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Enterprise Content Marketing Research 2023

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Enterprise Content Marketing Research 2023

Navigating work in a large organization comes with unique challenges, especially in times of change.

But one thing remains constant – communication endures as one of the thorniest issues.

So it’s no surprise in our newly released Enterprise Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – Insights for 2023, well over half (64%) of enterprise content markers say communicating among internal teams/silos is a challenge.

That’s one of the findings from the analysis of the 278 enterprise marketers (those working in companies with at least 1,000 employees) who completed our annual content marketing survey.

64% of enterprise #content marketers say communicating among teams/silos is a challenge, according to @CMIContent #research via @EditorStahl. Click To Tweet

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Here’s a snapshot of the content marketing practices, challenges, opportunities, and 2023 plans they shared with us.

Common challenges of enterprise content marketers

Close in popularity to the internal communication challenge is creating content that appeals to different stages of the journey (62%). Among the other most frequently cited challenges of enterprise marketers: technology integration (41%), accessing subject matter experts to create content (38%), achieving consistency with messaging (37%), developing consistency with measurement (37%), and differentiating products and services from the competition’s (37%). Interestingly, only 24% say continuing to make a business case for content marketing is a challenge (and 1% say they have no challenges.)

Enterprise organizations' current content marketing challenges.Click to enlarge

In their open-ended (qualitative) responses, many enterprise content marketers told us they want to see content marketing centralized within their organization. Even more expressed a desire to see silos torn down.

Lynn Heidmann, senior director of content marketing at Dataiku, found a solution at her enterprise. Though the central content marketing team owns content creation for global marketing campaigns, it isn’t the only team producing external-facing content. Other teams create all content for partners, customers, and prospects.

To maintain a consistent content approach and keep everyone up to date, the central content marketing team shares “lots of best practices [things like central messaging documentation, style guides, etc.] and offer(s) up our time for reviewing other teams’ work, involving them in our workflows where we can try and streamline as much as possible.”

Technology is an issue

Tools and technology can be an especially fraught issue in enterprises. Buying decisions sometimes takes ages, and solutions that work well for one team might not suit another.

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In a new question on the annual survey, we asked marketers if they thought their organization had the right technology to manage content across the organization. Only 23% say yes. Nearly a third (31%) say no. Even more (37%) say they have the technology but aren’t using it to its potential.

The right technology in place to manage content across the enterprise organization?

Having and using the right technology sets top-performing content marketers apart. Of those who think their organization is extremely or very successful with content marketing, 38% say they have the right technology to manage content across the organization compared to 23% of all enterprise marketers.

Enterprise marketers who report being extremely or very successful are more likely than all marketers to have the right tech to manage #content across the organization, according to @CMIContent #research via @EditorStahl. Click To Tweet

That makes sense to CMI’s chief strategy advisor Robert Rose who recently said, “Any marketing technology worth purchasing involves implementation, training, user learning curve time, and ongoing administration.”

Is tech a solution to all your content woe? No. Does that mean it’s not worth addressing? Of course not. The first step, Robert advises, is to get your processes in order before shopping for the tech to help them.

“I’ve been advising clients and colleagues to worry less about which new technology will be a must-have for 2023,” he writes. “Instead, work on developing the muscle to evolve content activities into repeatable processes.”

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(Read more of Robert’s advice in this Rose-Colored Glasses column, Your 2023 Planning Shouldn’t Be All About That Tech.)

More differentiators of top performers

Top-performing enterprise marketers also stand apart from their peers by always/frequently making their content different. They craft content based on stages of the buyer’s journey (72% vs. 47%) and prioritize the audience’s informational needs over their organization’s (81% vs. 61%).

Eighty percent of the top performers say they always/frequently differentiate their content from the competition compared to 53% of all enterprise marketers who say the same.

How enterprise content marketing top performers describe their organizations --at a glance.Click to enlarge

How do they do it? Well, the same ways are most popular among the top performers and all marketers: producing better quality content (86% of top performers, 85% of all marketers) and covering topics/stories that their competitors don’t (71% for top performers and all marketers).

But the top performers are more likely to do these things than all marketers:

  • Produce more content (41% of top performers vs. 31% of all marketers)
  • Do a better job distributing content (38% vs. 29%)
  • Promote actively the content they publish (58% vs. 53%)

Jeff Revilla, digital marketing director for Smail Auto Group, manages all content operations for 10 franchises. He says his organization differentiates its content by taking the customers on journeys about what they’re most interested in – the vehicles’ features.

“Most of the content in automotive centers around the dealer screaming, ‘We have inventory’ or ‘Look at these deals!’ We took a different approach. Instead of talking about us, we created a series of videos that take the customer through a journey of the vehicle. We only mention our name in the intro, never talk about price, and only focus on the features that a car owner would care about. Once we figured out that formula, our YouTube growth was exponential.” Since 2008, Smail Auto Group’s YouTube channel has had almost 2.5 million views.

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In-person events are back

This trend doesn’t surprise me at all – in-person events are back. We’ve seen it and participated in it.

Sixty-three percent of enterprise marketers report using in-person events this year – that’s 2.5 times more than the previous year’s survey.

Use of in-person events by enterprise marketers jumped 2.5 times this year over last year, according to @CMIContent #research via @EditorStahl. Click To Tweet

In addition, 56% expect their organization’s in-person event investment to increase in 2023 compared with their 2022 budget.

How enterprise organizations' investment will change in 2023 compared with 2022.Click to enlarge

Having the right content to support these in-person events can extend the audience’s experience and the enterprise’s investment.

Dataiku’s Lynn Heidmann shares that her team has a hand in shaping the narrative of the brand’s event content. “A memorable, well-crafted message on stage is what people come to events for, so that’s what works best, and we try to support that,” she says.

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And make sure to capitalize on the events for future content. “We’ve had great success with on-site surveys, which are a great way to collect data that you can reuse in later content pieces,” Lynn says.

Video investment continues to rise

Another finding everyone (enterprise or not, content marketer or consumer) already sees? The use of video.

Among enterprise content marketers, the use of video increased to 87% from 79% the previous year, making it the second most often used type of content. Now it’s second only to short articles/posts (89%).

Content assets enterprise marketers created/used in last 12 months.Click to enlarge

Among the other content assets used in the last 12 months:

  • Virtual events/webinars/online courses (77%)
  • Long articles/posts – more than 1,500 words (71%)
  • Case studies (68%)
  • Infographics/charts/dataviz/3D models (68%)
  • E-books/white papers (64%)
  • In-person events (63%)
  • Podcasts and other audio content (44%)
  • Research reports (42%)
  • Livestreaming content (27%)
  • Print magazines or books (23%)

Video also tops the list of predicted content marketing investments in 2023, with 83% expecting to spend money on video for their enterprises.

Among the other popular categories for investment:

  • Owned-media assets (67%)
  • Paid media (67%)
  • Events – digital, in-person, hybrid (63%)
  • Earned media (53%)
  • Social media/community building (53%)
  • Getting to know audiences better (38%)
  • User experience design (36%)
  • Audio content (25%)
  • Content technologies (20%)

Areas of enterprise content marketing investment in 2023.Click to enlarge

Video’s place at the top of the investment list is good news because it’s one of the top five content assets that produced the best results for enterprise marketers in the last 12 months.

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Will 2023 be a bumpy ride?

Your team may grow or shrink. Your budget may rise or fall. Your content may succeed or struggle. To manage those surprising and expected events, use these and the rest of the findings to get your bearings for the rest of 2023.

Amy Fair, content marketing manager at SpyCloud, sums up the 2023 vibe for enterprise and other marketers beautifully: “I would encourage folks to continue to nurture their networks to ensure they have a robust support system at all times … You never know when you could be impacted, and making sure you have built solid relationships with colleagues who are there for you can be a lifesaver, both literally and figuratively.”

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute



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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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