IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

Benchmark Study Report

February 2017
 Table of Contents
Introduction 3

Executive Summary 5

Content and the Buying Journey 7

Content Fragmentation 11

Content and the Sales Team 16

Content Personalization & Distribution 23

Analyst Bottom Line 27
Acknowledgements 30

Appendix: Survey Background 32

Introduction
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Introduction 4

The creation and dissemination of content At each of these touchpoints, customers

is at the heart of the modern marketing encounter content, but for four out of ten
organization’s work. Any digital marketing organizations, that content is fragmented.
endeavor is fueled by content, and prospects
Part of the reason for this fragmentation is
who embark on a buying journey are most
that over half the time, marketing is slow in
likely to first encounter a selling company
responding to sales team requests for content,
through its content.
so sales team members resort to improvising
For content to have the greatest impact, it must their own content.
consistently convey the brand and its core
Still, two-thirds of the organizations in this
messages reliably. To discover the impact of
study report that they lose deals because they
content consistency, Demand Metric partnered
don’t have the content they need.
with MarcomCentral to assess the state of
content consistency and discover how incon- This report summarizes the results of a survey
sistent – fragmented – content impacts the sale used to collect the study’s data, sharing the
team and revenue. key findings and insights that came from the
data analysis.
This research found that the typical customer
journey has an average of just over 5 touch
points, with 20 percent of study participants
reporting seven or more touches.
Executive Summary
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Executive Summary 6

Almost 80 percent of this study’s participants There is almost an even split between content that meets needs well and neutral to very
were from primarily B2B or mixed B2B/B2C poorly in buying journey stages.
organizations, with over 70 percent reporting
The section of the sales/marketing funnel that suffers the most from a lack of quality content
revenue growth during the past fiscal year.
is the middle section, where consideration occurs.
The respondents come from a diverse set of
industries, with the largest segment coming The number of “touchpoints” – encounters that prospects have with marketing and sales
from the manufacturing sector. content during their buying journeys – averages between five and six. One in five firms in
this study report seven or more touchpoints on their customers’ buying journeys.
Just over 25 percent of the study participants
come from companies with less than $10 million Almost 90 percent of study participants report that their sales and marketing content
in annual revenue, while one-fourth are with firms measurably influences revenue.
reporting revenues of $500 million or more.
Content fragmentation – a lack of consistency in expressing branding and key messages
The analysis of this study’s data provides – is a reality for almost one-fourth of study participants. Content’s impact on revenue is
these key findings: diminished when it is fragmented.

When content is fragmented, only 15 percent of study participants say it meets buyer needs
well during the customer journey.
This report details the
results and insights Two-thirds of all study participants lose sales when needed content isn’t available.
from the analysis of
Over one-fourth of the sales team in this study often or always create content without
the study data.
waiting for marketing to do it, unknowingly contributing to content fragmentation in the
For more detail
process.
on the survey
participants, On average, study participants are personalizing about one-fourth of their sales and
please refer to the marketing content. Those that are personalizing content find it does a much better job of
supporting customers on their buying journeys.
Appendix.
Content and the
Buying Journey
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Buying Journey 8

No one doubts the importance of content and FIGURE 1

the influence it has in creating a desirable MORE THAN HALF RATE CONTENT EFFECTIVENESS AT “NEUTRAL” OR LOWER.
customer experience: almost 90 percent of
this study’s participants affirmed that their How Well Content Meets Needs in Buying Journey Stages
sales and marketing content is important or
very important in this role. The firms repre-
sented in the study rated how well their sales
and marketing content addresses the needs
of their prospects and customers along each
stage of the buying journey, and Figure 1
shows the result.

90 %
of this study’s
Sales and marketing content plays a role in all
stages of the buying journey and all sections
of the marketing/sales funnel. It is rare for
TABLE 1
THE MID-SECTION OF THE FUNNEL
SUFFERS MOST FROM POOR QUALITY
participants affirmed an organization to have enough high-quality CONTENT.
that their sales and content mapped to each journey stage or
marketing content funnel section. There is often a “problem” TOP MID BOTTOM
is important or very stage or section. Table 1 shows which funnel Funnel section
important in this role. section suffered most from lack of quality suffering most
from poor
34% 40% 26%
content. quality content
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Buying Journey 9

Prospects and customers encounter solution FIGURE 2

providers across a variety of these touchpoints, OVER THREE-FOURTHS OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS REPORT FOUR
most of them digital in nature, and each touch- OR MORE TOUCHPOINTS ON THE TYPICAL BUYING JOURNEY.
point can represent not just one but many
content assets. Touchpoints on a Typical Customer Buying Journey
Figure 2 shows the data collected from
study participants about how many touch-
points exists during a typical customer buying
journey.

The average number of touchpoints reported

by participants in this study falls between the
“Moderate” and “Many” response ranges, or
about five to six touchpoints.

Not surprisingly, as the number of touch-

points increases, so does the importance
attached to content for creating the desired
customer experience during the buying
journey.

More than of this study’s participants fall between the

50% “Moderate” and “Many” response ranges, or

about to five to six touchpoints.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Buying Journey 10

This study asked participants to rate, using FIGURE 3

a scale, just how important the content that ALMOST 90 PERCENT OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS REPORT THAT
they create, publish and curate is to gener- CONTENT MEASURABLY INFLUENCES REVENUE.
ating revenue.

Figure 3 shows this relationship.

Importance of Content to Revenue Generation
Study participants were provided with
descriptions for the points on the rating scale
shown in Figure 3:

Very unimportant: revenue does not

depend on our content
Unimportant: content slightly
influences revenue
Neutral
Important: content measurably influ-
ences revenue The data shown in Figure 3 confirms what
Very important: revenue generation many marketers understand: content plays
depends heavily on content a critical role in the revenue cycle for most
organizations. The importance of this role
is all the more reason to understand what
impairs this role. The next section of the
report will examine one of those reasons:
content fragmentation.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Introduction 11

Content Fragmentation
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Fragmentation 12

Content consistency is best understood FIGURE 4

on a spectrum from fragmented to consis- ALMOST ONE-FOURTH OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS SAY THEIR CONTENT IS FRAGMENTED.
tent. Sales and marketing content is frag-
mented when it is branded poorly, lacks key Content Fragmentation Assessment
messages or expresses them incompletely, is
incompatible with other content assets or all
of the preceding.

Figure 4 shares the outcome of the query

used to measure content consistency.

Fragmented content inhibits to some

degree the generation of revenue. A correla- FIGURE 5
tion exists between the role/importance of CONTENT’S IMPORTANCE TO REVENUE GENERATION IS DIMINISHED WHEN IT IS FRAGMENTED.
content in generating revenue, as Figure
3 shows, and the degree of fragmentation Content Fragmentation and Importance to Revenue Generation
shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 displays this
relationship.

When the content encountered during a

buying journey is fragmented, its ability to
impact revenue generation is diminished by
11 percent.

This difference is the result of summing the

“Important” and “Very important” responses
for each segment in Figure 5.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Fragmentation 13

A difference of 11 percent may not seem FIGURE 6

substantial, but consider it this way: is any WHEN CONTENT IS FRAGMENTED, ONLY 15 PERCENT OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS
organization willing to leave 11 percent of the SAY IT MEETS BUYERS’ NEEDS WELL DURING THEIR JOURNEYS.
revenue it could gain on the table because its
content consistency is poor? Most organiza-
Content Fragmentation and Meeting Buyer Journey Stage Needs
tions would say “no” and opt to fix the content
fragmentation problem in order to gain the
revenue. This 11 percent delta is essentially
a content inconsistency tax that organiza-
tions levy on themselves when they tolerate
the presence of fragmented content in the
buying journey.

The impact of fragmented content is more

pronounced when looking at it through the
lens of how well content meets buyer needs
in each stage of the journey. Figure 6 shows
this relationship.

An astonishing 85 percent of study partic-

ipants with fragmented content assess the
effectiveness of their content at meeting

85
of this study’s participants with fragmented
buyer needs in each stage of their journey
as “Very poor” to “Neutral.” For those with % content assess the effectiveness of their
consistent content, over 60 percent say content at meeting buyer needs in each stage
content meets buyer needs “Well” or “Very of their journey as “Very poor” or “Neutral”.
well” – a dramatic difference.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Fragmentation 14

Figures 5 and 6 show that there is a real cost FIGURE 7

to exposing prospects and customers to frag- WHY CONTENT IS FRAGMENTED.
mented, inconsistent content. However, no
marketing organization intentionally plans Reasons for Content Fragmentation
to allow fragmented, poor quality content to
reach customers and prospects. Study partic-
ipants share in Figure 7 the reasons why they
have fragmented content.

Study participants are plagued with a

series of fragmentation causes. The top
five issues listed in Figure 7 provide the
recipe for content fragmentation: lack of
data, resources, a process, standards and
collaboration between the content creators
(marketing) and users (sales). Each of these
issues were cited by one-third or more of the
participants.

THE TOP issues provide the recipe for content

5
fragmentation: lack of data, resources, a process,
standards and collaboration between the content
creators (marketing) and users (sales).
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Fragmentation 15

Some of the “Other reasons” listed by study

participants include:

“Need to integrate planning among

channels: social, PR, magazine, offline
all have fragmented content planning
processes.”
“Decision-makers are not aware of
the power generated through the use,
maintenance and training involved to
create a successful visual display.”
“Franchise system with fragmented
quality at local level.”
“Recent brand change and customers
still don’t recognize new name.”

Fragmented, inconsistent content impairs

revenue generation and impacts customers
negatively on their buying journeys. Sales
team members are also affected, as the next
section of this report will discuss.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Introduction 16

Content and the Sales Team

The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 17

The sales team often expresses the need for FIGURE 8

content assets, and sales is also the channel PRODUCT FLYERS/SPECIFICATION ARE ASKED FOR BY ALMOST
through which many of these assets are deliv- THREE-FOURTHS OF THE SALES TEAMS IN THIS SURVEY.
ered to customers. This study took an inven-
tory of the types of content assets the sales Content Assets Most Requested by the Sales Team
team asks for most often, and the results are
shown in Figure 8.

A number of other content assets were listed

by participants in the write-in area of the
survey and include:

Advertisements
Training material
Direct mail pieces
Email messaging
Catalogs
Web content
Marketing folders
Product photography
Bid submission support
Podcasts
Display banners
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 18

Figure 9 shows the relative frequency with FIGURE 9

which the sales team asks for new or modi- NO SALES TEAM IN THIS STUDY NEVER ASKS FOR NEW OR MODIFIED CONTENT.
fied content.
How Often the Sales Team Asks for New/Modified Content?
A common friction point between sales and
marketing teams is the agility with which
marketing is able to respond to requests for
new or modified content.

Figure 10 shows what the study revealed

about marketing response time to such
requests.
FIGURE 10
The study data showed a strong correla-
OVER 80 PERCENT OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS REPORT THAT THE
tion between the agility depicted in Figure
CONTENT PROCESS MEETS RESPONSE TIME EXPECTATIONS.
10 and two other study variables: how well
content addresses the stages of the buying
journey (Figure 1) and content fragmentation Agility in Responding to Requests for New/Modified Content
(Figure 6).

$
?
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 19

As Table 2 shows, when responsiveness is TABLE 2

better, so too are these related variables. AGILITY IN RESPONDING TO REQUESTS FOR NEW OR MODIFIED CONTENT PREDICTS
HOW WELL IT MEETS NEEDS IN BUYING STAGES, AND HOW CONSISTENT IT IS.
The differences between lack of agility and
agility in responding to requests for new or
modified content as Table 2 shows is curious. AGILITY = VERY AGILITY = AGILE
SLOW & SLOW & VERY AGILE
On the surface, nothing about responsive- % sales & marketing content addresses needs in each
ness to content requests should impact stage of buying journey well or very well:
19% 64%
how well content meets needs or how
% sales & marketing content is
consistent it is. consistent or very consistent:
37% 77%

But the correlation in the data is very strong,

and an explanation is easy to come by. When
the content process is responsive, it’s a
A goal of this study was to understand what
reflection of how important content is to
happens when the sales team doesn’t have the
sales success.
content it needs. Study participants assessed
Agility is the result of content being a priority, this impact using the following scale:
and a result of agility in this study is content
No impact
that meets needs of prospects well as they
Slight impact: sales are delayed, but
move through stages of the buying journey,
not lost.
and content that consistently conveys brand
image, messages and promises. Moderate impact: a few sales are lost.
Major impact: key sales are lost.
Not sure / don’t know
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 20

Figure 11 shows the outcome the study FIGURE 11

measured when the sales team doesn’t have TWO-THIRDS OF ALL STUDY PARTICIPANTS LOSE SALES WHEN NEEDED
the content it needs. The negative impact of CONTENT ISN’T AVAILABLE.
not having needed content is pronounced,
with two-thirds of all study participants indi- Impact of Sales Team not Having Needed Content
cating they lose sales as a result.

The data in Figure 11 is segmented into

sales and marketing roles, and viewed
this way an alignment issue emerges: 45
percent of those in a sales role report a
major impact, while just 23 percent of those
is a marketing role do.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 21

When the sales team doesn’t have the FIGURE 12

content it needs, it is unlikely to simply do OVER ONE-FOURTH OF THE SALES TEAM IN THIS STUDY OFTEN OR ALWAYS
without. Sales representatives will impro- CREATE CONTENT WITHOUT WAITING FOR MARKETING TO DO IT.
vise their own materials to fi ll a content void.
Figure 12 displays the relative frequency with How Often Sales Creates its Own Content
which the sales teams do this.

The data in Figure 12 is related to the agility

(Figure 10) with which new or modifi ed content
is produced. Table 3 shows this relationship.

The lack of agility in the creation of new or

modifi e d content causes the rate at which
the sales team creates its own content to
almost double. This increases the level of
fragmented content, because the sales team
doesn’t always share the sensitivity of the
TABLE 3
marketing team for rendering the brand and
MORE AGILE CONTENT CREATION PROCESSES RESULT IN LESS SALES-CREATED CONTENT.
the key messages associated with the brand
consistently.

Figure 6 shows that fragmented content is AGILITY = VERY AGILITY = AGILE

far less likely to meet the informational needs SLOW & SLOW & VERY AGILE
buyers on each stage of their journey.
% sales creates its own content often or always: 40% 21%
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 22

There is no intent to harm the brand when the FIGURE 13

sales team improvises its own content; it is FASTER UPDATES OF THE CONTENT REPOSITORY WITH NEW/MODIFIED CONTENT
simply trying to meet a need. But the unin- HELPS CUT DOWN ON THE AMOUNT OF SALES-IMPROVISED CONTENT.
tended consequence of improvised content
is fragmentation.
Sales Created Content and Update Frequency
Another factor that can cause sales team
members to “go rogue” and create their own Updates sporadic - within a month Updates within a week or faster
content is the length of time it takes for new or
I don’t know
modified content to make its way through the
1%
internal bureaucracy and update or become
available on the “official” content repository.
Figure 13 shows the impact on improvised
sales content of long and short lead times for 7% 26% 30% 28% 8%
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
updating the content repository.

When new or modified content takes a

long time to update the sanctioned content I don’t know
repository, over one-third of sales teams 1%
often or always create content on their own.
However, when updates are timely – within a
week or faster – almost half of sales teams do
13% 35% 29% 19% 3%
not improvise their own content. Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team 23

Content Personalization
& Distribution
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Personalization & Distribution 24

Marketers have discovered the value of FIGURE 14

personalizing content, and in this study, it is VERY FEW STUDY PARTICIPANTS ARE NOT PERSONALIZING CONTENT TO SOME LEVEL.
estimated that on average participants are
personalizing just over one-fourth of their
How Much Sales/Marketing Content is Personalized
marketing and sales content. Figure 14
summarizes personalization efforts that study
participants report.

Well over one-fourth of the participants that

indicate they are personalizing content are
using a completely manual process to do so,
while just four percent are using a completely
automated process.

Personalized content works better. Figure 15 FIGURE 15

shows how content supports customers on
PERSONALIZED CONTENT DOES A MUCH BETTER JOB OF SUPPORTING CUSTOMERS
their buying journeys in two segments: when
ON THEIR BUYING JOURNEYS.
there is little to no personalization and when
much or most content is personalized. Personalization & Content Effectiveness
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Personalization & Distribution 25

Personalized content has an effect on content FIGURE 16

fragmentation. PERSONALIZED CONTENT IS FAR MORE LIKELY TO ALSO BE CONSISTENT.

The more personalization an organization

employs, the more consistently that content Personalization & Content Fragmentation
conveys brand image, messages and prom-
ises, as Figure 16 shows.

Half of the content that has none to little

personalization is rated fragmented to neutral.

Conversely, almost three-fourths of the

content is rated “consistent” when it also
enjoys a high-degree of personalization.

Not only does personalized content engage

prospects better, but it is also a catalyst for
consistency.

3/4
of the content is rated “consistent” when it also enjoys
a high-degree of personalization
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content Personalization & Distribution 26

The way that content is distributed to the sales FIGURE 17

team may seem like an afterthought, but the DIGITAL REPOSITORIES OR PORTALS ARE THE PRIMARY MEANS OF CONTENT
distribution mechanisms themselves can DISTRIBUTION TO THE SALES TEAM.
help or hinder content to fulfill its ultimate
purpose. Primary Way Content is Distributed to the Sales Team
Figure 17 shows how study participants
distribute content to the sales team.

When the sales team creates none or little

content on its own, distribution via attach-
ments to group email sends becomes the
primary way of distribution, with 44 percent
of participants opting for this method.

44 % of study’s participants use group emails as the

primary way of distribution when the sales team
creates none or little content on its own.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content
Introduction
and the Sales Team 27

Analyst Bottom Line

The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Analyst Bottom Line 28

This study has assessed the current state of This study identifies some ways to eliminate content fragmentation and ensure that sales and
content fragmentation and estimated the marketing content has the greatest possible impact on revenue:
impact that inconsistent content has on the
buying journey. Almost everyone who partici- 1 Eliminate fragmentation. The recipe to eliminate fragmentation has five key ingredients:
pated in this study agrees that content measur-
ably influences revenue, yet more than half Data: identify and track Standards: govern the
rated their content effectiveness at “Neutral” metrics that reveal how content development
or lower. Two factors this study examined that each content asset performs process with standards that
impair revenue generation are fragmentation in terms of engagement and describe how the brand and
and a simple lack of content. revenue influence. key brand messages are
expressed.
Content fragmentation occurs when sales Resources: commit
and marketing content is branded poorly, adequate resources to the Collaboration: ensure that
lacks key messages or expresses them development of new and sales team and customer
incompletely. When content is fragmented, maintenance of existing input heavily influences
only 15 percent of study participants say that content assets. the content development
content meets buyers’ needs well during process.
Process: have a process
their journeys.
and set of tools defined that
Two-thirds of all study participants report makes it easy to reliably
that they lose sales when needed content produce quality, consistent
isn’t available. In response to lack of needed content for all stages of the
content, over one-fourth of the sales team customer buying journey.
often or always create content without waiting
for marketing to do it. In the course of doing
so, they often contribute to the content frag-
mentation problem.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Analyst Bottom Line 29

2 Agility. Specific to the content development process, this study has shown that having
a responsive process is critical to developing content that is consistent and meets buyer
needs in every stage of the journey. Consider implementing a service level agreement
that spells out what kind of responsiveness the sales team can expect on its requests for
new or modified content.

3 Personalization. Content that is personalized does a much better job of meeting

the needs of buyers during their journeys. The content development process should
exploit the organization’s data and use tools that facilitate produce more personal-
ized content. A further benefit is that when content is personalized, it is also less
fragmented.

4 Distribution. The content development process can work beautifully until the final step,
where distribution to the sales team occurs. The most popular approach is to use an
online portal or document repository to make content assets available to the sales team,
and this is highly recommended. Streamlining the distribution of content is one way to
reduce content fragmentation and minimize the need of the sales team to improvise its
own content.

Content plays a crucial role in the revenue cycle for most organizations. The purpose of content
is always to convey expertise, create confidence and help the consumer of that content proceed
smoothly along to the next stage in the buying journey. This study confirms that fragmented
content impairs the revenue cycle, while consistent content enhances it. For this reason,
organizations that use sales and marketing content are smart to care deeply about how consis-
tently their content expresses their brand, key messages and promises.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content
Introduction
and the Sales Team 30

Acknowledgements
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Acknowledgements 31

Demand Metric is grateful to MarcomCentral for sponsoring this research, and for those who took the time to complete the study survey.

About Demand Metric About MarcomCentral

Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory MarcomCentral, formerly PTI Marketing Technologies®,
firm serving a membership community of over 90,000 is a leading provider of cloud-based Marketing Asset
marketing professionals and consultants in 75 countries. Management and Variable Data Publishing. MarcomCen-
tral encompasses three core products, MarcomCentral
Offering consulting methodologies, advisory services, and
Enterprise Edition for corporate marketing organiza-
500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand
tions, MarcomCentral Web to Print Edition for service
Metric resources and expertise help the marketing
providers and FusionPro VDP for businesses requiring
community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer
personalization software. MarcomCentral manages and
the difficult questions about their work with authority and
customizes marketing material across entire organiza-
conviction and complete marketing projects more quickly
tions enabling brand control and asset distribution with
and with greater confidence, boosting the respect of the
anytime, anywhere access. Fortune 100 companies
marketing team and making it easier to justify resources
count on MarcomCentral’s powerful platform to scale
the team needs to succeed.
their marketing asset development and build their brands
To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: worldwide. To learn more about MarcomCentral, please
www.demandmetric.com. visit www.marcom.com.
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Content and the Sales Team

Appendix: Survey Background

The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Appendix: Survey Background 33

This 2017 Content Consistency Benchmark

Study survey was administered online during Type of organization:
the period of January 18th through February Primarily B2B 47 percent
12th, 2017. Primarily B2C 22 percent
During this period, 328 responses were Mixed B2B/B2C 31 percent
collected, 250 of which were complete. Primary role of respondent
Many of the partial responses were complete
President, CEO or owner 7 percent
enough to use in the analysis.
Marketing 68 percent
Only valid or correlated findings are shared Sales 8 percent
in this report. Finance/accounting 3 percent
Other 14 percent
The representativeness of this study’s results
depends on the similarity of the sample to Annual sales:
environments in which this survey data is Less than $10 million 26 percent
used for comparison or guidance. $10 to $24 million 16 percent
$25 to $99 million 15 percent
Summarized to the right is the basic catego-
$100 to $499 million 18 percent
rization data collected about respondents to
$500 to $999 million 7 percent
enable filtering and analysis of the data:
$1 billion or more 18 percent

Revenue growth environment in most recent fiscal year:

Significant increase 17 percent
Slight increase 54 percent
Flat 18 percent
Slight decline 9 percent
Significant decline 2 percent
The State and Impact of Content Consistency | Introduction 34

© 2017 Demand Metric Research Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

www.demandmetric.com

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