DISQUS

Jacques Snyman · 1 year ago

Content is King, we all agree on that. When looking at the quoted figures one gets a 17% odd allocation of marketing budgets going directly towards creating white papers. This is a substantial share of the adspend and one has to ask the question whether to subcontract this out, or employ an inhouse writer. We chose the latter option and it has worked wonderfully well for us.

Mark Albright · 1 year ago

Is this budget percentage growing or has the average stayed the same? We have played with the idea of creating multi-media/Web2.0 versions of our white papers to stand apart from "the crowd".

Michael Stelzner · 1 year ago

Mark - Good question. I am guessing it is growing... - Mike

Joe Pulizzi · 1 year ago

Hi Mark...there have been quite a few studies on content spending. According to the Custom Publishing Council and Publications Management, spending on content was (I believe) 19% of the marketing budget back in 2004/05. 24% in 2006. They completed their study for 2007 and the number was 27%. The Junta42/BtoB study says 30%. Yes, definitely growing.

Also, 42% of marketers increased their spending on customized content marketing activities in 2008. Only 12% decreased their content marketing spend, while 46% left their custom budgets unchanged. This trend will only continue. Relevant, compelling content is not just nice to have, it's a necessity.

Hope this helps. - Joe

Troy Bingham · 1 year ago

We too are looking at using webinars, and other multi media to add some spice to our educational marketing.

www.lrmguru.blogspot.com

Brent Applegate · 1 year ago

Makes sense!

Michael A Brown · 1 year ago

Hi Michael! Great content! An observation if I may: despite the infusion of money into white papers for lead gen, too many B2B marketers are under-funding and mismanaging the "next step" ... the business phone call that follows the white paper.

Indeed, in my Business To Business By Phone consulting and training practice, I find that many callers who contact white paper recipients have never seen the paper themselves, do not know what would provoke a prospect to request the paper, and therefore struggle to open and conduct an appropriate and engaging dialogue.

I urge marketers to consider not only the content of white papers, but also the context and continuity in which they are applied. And above all, make sure the callers who will speak with white paper recipients are prepared for substantive conversations.

Michael A. Brown
www.michaelabrown.net

Mac McIntosh · 1 year ago

Michael,

Is the research saying they are spending 50% of their "content creation" budgets on white papers, or is it saying that 50% report that is one of the (primary?) things they spend their "content creation" budgets on?

Maybe Joe Pulizzi can help clarify.

Thanks,
Mac McIntosh
www.sales-lead-experts.com

Joe Pulizzi · 1 year ago

Hi Mac...good question.

The findings state that 50% of business marketers are creating their own white papers. The chart lives here http://www.junta42.com/resources/Business_to_Bu...
and lists what types of content activities marketers are engaged in (but not by budget or revenue spent).

We are going to try to get a bit more granular for the next study.

Hope that helps.
Best
Joe

Bagrep · 1 year ago

Good observations. What you have stated are all true. There is nothing better than the white paper but depends on how much budget you have or else you won't be able to benefit at all.

fatsgone · 1 year ago

It's undeniable that it is effective but I think that we do need to keep up with the times. Like Mark did mention above, a multimedia/web hybrid of white papers may just be the new thing, more effective and convenient than conventional white papers.

SEO Company · 1 year ago

I would agree and would suggest that this number is rising. A large part of the work I do for clients is sourcing out the right expert to write custom, meaningful content for the client. The larger the business, the higher percentage of quality custom content seems to be needed.

VeraBradley · 1 year ago

Like one commenter said, content is king. With content and facts to write about, one can produce quality articles. So i guess its not a suprise that marketers spend so much on those.

Natalie Brahan · 1 year ago

You're right VeraBradley! without a good content and facts no article will be a good enough. hence, spending by marketers so much is an effective way..