The newly released 11th Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report features how content marketers in North America have been adapting to conditions that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced on businesses and marketers.

Fully 94% of content marketers reported that their organizations have adjusted their content marketing strategy because of the pandemic.

Asked to look back over the last 12 months as a whole, 31% of content marketers said their organization had been "extremely" or "very" successful with content marketing, and 83% of them attributed that success to the "value our content provides."

Again produced by MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute, and this year sponsored by ON24, the annual report again offers insights into B2B content marketing benchmarks, budgets, and trends.

As in previous years, the study finds that having a documented content marketing strategy sets apart top performers from their peers:

The following are some highlights of the study's pandemic-related findings:

• 86% of respondent content marketers said their organization pivoted quickly, and 80% said they thought the changes were effective.
• 86% expected some of the changes to stay in effect for the foreseeable future.
• Of the 79% who have a content marketing strategy, 70% made major or moderate adjustments to their strategy because of the pandemic.
• 70% changed their targeting/messaging strategy, 64% adjusted their editorial calendars, and 53% changed their content distribution and promotion strategy.
• Among the top five areas of content marketing that respondent said their companies would invest in during 2021, 70% selected "content creation" and 66% selected "website enhancements."

Below are selected charts displaying findings from the various chapters of the current year's B2B content marketing report.

Pandemic Response & Content Marketing Success

Content Marketing Team Structure & Outsourcing

Content Creation & Distribution

Content types used:

Organic content distribution channels:

Content Marketing Metrics & Goals

Content Marketing Budgets & Spending

Content Marketing Insights for 2021

Full Report:

About the study: The online survey from which the results of this report were generated was emailed to a sample of marketers using lists from CMI and MarketingProfs. A total of 1,707 recipients from around the globe—representing a full range of industries, functional areas, and company sizes—replied to the survey during July 2020. This report presents the findings from 740 respondents based in North America.