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As a marketer, you may ponder generative AI’s position within the business and the outlook for advertising jobs.
As a demand-gen marketer or a marketer to entrepreneurs, chances are you’ll mirror on the way you made it by way of a tough yr.
As a author or supervisor of a company weblog, you may evaluate your present operations.
Regardless of your position, chances are you’ll search for methods to strengthen your content material and advertising in 2025.
Get assist to enhance your technique within the coming yr with these curated statistics from CMI’s 2024 analysis and bonus stats from the running a blog survey by Andy Crestodina and Orbit Media Studios.
Content material and advertising employment and profession stats for 2025
CMI’s 2025 Profession Outlook: Content material and Advertising Professionals analysis (registration required) studied employment traits, job satisfaction, salaries, use of generative AI instruments, and coaching/skilled growth.
Outlook for advertising jobs
One in three entrepreneurs (33%) say their firm laid off advertising staff within the final 12 months.
Sixty-eight % say discovering a job in advertising is tougher at this time than it was 5 years in the past, 25% say it’s about the identical, and seven% say it’s much less difficult.
Three-fourths of entrepreneurs record macroeconomic components as a motive for the difficult job search setting, whereas 69% cite heightened competitors. Solely 33% point out that AI is an element.
Wage satisfaction and supplementary freelance earnings
Entrepreneurs imagine they need to earn roughly 20% greater than they at the moment do.
A couple of in 5 full-time entrepreneurs (22%) say they freelance on the facet. On common, they make an extra $8,250 per yr from these gigs.
Job satisfaction and plans for change
Seventy-six % of entrepreneurs say they’re considerably or very happy of their roles.
These with roles on the director stage and above are more than likely to be very happy (79%). Forty % are considerably happy, 10% are impartial, and 12% are both considerably or very dissatisfied.
Even happy entrepreneurs hold their choices open: 35% of all entrepreneurs say they’re pursuing or extremely all for discovering one other job (up 4 proportion factors from the earlier yr and seven proportion factors from two years in the past).
Distant work preferences
Eighty-four % of entrepreneurs work remotely, at the least part-time.
Amongst entrepreneurs who work remotely or in hybrid preparations, 68% say they would depart their present employer if pressured to work within the workplace full-time.
A a lot greater proportion of girls than males (55% vs. 35%) say they’d depart their present employer if pressured to work in an workplace on daily basis.
How content material and advertising practitioners use AI
Right here’s the breakdown of their AI use:Brainstorm new subjects (62%)Summarize content material (53%)Write drafts (44%)Optimize content material (41%)Write electronic mail copy (38%)Create social media posts (34%)Define assignments (32%)Repurpose content material (32%)Proofread (27%)Analyze knowledge/efficiency (12%)Create purchaser personas (10%)Create graphics (9%)Create movies (4%)
Eleven % say they don’t use AI instruments.
Abilities coaching provided and desired
Solely 35.5% say sure, their advertising coaching (inside and exterior) meets their profession wants, whereas 29.7% say no, and 34.8% are uncertain.
But 76% of entrepreneurs say they should grasp specialised or area of interest expertise to stay related within the face of AI.
And 58% of entrepreneurs say their group’s coaching program just isn’t retaining tempo with adjustments in advertising.
Forty-eight % of entrepreneurs pursue skilled coaching outdoors their group.
Profession steering
If you happen to suspect you’re underpaid, begin by researching what others in your place make, as Ann Gynn advises in How To Make the Case for a Increase in Your Content material or Advertising Function.
And don’t low cost the worth of a powerful private model throughout this course of.
We requested Bria Bell, senior advertising strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., for her ideas on how content material professionals and entrepreneurs can greatest place themselves for profession progress:
“A powerful private model generally is a game-changer, whether or not you’re in search of a brand new alternative or negotiating a increase. It’s about positioning your self as an asset, demonstrating your distinctive worth proposition, and constructing credibility.
“By highlighting your worth and contributions, you’ll be able to successfully advocate for the next wage or higher advantages.
“Moreover, enhancing your private model can increase your confidence, empowering you to quiet your interior critic and overcome imposter syndrome, thus permitting you to barter the phrases you imagine you deserve.”
What to do to your staff
As famous, three in 4 entrepreneurs say they should grasp specialised or area of interest expertise to stay related. To maintain your expertise (and hold them pleased and productive), search for alternatives to assist them — both by way of inside or exterior coaching alternatives.
Relating to salaries, U.S. employers, on common, anticipate a 3.9% wage enhance for 2025, about the identical as precise progress in 2024, in keeping with a brand new report from The Convention Board.
If you happen to can’t afford an enough increase, take into consideration what else you are able to do to acknowledge and reward staff. Contemplate choices like further days off, participation in high-profile initiatives, or a change in title.
B2B content material advertising statistics for 2025
CMI’s annual B2B Content material Advertising Benchmarks, Budgets, and Tendencies: Outlook for 2025 analysis delved into the challenges confronted by B2B entrepreneurs and the way the highest performers stand out.
Content material advertising challenges
Solely 29% of entrepreneurs whose organizations have a documented content material technique say it’s extraordinarily or very efficient. One other 58% say it’s reasonably efficient, 12% say it’s not very efficient, and 1% say it’s under no circumstances efficient.
Amongst B2B entrepreneurs who charge their technique as reasonably efficient or worse, 42% attribute that partially to an absence of clear objectives.
Different causes for much less efficient methods embrace:
Not tied to buyer journey (39%)
Not knowledge pushed (35%)
Ineffective viewers analysis (29%)
Different (26%)
Unrealistic expectations (23%)
Emphasizes content material amount over high quality (20%)
Failure to iterate/adapt (18%)
Inconsistent model voice (17%)
Poor content material high quality (10%)
Fifty-four % of B2B entrepreneurs say lack of assets is a problem.
Forty-five % of B2B entrepreneurs lack a scalable mannequin for content material creation. Thirty-five % have one, and 20% are uncertain.
Greater than half of B2B entrepreneurs (55%) say it’s difficult to create content material that prompts a desired motion (e.g., conversions). Different content material creation challenges embrace:Creating content material persistently (42%)Creating the best content material for our viewers (40%)Creating sufficient content material (39%)Creating high quality content material (27%)
Know-how points
When requested what’s lacking from their advertising tech stack, 47% of B2B entrepreneurs say environment friendly lead era and nurturing processes, and 47% say streamlined advertising knowledge administration and reporting. Different lacking capabilities embrace:Capacity to automate repetitive duties and workflows (44%)Easy accessibility to enterprise analytics (41%)
Sturdy alignment between gross sales and advertising (39%)
Eight % say their tech stack isn’t lacking any functionality.
Solely 26% of B2B entrepreneurs say their group has the best expertise to handle content material throughout the group. Thirty-eight % say they’ve the expertise however aren’t utilizing it to its potential. Twenty-seven % say they haven’t acquired the best expertise, and 9% are uncertain.
Metrics and objectives
The 2 challenges cited most frequently for B2B entrepreneurs measuring content material efficiency are attributing ROI to content material efforts (56%) and monitoring buyer journeys (56%).
Eighty-seven % of B2B entrepreneurs say content material advertising created model consciousness within the final 12 months. Among the many different content material advertising achievements:Generated demand/leads (74%)Nurtured subscribers/viewers/leads (62%)Grew loyalty with current shoppers/clients (52%)Generated gross sales/income (49%)Grew a subscribed viewers (37%)
Lowered buyer assist prices (9%)
Prime performer attributes and actions
Twenty-two % of B2B entrepreneurs characterize the success of their content material advertising as extraordinarily or very profitable. These high performers most frequently attributetheir success to understanding their viewers (82%). Different components embrace:
Produce high-quality content material (77%)
Possess business experience (70%)
Have high-performing staff members (69%)
Set objectives that align with their group’s aims (62%)
Measure and display content material efficiency successfully (53%)
Have a documented technique (47%)
The traits among the many most profitable (high performers), the least profitable, and all respondents break down as follows:
Suppose the scale of their content material advertising staff will develop in 2025: most profitable (38%), least (19%), and all (27%)
Say their content material advertising technique is extraordinarily or very efficient: most (74%), least (2%), and all (29%)
Group has generative AI utilization pointers: most (49%), least (29%), all (38%)
AI is built-in into each day processes/workflows: most (31%), least (12%), and all (19%)
Realizing extra environment friendly workflows from AI: most (56%), least (31%), and all (45%)
Seeing improved content material optimization from AI: most (55%), least (31%), and all (42%)
Have the best expertise in place to handle content material throughout the group: most (46%), least (13%), and all (26%)
Have a scalable mannequin for content material creation: most (61%), least (17%), and all (35%)
Content material creation mannequin creates the specified outcomes: most (71%), least (6%), and all (41%)
Agree that the group measures content material efficiency successfully: most (84%), least (15%), and all (51%)
As well as, efficiency stage additionally produces differing outcomes, together with:
Generate demand/leads: most profitable (89%), least (49%), and all (74%)
Nurture subscribers/audiences/leads: most (77%), least (36%), and all (62%)
Develop loyalty with current shoppers/clients: most (66%), least (33%), and all (52%)
Generate gross sales/income: most (66%), least (33%), and all (52%)
B2B entrepreneurs and AI
Most B2B advertising groups (54%) take an advert hoc method to AI (i.e., they’re experimenting however not essentially making use of it broadly). One other 27% report that their groups don’t formally use AI, however particular person employees members could select to make use of it. Solely 19% of B2B entrepreneurs say AI is built-in into their each day processes/workflows.
Solely 4% of B2B entrepreneurs report a excessive stage of belief in generative AI’s outputs. Sixty-seven % say they’ve a medium stage of belief, and 28% say they’ve a low stage of belief. Only one% say they don’t belief AI’s output.
Seventeen % of B2B entrepreneurs charge the standard of the content material generated by AI as glorious or superb. Forty-four % say it’s good, 35% say it’s truthful, and 4% say it’s poor.
Content material varieties, distribution, and social media
Ninety-two % of B2B entrepreneurs use quick articles/posts, 76% use movies, and 75% use case research/buyer tales. B2B entrepreneurs say movies produce the most effective outcomes for his or her content material advertising.
Most B2B entrepreneurs (89%) use natural social media platforms to distribute content material. Eighty-four % use blogs on company web sites, 71% use electronic mail newsletters, and 63% use electronic mail. Fifty-five % use each in-person occasions and webinars, that are the 2 distribution channels that B2B entrepreneurs say produce the most effective outcomes for his or her content material advertising.
Eighty-five % of B2B entrepreneurs say LinkedIn is the social media platform that delivers the most effective worth for his or her group.
Eighty-four % of B2B entrepreneurs use paid channels to distribute content material. Amongst these, 73% use social media promoting/promoted posts, and 64% use search engine advertising (SEM)/pay-per-click (PPC), which entrepreneurs say is the simplest paid channel.
Relating to their evolving use of social media platforms within the final 12 months:
Sixty-eight % of B2B entrepreneurs elevated their use of LinkedIn, 27% stayed the identical, 3% decreased, and a pair of% didn’t use it.
Thirty-one % elevated their use of YouTube, 36% stayed the identical, 10% decreased, and 23% didn’t use it.
Twenty-seven % elevated their use of Instagram, 30% stayed the identical, 11% decreased, and 32% didn’t use it.
Twenty % elevated their use of Fb, 40% stayed the identical, 19% decreased, and 21% didn’t use it.
9 % elevated their use of TikTok, 7% stayed the identical, 4% decreased, and 80% didn’t use it.
Six % elevated their use of X, 27% stayed the identical, 28% decreased, and 39% didn’t use it.
Six % elevated their use of Reddit, 7% stayed the identical, 2% decreased, and 85% didn’t use it.
Content material advertising budgets and funding for 2025
Forty-six % of B2B entrepreneurs suppose their content material advertising price range will enhance in 2025. Forty-one % count on it to remain the identical, 8% suppose it should lower, and 5% are uncertain.
Most B2B entrepreneurs (61%) count on their organizations’ funding in video to extend in 2025. Fifty-two % count on funding to extend in thought management content material. Different areas of anticipated price range boosts embrace:
AI for content material optimization/efficiency (40%)
Paid promoting (40%)
AI for content material creation (39%)
In-person occasions (35%)
Webinars (32%)
Constructing on-line neighborhood (27%)
Digital occasions (21%)
Audio content material (20%)
The way to apply these stats to your content material technique
If, like many different B2B entrepreneurs, you are feeling meh about your content material technique, mirror on the previous yr, establish the issue areas, and plan for adjustments to make in 2025.
Right here’s some recommendation from Robert Rose, CMI’s chief technique advisor:
Get your content material home so as. Sort out the tough work of making cross-team governance, workflows, and requirements.
Relating to AI, come collectively to collaborate and commit to some structured actions. An advert hoc method gained’t get you far.
Cease doing actions that don’t contribute to focused outcomes and stop measuring what doesn’t align with total aims.
Demand era statistics for 2025
CMI’s Content material Advertising for Demand Era analysis explores the each day points confronted by demand era entrepreneurs. Fifty-seven % thought AI was the demand-generation development/growth that might have the largest affect on their technique in 2024.
Stress to realize outcomes
Over half of demand-gen entrepreneurs (56%) say they felt strain to an amazing extent to realize outcomes regardless of restricted budgets and assets. One other 39% felt that strain to some extent, and solely 5% felt no strain.
Nearly one in 4 (24%) say their group’s demand-generation methods are extraordinarily or very profitable. One other 63% charge their packages as reasonably profitable. Ten % say their methods should not very profitable, and three% say they don’t seem to be in any respect profitable.
Capacity to create focused content material
Forty-seven % charge their organizations’ capability to create focused content material as glorious or superb. Greater than half (53%) charge their capability as common, truthful, or poor.
Funds allocation
One in 5 demand-gen entrepreneurs spend greater than half of their price range on demand era; one other 21% say it consumes greater than a 3rd of their price range. E mail, in-person occasions, and video have been the highest three areas the place they deliberate to extend spending in 2024.
Challenges confronted
Funds constraints are a problem for 62% of demand-gen entrepreneurs. Fifty % or extra cite lack of inside assets (58%) and content material points (50%). Different challenges embrace:
Viewers segmentation (44%)
Personalization (35%)
Researching audiences to grasp them higher (31%)
Figuring out audiences (24%)
Creating purchaser personas (20%)
Competitors (18%)
Lack of govt assist (17%)
The way to use these findings
If you happen to really feel pressured in your demand-generation efforts, face price range and useful resource points, and fear it’s worthwhile to use AI to do extra with much less, you aren’t alone. It’s been a difficult yr for entrepreneurs. CMI’s Robert Rose says, “Entrepreneurs who spend their efforts on the earliest elements of the shopper journey have arguably had it the worst.”
Keep the course in relation to creating focused content material. Know that AI can not exchange good concepts, a sensible content material technique, and a strong measurement course of.
Advertising to entrepreneurs analysis
In CMI’s first Advertising to Entrepreneurs examine, we requested entrepreneurs in regards to the content material they worth, how they study options, and why they select the options they work with.
Fifty-five % of entrepreneurs choose to eat work-related content material by studying on-line. Twenty-six % go for movies, 11% choose listening, and eight% select print.
The highest 5 content material varieties utilized by entrepreneurs researching instruments, applied sciences, or providers embrace:
Forty-five % of entrepreneurs choose to debate options on a video name. Twenty-seven % need a text-based electronic mail, 7% select a telephone name, and 4% go for an in-person assembly. Seventeen % say they like no contact, perusing the seller’s digital content material on their very own.
Half of entrepreneurs (51%) attend one or two in-person occasions per yr (both marketing-focused or particular to their business).
Nearly all entrepreneurs (98%) attend digital webinars.
Eighty-four % of entrepreneurs who attend webinars say a very powerful factor they need is related and actionable content material. Seventy-three % say content material that addresses present challenges and traits is vital; 55% need on-demand entry to recordings; 53% search professional audio system with hands-on expertise; 8% are in search of interactivity and engagement; and eight% say a user-friendly platform is vital.
Ninety-four % of entrepreneurs say an organization that makes in depth thought management content material accessible raises their notion of the model as a worthwhile info useful resource.
Seventy-three % of entrepreneurs say that their request for the content material is the first issue that prompts them to open an electronic mail. The second most compelling issue is a related topic line (62%).
The way to use the findings
If you happen to market to entrepreneurs, present prescriptive, particular recommendation. Creating worth requires a standpoint and actionable content material.
Entrepreneurs aren’t all that completely different from different enterprise patrons. Sure, the bar could also be greater as a result of entrepreneurs know a pitch once they see one. Give them content material that may encourage, educate, and have interaction. In any other case, you’ll discover your prospects avoiding gross sales conversations altogether.
Running a blog in 2024
Andy Crestodina, co-founder and chief advertising officer of Orbit Media Studios, printed the eleventh Annual Blogger Survey in 2024. I’m together with these findings as a result of a lot of you might be bloggers or concerned with blogs and the findings are illuminating. Among the many highlights:
The common weblog publish is round 1,400 phrases and takes three hours and 48 minutes.
Solely 20% of bloggers report robust outcomes, down from 30% 5 years in the past.
Those that spend greater than six hours on every article are more likely to report robust outcomes.
Bloggers who publish extra typically usually tend to report robust outcomes. The info means that publishing content material biweekly is the minimal for content material efficiency.
Fifty-three % say it’s gotten more durable to draw guests from search engines like google.
Seventy-four % of bloggers create how-to articles. Different constructions embrace lists (50%), guides and e-books (46%), information and traits (45%), opinion (43%), unique analysis (43%), interviews (34%), webinars (26%), infographics (22%), and roundups (22%). The best codecs, in keeping with bloggers who produce robust outcomes, are roundups, infographics, and unique analysis.
We requested Andy for some steering on get higher outcomes out of your publishing in 2025. Right here’s what he suggests:
“Your content material doesn’t simply compete with rivals’ content material. It competes for consideration with the social streams themselves,” he says. “So, the extra your content material seems like a social stream, the extra doubtless you might be to maintain your customer engaged.
“What does this imply? Fill your content material with visuals. Embody plenty of contributor quotes. Embed just a few movies. Make it lengthy and detailed. Inject just a few robust opinions. That’s what the social platforms do. That’s why they’re so compelling.”
The way to use these stats
Use these findings to benchmark your running a blog technique towards your friends. Inquiries to ask embrace:
Are we spending the correct amount of time writing weblog posts?
Are our weblog posts the best size?
Are we writing an excellent variety of phrases in every publish?
Are we publishing typically sufficient?
Has it turn out to be more durable for us to drive visitors to our weblog by way of search? In that case, how will we adapt?
Are we publishing efficient content material codecs?
Map out your technique for a profitable 2025
Stats are simply figures, however they will help you inform the tales to make the case for the assets you want for a profitable yr. Use them to information your considering as you propose for 2025.
Lastly, CMI want to thank all of the entrepreneurs who participated in our 2024 surveys. Your enter helps advance the follow of content material advertising, and we’re grateful.
Up to date from a November 2023 article.
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Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising Institute