Case studies, white papers and webcasts are three essential content formats to create awareness, enable small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to research your offerings, drive thought leadership and capture leads. But where do they work best in the sales cycle, how important are they to SMBs, what do SMBs most want from them, what product categories do they work best in, how long should they be, and how do SMBs access them? To answer these questions – and to help you develop more effective content for SMBs – we recently surveyed 318 U.S. SMB principals. The results are instructive; there are some great learnings on how to develop and promote these important content elements. For the full report visit http://bit.ly/1P8uuHm

1. Case Studies, White Papers and
Webcasts
April 14, 2016
Bredin, Inc.
www.bredin.com
617-868-6369

2. Insight  Lead Gen  Content  Sales Support
Increasing SMB Acquisition, Engagement and Retention
2

3. Research Objective
3
Give SMB marketers a current perspective on
SMB content preferences
• Where in the sales cycle each format is most
important
• The industries SMBs want them from
• What SMBs look for in each format
• The format and length they prefer
• Where they look for them

4. Methodology
How
• 15-minute online survey
Who
• 318 principals of U.S. companies with <500 employees (5.5%+/- CI)
• 118 with <20 employees (97.7% weighting)
• 100 with 20-99 employees (1.9% weighting)
• 100 with 100-500 employees (0.3% weighting)
• Any industry
• See slides 29-33 for participant demographics
When
• February 12 – 26, 2016
1
2
3
4

5. Detailed Results

6. What is your 2016 revenue outlook compared to 2015?
Almost half of SMBs expect 2016 revenues to increase from 2015; 27% by double digits
6
2016 Business Outlook
n=318

7. 7
Role in Sales Cycle
New Product
Awareness
New Product
Research
Purchase
Decision
Case studies and white papers are more important towards the close; webcasts drive awareness
5
10
15
20
25
30
Case studies White papers Webcasts
Top-two box
n=318

8. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Research report
Peer / colleague
Case study
Analyst report
Resource section of a vendor's website
Product section of a vendor's website
Call from or meeting with sales representative
eBook / guide / handbook
Email newsletter
Event or trade show
White paper
Video on vendor website
Forum or discussion board
Webinar / webcast
Print newsletter
Newspaper / magazine (print or online)
Google+ / Google My Business
YouTube
Press release
One-off email
LinkedIn
Infographic
Audio podcast
Blog
Postcard, letter or catalog in the mail
Banner ad on a website
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Outdoor billboard or signage
Instagram
TV
Radio
Awareness Research Purchase
For each of these sources
/ formats, please select
the stage in the purchase
cycle – awareness (i.e.,
where you first learn
about a product or
service), research (i.e.,
investigation / evaluation)
or purchase – where you
are most likely to use it.
Webcasts and white papers
are most effective for
awareness; case studies are
used more at the research
stage
Sales Stage Influences
8
n=301
Webinar/webcast
Case study
White paper

9. Case Studies

10. On a scale of 1 (not at
all important) to 5
(very important), how
important are
customer stories or
case studies when you
are considering a
product or service
from a vendor in each
of these categories?
SMBs rate case studies most
important for cellphones and
technology
Case Studies:
Product Category
10
Top-two box
n=313
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Social media companies (e.g., Facebook, Google+, Instagram,
LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube)
Overnight package delivery companies
Payroll service providers
Local / long distance (i.e., landline) phone company/ies
Business travel: airlines, hotels, rental cars, etc.
Marketing services (e.g., online advertising, email / social media
marketing)
Retirement plan providers
Employee recruiting services / temp agencies
Office supply stores / print centers
Insurance companies (e.g., business insurance; employee life
and health insurance)
Credit cards
Software companies
Internet access providers / website hosts
Banks
Cellphone service provider
Local technology solution providers
Technology hardware (i.e., PCs, printers, servers)
manufacturers
Cellphone / smartphone handsets
Click here for
the rest of the
report