Digital Marketing Must Reads Of September

These are the digital marketing reports and surveys released in September that you can't afford to miss. 

1. 2017 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America Report By Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs & Sponsored By Brightcove    

 Key Takeaways : 

• 85% of B2B marketers attributed their organization's increase in content marketing success rate to creating high quality content & 72% gave the credit to adjusting their content strategy.

• 37% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy; 41% have a content marketing strategy but it's not documented.  Check the report here 

2. Do Social Signals Influence SEO? A 2016 Study on 23 Million Shares

Key Takeaways : 

• Higher rankings are correlated with Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn & Pinterest high shares altogether.
• More shares on Facebook is associated with higher rankings. 

• Content between 1 – 50 words is correlated with high Facebook activity and 1st ranks. Check the report here

3. State of Inbound 2016: Hubspot 

Key Takeaways :

• When it comes to inbound marketing projects, SEO & blog creation are the top priorities of marketers.
• Generating traffic & leads + proving the ROI are top challenges that marketers face.
• Social selling is a priority for more salespeople in 2016 than ever before. Check the report here

Key Takeaways :

• 6 out of 10 marketers plan out content pieces throughout the year.
• 2 out of 5 B2B marketers do not target their content to the buyer’s journey or their buyer personas.
• Top 3 content types produced are - blogs, videos & whitepapers. Check the report here

5. B2C Content Marketing: What Content Marketers are Doing Now (And What They Should Do Tomorrow)

Key Takeaways : 

• 4 out of 10 B2C marketers don't have an editorial calendar. 
• 45% of B2C marketers don’t tailor their content to a specific buyer persona or stage of the customer journey.
• 22% of B2C marketers rate themselves poorly in mobile optimization. 
• B2C brands are more likely to use blogs and videos to get the attention of their customers. Check the report here

6. Four Steps To Finding The Right Agency : Gartner For Marketers 

Key Challenges

1) Marketers often rush into the agency selection process before €rst ensuring internal alignment

on short- and long-term needs and what the right partner will look like.

2) Poorly written agency selection documentation, including requests for information (RFIs) and

requests for proposal (RFPs), provides limited insight into business objectives and challenges

while heavily prescribing desired solutions.

3) Marketers underestimate the time investment that's required in agency selection, and hamper

their search by limiting access and collaboration with executives and potential partners.