level of content marketing maturity of B2B organizations. While most research to date in this area has been derived through self-reporting on surveys, Akoonu has taken a different approach and created technology, the Content Marketing Grader, which programmatically assesses a company’s content marketing maturity by analyzing their website. Over 20,000 websites across 43 B2B industries were analyzed to develop this report.
“As we start to examine the results of this report, we see a familiar pattern start to emerge – the curve is distinctly average,” states Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer at the Content Marketing Institute. “The natural conclusion after looking at these kinds of numbers might be to say ‘no matter how hard we try we have no better odds of coming out more than average. So, why try at all?’ This couldn’t be more wrong. There is an opportunity in any of the industries examined to reboot content programs and actually emerge as a differentiated leader. The messy middle shows that at least something is working. The imperative now is to get good at developing a differentiated content marketing strategy – and fast.”
Methodology
Based on automated analysis from the Content Marketing Grader, each of the analyzed 20,000 websites was awarded a score between 0 and 100 to represent their measured content marketing maturity and level of investment in content and content related technology. The scores fall into four tiers of companies:
- Implementing (score 1-15): The basics of content marketing are only partially implemented.
- Transitioning (score 16-40): The basics are covered, and content marketing best practices are implemented to varying degrees.
- Investing (score 41-70): Content marketing has been holistically implemented and ongoing investments are being made on content production and enabling technology.
- Leaders (score 71-100): Content marketing has been organizationally embraced, implemented, and operationalized.
In the assessment process, the total score is based on five underlying components that each focus on a distinct area of content marketing best practices:
- Multi-Channel: Content is published to the relevant digital channels for the audience, such as web pages, blogs, social networks, etc.
- Content Architecture: The website is structured in a way to make the content easy to find by both search engines and people.
- Content Formats: Content is produced in a range of formats to support different preferences for consumption and models of usage.
- Content Technology: Technology is used to capture online conversions and optimize the content experience.
Snapshot of Results
-When viewed by industry, there are specific industries that on average score much higher than others. Technology, Marketing, and Business Services companies are currently leading the way to content marketing maturity. The majority of industries are in the middle with various levels of adoption of current best practices (see graphic “Average Maturity by Industry”).
-There are Leaders and Investing companies across all industries. Content marketing is truly a horizontal movement, taking strong hold in companies regardless of specific industry adoption rates (see graphic “Leaders Exist in All Industries”).
-In the high scoring industries, the distribution of scores is a fairly standard bell curve. Companies in these industries generally are in the Transitioning or Investing range of scores. They have the basics covered, are adopting content marketing best practices to varying degrees, and many are actively investing in operationalizing content marketing (see graphic “Insights for Marketers in the High Scoring Industries”). If you are in one of these industries:
- To be at parity, you must be practicing content marketing and planning what your next investments will be to stay in the pack.
- To stand out, you must truly embrace the practices, technology, and operations of content marketing. You must have fresh, rich, and varied content across channels, and have technology to maximize the impact of the content.
- In the low scoring industries, the score distribution is more like a ski slope. The majority of companies are either in the Basic or lower range of the Transitioning scores. They are only partially implementing content marketing best practices, and ongoing investments are minimal or non-existent (see graphic “Insights for Marketers in the Low Scoring Industries”). If you are in one of these industries:
- To be at parity, you need to have the basics covered adequately. Your content needs to be across the channels relevant to your audience and findable by search engines and people.
- To stand out, simply starting to implement today’s content marketing best practices will get you above the crowd.
The benchmark report provides additional analysis and insights, including:
- The relationship between amount of web content and content marketing maturity grade
- The correlation between web traffic and content marketing maturity grade
- Trends in which types of best practices companies invest in as they mature their content marketing
“We wanted to examine a significant sample size in order to understand and compare content marketing maturity across several B2B companies and industries,” says Jeff Freund, CEO and Founder at Akoonu. The only way to do this at such large scale efficiently was through software. So, we developed it. And the results are truly insightful for all B2B marketers – whether you’re just starting out in content marketing or are a leader, and whether you’re in a high scoring industry or a low one. Regardless of an organization’s pace of adoption, there are common themes. Developing mature content marketing practices requires investments in people, process, and technology to achieve a sustaining, focused effort that leads to positive business results.”
Access the full industry benchmark report here. You can also have your own website graded in seconds, along with insights and recommendations, here.
About Akoonu
Akoonu, Inc. ™ is the first platform for strategic marketing that empowers B2B marketers to develop and operationalize the essential elements for successful buyer-centric marketing from planning through execution. Our configurable frameworks, data and systems integrations, workflows, and collaboration features enable B2B marketers to develop: in-depth buyer’s journey maps and buyer personas; brand messaging and targeted messages by persona and stage; and strategic content plans from ideation through fully descriptive briefs. Our platform activates these elements organizationally so that everyone across Marketing, Sales, Product, and Services can access, leverage, and share them in real-time. As a result, marketers can align internal activities – like content creation, sales enablement, and campaigns – to buyers’ needs and processes. Through this internal alignment and richer understanding of your audience, you’ll provide buyer-centric experiences that fuel relationships, convert leads, and drive business growth. For more information, visit http://www.akoonu.com and follow Akoonu @Akoonu.