Trade Show Executive has a feature called “ZOOM” (in hindsight a highly ironic name), that shows pages and pages of events that have been canceled, rescheduled, or have gone virtual as a result of the pandemic. This has brought existing marketing strategies to a halt. With no more face-to-face events, does that mean your company should stop marketing altogether? Absolutely not. In fact, now is the time to shore up a different pillar of your marketing strategy – content creation.
Switching gears to content creation can help your company keep its marketing momentum even during the pandemic.
Events are dead – at least for now
Many companies have historically blown their budget on events, especially in the autotech space. In 2019, event-related spends were at least 25 percent of marketing budgets. Companies were spending extravagantly to keep up with the spectacle that had become CES. However, in a post-COVID pandemic marketing era, many business leaders think that if they’re not spending money on events, they can claw back marketing budget to save for a rainy day.
Instead, switching gears to content creation can help your company keep its marketing momentum even during the pandemic.
Content is still king
Successful companies have leaned into content creation as one of their primary marketing strategies. Content creation is something that’s easily accomplished without any face-to-face contact. It can take the place of a hectic event schedule. Here are some eye-opening stats from the Content Marketing Institute:
- Most successful B2B marketers spent 40 percent of their marketing budget on content.
- Nearly 60 percent of marketers use content marketing to nurture their leads. The top two methods being email (87%) and educational content (77%).
- Fifty six percent of B2B marketers spent more on content creation between 2017 and 2018. We expect this stat to be even higher today.
- And nearly all top-performing B2B content marketers put their audience’s needs ahead of their company’s need to pitch their products – a whopping 90 percent.
The “content is hot” trend coupled with pandemic isolation leads to more content consumption.
Companies that believe in content creation are weathering the pandemic storm. An example is our client KDAB, who has had an active content creation program for years. As a result of the knowledge and experience they’ve shared in their many blogs, whitepapers, and articles, they’ve built trust and relationships that underscore their leadership in a crowded field. It’s one of the things that may have kept them afloat – even thriving – in these turbulent times.
B2B audiences need content too
The “content is hot” trend coupled with pandemic isolation also leads to more content consumption. People are home bound, and as a result are spending much more time on their phones. According to PathFactory, behavioral change has definitely impacted B2B content consumption too. People have more time to check out those blogs, download those whitepapers, read those eBooks, and watch those videos. They also report asset views are up 40 percent and attracting 17 percent more visitors. People are also investing 15 percent more time in viewing marketing content.
Marketing budgets are being slashed everywhere. Our industry friends confirm it, and we know it from our client engagements. Heck, even Google has cut their own marketing budget in response to the lessened revenue. But why wouldn’t you distinguish yourself in a time when your competitors are pulling back, yet your audience is consuming more? Now is the perfect time to scale up your content creation.
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