Can Enterprise Companies Solve the Content Marketing Puzzle?

Do enterprise companies have the upper hand when it come to a content marketing strategy? Do content marketers who work for enterprise level companies  have it easy?

After all, smaller businesses struggling with budget and staffing challenges might well look at their enterprise counter-parts with a certain amount of envy.  Deep pockets, a dedicated marketing department and plenty of staff to complete all the projects.

The grass is sometimes greener as they say and according to a study by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) entitled B2B Enterprise Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America,  enterprise marketers do have some advantages compared to smaller businesses; but they also have many of the same challenges.  (An enterprise in this case is a businesses that employees 1,000 or more).  For instance, when the CMI asked enterprise content marketers if they had an effective marketing organization, only 28% surveyed reported in the positive and only 15% said they could derive ROI from their marketing programs.

CMI reported, “Enterprise marketers are more challenged with nearly every aspect of content marketing when compared with B2B marketers overall.”  Enterprise marketers also have to face reputation management challenges that are often more complex and present on a global scale – a unique proposition in today’s 24/7 news and social media cycle.

According to CMI, another challenge is the desire to develop more relevant communication with audiences.  All marketing segments interviewed by CMI reported they want more “engaging” content but in the enterprise, that number rises to 90-percent.  According to CMI, the enterprise creates a myriad of content and “…65% say they are producing more content than they did one year ago.”

In terms of top tactics, today 93% of enterprise respondents report that in-person events and videos were most often used and most effective.  The top work projects for the enterprise include the following:

• Organizing website content
• Developing a better understanding of what content is effective – and what isn’t
• Creating visual content
• Repurposing content
• Measuring content marketing ROI

The CMI study depicted that 49% of enterprise marketers have a dedicated marketing department – and the effectiveness of that organization rises up to 81% if the marketing organization has a documented marketing plan.  While many smaller businesses do not have a dedicated department (maybe a few dedicated team members) – the enterprise usually has the budget and manpower to develop multiple content programs.

So to answer the question – does the enterprise have an advantage when it comes to marketing?  CMI says no as large companies are often more challenged – “because the content marketing process is so much more complex for large enterprises with multiple divisions and product lines.”