Modern Marketing Partners (MMP) would like to thank and acknowledge the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs for providing this data. MMP has broken down some of the research into categories that’ll help readers better understand the findings.

The annual study is available in versions for business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and other versions like technology and enterprise. Per the title above, this blog will focus on B2C findings. If interested in B2B content marketing survey results, click here.

Key Findings

Based on some of the key findings from this study, content marketing is increasing in use and value to B2C marketers.

57% of B2C marketers surveyed they expect their content marketing budget will increase this year more than it did in 2018.

69% of B2C marketers surveyed increased their use of social media for content marketing purposes compared with one year ago. The top social media platforms used by B2C marketers are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Social media tops the list of paid methods B2C marketers use to distribute content.

B2C marketers say changes to SEO and search algorithms are a top issue of concern to their organization. Changes in SEO and search algorithms can happen up to a few times a year.

66% of U.S. consumers spend more on brands to which they feel loyal to. This ties into why it’s so important for an organization to build trust and credibility with their audience. 81% of B2C marketers say they’re concerned with content creation that builds loyalty. 

Content Marketing Usage & Strategy

B2C marketers should have a clear content marketing strategy that will help them distribute their content and bring in new audiences.

33% of B2C marketers surveyed have a documented content marketing strategy. A documented strategy often leads to success, however only 1 in 3 B2C marketers are doing this.

Majority of B2C content marketing increased their use of audio/visual content, written digital content and images compared with one year ago.

68% of B2C content marketers surveyed use paid methods to distribute content. The biggest reason for distributing content is to attract new audiences for their organization.

Success & Commitment to Content Marketing

The success of B2C’s content marketing can positively correlate to their organization’s commitment to it.

74% of B2C content marketers say their organizations content marketing is more/somewhat more successful compared with one year ago while 64% report their organization is extremely/very committed to content marketing.

Technology Use & Proficiency

How does B2C marketer’s proficiency with content marketing affect their use of it?

40% of B2C marketers describe their organizations proficiency with the use of content marketing as intermediate. They are starting to become more consistent with a content marketing plan and seeing early stages of success.

The top 3 technologies B2C marketers use to assist with managing content marketing are social media publishing/analytics, email marketing software and analytic tools.

Audience Research

Researching a target audience is key to knowing what content they want to see.

Social media listening, website analytics and keyword research are the top 3 techniques B2C content marketers use to research their audience.

B2C content marketers say they nurture their audiences mostly through email. Email marketing is a great tool for content marketing.

The Future of Content Marketing

Every year the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs release this study that helps marketing professionals with their strategies and goals. Based on the survey, the importance and usage of content marketing has continued to increase.

If interested in finding more information on this content marketing study, you can find that here.

Additional Content Marketing Resources

6 Common Content Marketing Missteps

Inspire Customers with User-Generated Content

5 Great Services for Content Promotion

10 Content Ideas to Improve Your Brand Personality

The post Content Marketing Study – 2019 B2C appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Additionally, it offers valuable insight that can help minimize risks associated with managing your marketing mix and the various elements of more long-term marketing planning. There are several key marketing tactics that businesses can make with market research information, such as:

• Establish price
• Emphasize selected product features
• Choose type of advertising
• Design promotional messages

Understanding the consumer and your product’s position relative to the competition will produce the results you’re looking for. That’s why from the onset market research should be conducted to help lessen new product failure and the costs associated with low consumer acceptance prior to a full-scale commercial release.

For many new enterprises or small businesses this is where they raise their hand and say, “That’s all well and good, but we don’t have the money.” Budget is often a big concern or barrier to conducting research. And marketers acknowledge that outsourcing your marketing research activities can take a chunk out of your resources.

But do you really want to throw away your shot at reaching customers effectively? For some companies they only have enough resources for one opportunity to approach the market and succeed.

The good news is there are ways to support your research internally. It might take a little creativity and hard work, but it’s doable. Many primary and secondary research efforts just need to be made into small projects.

For Start-Ups

Get to know the competition. Choose a successful competitor and if they have a physical location, spend time (out of sight) watching for customer patterns  – when and how they arrive, group size, length of visit, etc. In additional to a physical store or in place of one, most competitors will have a website. Go online, look for the competition’s display ads, spend time on a main competitor’s website, join their email list, subscribe or get contacted to understand their timelines and processes.

Test your idea. Consider a trade show or venue where you can attend with your product or product idea and get feedback. Feedback can also come from family, friends, people you Facetime – initially you just need to share your idea to hear peoples’ responses to it.  Once you have all kinds of feedback, you may need to vary price, appearance, functionality or size to find what works. Taking the step to create a working prototype may also generate interest from investors prior to a product launch. Then you’re in a better position to establish reliable sales goals to help build your business plan around.

Consider focus groups or online surveys. This is primary research at its finest. Both of these approaches require finding a target group of people who represent your ideal customers and asking them questions to better help understand what they want and how your product does or does not meet those needs. This is the one market research area that will be difficult to do on your own. Everything from list procurement to focus group facilitator to online survey creation requires specialized knowledge that may require the help of professionals.

For New and Existing Enterprises

Track competitors’ promotions. This is just smart for both new and existing enterprises. Start a spreadsheet that notes competitors’ messages, offers, and advertising vehicles. Use this information on an ongoing basis to help establish clear differentiation for your product in the marketplace.

Hello data. A lot of existing industry information is out there and it’s considered secondary research. Some of it you may have to pay for. For example, industry associations compile and report on trends annually, however this information usually requires belonging to the association or paying to access what’s relevant to your company. Other sources such as on government websites or even competitors’ websites might offer free white papers by simply providing your email.

Information already published can be used to help determine an initial market size and potential for growth, as well as, an ongoing and potentially changing market for established products. It can also provide industry perspectives, potential market threats, and target markets. These are some initial sources to try for free information:

• S. Census Bureau
• Gov
• PR Newswire

Use direct mail or email. This gives you the opportunity to test more specifically a marketing idea or promotion. Consider purchasing a list of 5,000 names with demographics and characteristics appropriate to your product or service. Conduct an A/B test by splitting the list in half and offering a different promotion for your product to each half. Analyze response rates and repeat the test until you have the results you want. Now you’re ready for a much larger scale mailing that should be on target to deliver the customers you need.

Other Market Research Resources: 

Market Research – Types and Tips

Glossary of Market Research Terms

The post Conduct Small Market Research Projects to Help Your Business Grow appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Below we will define some common Market Research terms:

A

A.C. Nielsen Retail Index: uses point-of-sale data to provide information on the sales of a particular product, information of competing products, dealer and sales promotions, and retail prices.

Ad Hoc Surveys: surveys administered to the target audience who has never been surveyed on a particular subject before.

Ad Recall: survey respondents are exposed to an ad and then, at a later date, asked if they can recall it, measuring advertising effectiveness.

Ad tracking: monitoring a brands performance with an advertisement to determine the effectiveness of the media targeting, the quality of the advertisements, and ROI.

Applied Research: research that is conducted with specific objectives in order to develop new products or applications.

Asynchronous Research: survey respondents record their response on their own time; responses are not prompted.

At-Home Testing: research method where users are allowed to bring the product home for testing use.

B

Back Checking: the survey respondent is contacted after the research has taken place and questioned about the interview in an effort to authenticate the data was collected.

Benchmark: evaluating or checking something in comparison with a standard. For instance, you may compare your business processes with industry or competitor’s best practices.

C

CATI surveys: (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) A software program that collects respondent’s data.

Causal Research: research that examines the cause-and-effect relationship among variables (a causes b).

Causation: the action of causing something.

Coding: how data is categorized in order to be analyzed.

Cohort: a group of people with a common statistical characteristic. For example, different age groups would make up different cohorts.

Competitive Intelligence: gathering, analyzing, and managing data and information regarding the business environment in which a company operates.

Convenience Sample: a research sampling strategy where the most accessible people are surveyed, as opposed to a random sample.

Coolhunting: marketing professionals make observations or predictions about changes in cultural trends.

Copy testing: (or pre-testing) the study of marketing materials prior to their release to research an ad’s effectiveness.

Customer Behavior: research that studies when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a product.

D

Data Collection: the gathering and preparation of data for research purposes.

Data entry: the process of entering data from surveys, research, etc., into an electronic format.

Data Mining: the process of examining large databases to extract patterns from the data.

Data Warehouse: large database systems storing a wide range of information from within a company.

Data: statistics collected for research purposes.

DECIDE Model: a model of the decision-making process; Define the marketing problem, Enumerate the controllable and uncontrollable decision factors, Collect relevant information, Identify the best alternative, Develop and implement a marketing plan, and Evaluate the decision.

Demographics: objective classifications of consumers, such as their age, income, sex, education, etc.

Dependent Variable: depends on/affected by the independent variable(s). For example, if sales and price were your two variables, sales could be the dependent variable because it is impacted by the price (or vice versa).

Dichotomous Question: closed-ended question posed that only has two response alternatives, such as yes or no.

E

Eye tracking: tracking the pattern of eye movements to determine what part of an advertisement consumers look at and for what length.

F

Focus Group: a type of qualitative research where a group of people have a discussion on their perceptions, opinions, etc., toward a product or service.

G

Geodemographics: a combination of geographic and demographic information.

H

Heterogeneous Groups: a group of people who have diverse attributes.

Homogenous Groups: a group of people who have similar attributes.

I

Independent Variable: variation is independent of changes in the values of other variables and is the causative factor. For example, if sales and price were your two variables, price could be the independent variable because it causes sales to increase or decrease (or vice versa).

L

Likert Scale: type of rating scale used to measure attitudes where respondents identify their level of agreement or disagreement for a statement (for example: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree).

Loaded Question: a type of question that has a false or questionable presupposition.

Longitudinal Study: research that consists of repeated observations of the same exact variables over a long period of time.

M

Market Segmentation: separating prospective buyers into groups that share common needs and that will respond similar to marketing efforts.

Market Share: the percentage of a market’s total sales that is earned by a particular company.

Market Structure: the characteristics that are found in a given market, such as the number of buyers and sellers, the levels of competition, etc. Perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly are generally the four types of market structures.

Market Research: the process of gathering, recording, and analyzing data and information about customers, competitors, and the market in which you intend to enter.

N

Nominal Scale: type of measurement scale where possible responses are categories and there is no order or structure (ex: religious preference, race, sex).

O

Objective: not influenced by personal feelings or opinions (unbiased).

Omnibus Panel: (or piggyback) respondents are measured repeatedly over time but on variables that change from measurement to measurement.

P

Predictor Variables: a variable that can be used to predict the value of another variable.

Primary Research: the collection of data that does not already exist; often called custom research.

Privacy Policy: a legal document published by organizations that shares how they keep information private, how the information is shared, and why it is collected.

Psychographics: the study and classification of people based on their individual psychological characteristics (attitudes, interests, opinions, lifestyle, etc.), as opposed to demographic information.

Q

Qualitative Research: research that uses exploratory techniques to obtain words and descriptions as data, as opposed to numerical data.

Quantitative Research: research that uses numbers for data to analyze results.

R

Research Design: how the information is to be gathered for research, including the instruments to be used and how the information will be analyzed.

S

Sampling Error: the difference in the results from a sample from what the results would be if the entire population was surveyed.

Secondary Research: using existing data to conduct research.

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC): a four-digit number that is used to categorize a company based on the type of business.

SWOT Analysis: evaluating your company’s internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats.

Syndicated Research: research performed by a research company that makes the results available for sale.

Systematic: carried out according to a fixed plan (methodical).

Additionally, various resources from omnipapers.com can be helpful for understanding and properly utilizing the terms and definitions in writing and professional documentation.

For more information about market research, view Market Research Types and Tips. Want more definitions? We have a comprehensive list of marketing terms available here: Modern Marketing Glossary.

The post Glossary of Market Research Terms appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.