Custom Publishing Research for BtoB Shows Increased Spend

- 4/15/08

New Study Reveals Increased Custom Content Spending, but Lull in Brand Marketers' Knowledge of the Custom Industry

▬In participation with BtoB magazine, Junta42 surveyed marketers about their custom content practices, knowledge and spending▬

New York, NY (April 15, 2008)-In anticipation of its official June launch, business-pairing site Junta42, with the help of BtoB magazine, today released a survey of marketers' custom content spending habits, their industry knowledge, and their engagement with a variety of custom media channels. The responses-from 150 marketing decision makers- confirm recently published industry spending trends, but call into question marketers' knowledge of the industry as a whole.

The online survey, which was delivered by BtoB magazine to a targeted segment of their readership during the last week of March, 2008, asked respondents to:

• share the percentage of their marketing budgets that go toward custom products/publishing
• identify an increase or decrease in their companies' spend on custom in 2008;
• select the different custom channels their companies engage with
• rate their awareness of various industry websites and organizations
• indicate whether they would hire a third-party online service to assist them in finding a custom content provider/publisher
• and share their current methods of choosing such providers

The survey results offer telling insight into the relationship between marketers and custom content. Business-to-business marketers are spending 29.4% of their budgets on custom content and custom publishing initiatives-a number that is in sync with the Custom Publishing Council's December 2007 study (conducted in cooperation with Publications Management), which measured 27% for both consumer and business marketing professionals.

Of the 22 types of custom projects in question, a majority of marketers reported producing e-mail newsletters (69%), white papers (50%) and case studies (48%). Other popular formats were internal communications via Intranet (36%) and employee newsletters (29%); custom events & road shows (39%); webcasts/webinars (31%); external newsletters (28%); blogs (28%); microsites & online portals (27%); online videos (22%) and external custom magazines (18%).

Despite this healthy dependence on custom content, marketers tended to fall short in their knowledge of custom publishing industry websites. When participants were asked to rate their familiarity (Not Aware, Slightly Aware, Aware or Very Aware) with industry web portals and associations dedicated to "custom publishing" and "content marketing" [specifically Custom Publishing Council (CPC), Marketing Sherpa, Marketing Profs, Junta42 and Content Marketing Today], four of the five outlets listed received a majority of "Not Aware" responses. (Marketing Sherpa was the only outlet of which participants claimed to be "Very Aware").

"When you consider that the primary objective for producing custom content is the education of current and potential customers, there is a certain irony in the fact that marketers aren't aware of the key educational resources that can help them produce better content for those customers," said Joe Pulizzi, founder of Junta42. "Business marketers continue to invest more in their own content marketing, but knowledge of the industry or the practice doesn't seem to have budged. Clearly there is a need to educate marketers looking to deliver relevant and compelling content to their customer and prospect base."

Although almost 30% of their marketing budgets are going toward the production of custom content, 44% of marketers surveyed said they would not be willing to invest in a third-party online service to find the most qualified content providers/publishers for their custom initiatives. Only 6% would spend over $100 for a possible service.

Marketers are currently finding their content providers via methods such as online searches (30%); asking a colleague/friend (28%) or reading an industry publication (13%). Others are simply using internal resources to produce content in-house (15%), going to their agency of record (11%) or hiring a consultant (3%).

Detailed findings from this study are available here. For more information about the survey and its methodology, or about business pairing site Junta42 Match, please contact Channel V Media at 212.680.0179 or Gretel@channelvmedia.com.

About Junta42:
Junta42 is the leading media site dedicated to everything content marketing and custom publishing. Presented as a business bookmarking vehicle, the site is dedicated to marketing professionals who want to attract customers through valuable and relevant content creation and distribution.  Junta42 also offers Junta42 Vendor Matching Service, the only buyer/seller matching site for the custom publishing & content marketing industry (now valued at over $56 billion). The service is an audited directory of custom publishing providers, and gives marketing, agency and association professionals the ability to match their project-a custom magazine, newsletter, content Web site, video series, etc.-to the exact qualifications of a custom publisher, content agency, writer or other content provider.  Matching services are conducted online, allowing for ease and anonymity. Junta42 is a division of Z Squared Media, LLC.