When it comes to developing marketing content for the B2B market, targeting by experience level matters.
This is the conclusion of a survey of 700 global business executives by The Economist Group, which found that B2B prospects from Generation Next (up to 10 years business experience) have very different preferences and motivators than Business Veterans (more than 10 years business experience). In fact, when it comes to marketing content and channel preferences, there can be up to 35 percentage points difference.
Among the differences between the two?
Generation Next | Business Veterans | |
Are turned off by content with feels like a sales pitch | 46% | 69% |
Prefer content in the form of articles | 69% | 91% |
Find research reports helpful | 30% | 65% |
Find white papers helpful | 12% | 37% |
Favor video content | 21% | 12% |
Prefer other multimedia such as infographics | 12% | 24% |
Spend at least four hours per week perusing business content | 31% | 57% |
Source: The Economist Group
In other differences, 41% of business veterans think company reputation holds more weight than colleague recommendations (10%). Meanwhile, only 28% of Generation Nexters think company reputation holds more weight than colleague recommendations (27%).
People are people, whether they are in a business context or a home and family context. When crafting your next B2B campaign, remember that targeting your content by experience demographic matters as much as market vertical, job position, or other traditional demographics.
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Linemark is a privately-owned and operated printing communications company headquartered within close proximity of the Washington DC / Baltimore Metro areas (Upper Marlboro, MD). Linemark is one of the fastest growing companies in the region within the communications industry. Operating 24 hours a day from a 90,000sq ft facility, the intensely customer focused company delivers solid and innovative solutions to their client base of associations, corporations and non-profit organizations.