The groundbreaking Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends research from Junta42 and Marketing Profs showed the differences in content marketing tactics used across industries and by companies of all sizes. It was revealed that when it comes to content marketing, large companies (more than 1,000 employees) and small companies (10-99 employees) use content marketing in very different ways.
Adoption rates
Overall, large companies are out-adopting smaller companies in content marketing in most areas. Large companies are using nine content marketing tactics, where smaller companies employ an average of six. Big companies also adopt new tactics at a higher rate, using microsites, data-driven content marketing, print magazines and videos. Smaller companies have a much lower adoption rate of these tools, particularly when it comes to microsites. Only about a quarter of small businesses create microsites, while half of large companies do.
Spending
No surprise, the bigger the business, the more money they spend on content marketing. This is likely due to bigger wallets and overall budgets than smaller companies. But, an interesting difference is that bigger companies spend a smaller percent (21%) of their total marketing budgets on content marketing than small companies (26%).
Blogging and social media
The little guys rule in these areas of content marketing. Small companies are more engaged in blogging and social media than larger companies. About 60% of small businesses blog, versus almost 40% of companies with more than 1,000 employees. It’s likely that with a smaller staff and fewer bureaucratic layers involved, small businesses have more “say” in their blogs and the freedom to post information quickly and more frequently.
The same is true for social media: 84% of small businesses are active in social media, while only 71% of the biggest companies are engaged.
Outsourcing
This is the area of the most notable difference when it comes to company size. More than three quarters of large companies outsource some of their content development. In comparison, the majority (57%) of small businesses create content only in-house. This distinction is also likely related to budget size. Larger firms have more resources to spend on outside help.
Do you work for a small or large company doing something different when it comes to content marketing? We’d love to know!
