IDG Enterprise recently announced the results of its 2012 content marketing survey. The study included about 740 responses over three weeks earlier this summer. The results are interesting, and I wanted to offer up the SlideShare presentation of the results, along with a quick summary of the high points:
In no particular order, here are the five most interesting things I noticed in the study:
- Over half of the respondents are using 10 or more content formats/tactics, all of which they consider effective.
- The infographic is the fastest-growing content marketing format; its use increased 50% over last year.
- Almost all marketers (94%) create new content from scratch, but marketers also say a lack of time and bandwidth to create new content is a major challenge.
- The top three goals for content marketing are lead generation (68%), thought leadership (50%) and brand awareness (39%).
- The three leading content marketing formats this year are case studies (62%), white papers/ebooks (61%) and press releases (58%).
You know what I find most interesting about that last point? The number of marketers who think a press release qualifies as a “content marketing” format. It’s not. Really.
Have a great holiday weekend.
-Matthew McKenzie
