Survey: CXOs Value Long-Form Marketing Content for Insight

Despite the wide variety of marketing content, C-suite executives and decision makers still have strong preferences toward long-form pieces, according to new research.

The “Thought Leadership in Action: Strategic Content to Help CXOs Learn and Lead” report from Forbes Insights and Deloitte recently surveyed almost 300 CXOs to find out more about where they gain business insights. Nearly a quarter (22 percent) said that their preferred format for business insights is feature-length articles and reports.

This was followed by business books (21 percent), interactive data visualization tools (18 percent) and live presentations (13 percent).

“Learning takes a lot of time, which is why CXOs need business insights that are comprehensive, relevant and clear,” explain the authors of the report.

Executives appear to value data-driven content as well, but some of them remain skeptical. While 71 percent believe that traditional surveys are a valuable source of business insight, 62 percent think that insight from big data is not always worthy.

Providing Accurate Marketing Content to Buyers

B2B marketers have been working to maintain the accuracy of data and analytics as they collect more information than ever before. According to the “B2B Lead Generation Survey” conducted by Chief Marketer, the main challenge has been quality and standardization (72 percent). Incomplete data (60 percent) and information residing in separate silos (53 percent) have also been large challenges for B2B marketers.

Only 25 percent of marketers perform data hygiene practices quarterly. About 24 percent standardize their data annually, and 40 percent do not perform data overlays to check for duplicate information.