Among B2B marketers using paid channels in the 2025 study, 73% used social advertising or promoted posts, 64% used search engine marketing or PPC, 62% used digital display, and 62% used sponsorships. The channel rated best for content marketing results was SEM or PPC at 61%, followed by social advertising at 49%.
Paid-channel table
| Channel | Used | Best results |
|---|---|---|
| Social advertising | 73% | 49% |
| SEM or PPC | 64% | 61% |
| Digital display | 62% | 35% |
| Sponsorships | 62% | 48% |
The result column is a survey response, not a benchmark cost per lead or return on spend.
Practical use
Match paid distribution to a page with a defined audience and conversion event. Keep the organic source, paid variant, spend window, qualified response, and follow-up status in one log. Pause a test when the measurement definition changes.
FAQs
Is SEM always the best paid channel?
No. The study reports what respondents said worked best for their content marketing. Fit depends on query intent, competition, audience, and economics.
What should be measured first?
Start with qualified response rate and cost per qualified response. Add pipeline and revenue after the attribution window is defined.
Related Research
BusinessGrowthAssistant can help maintain the campaign, content, and follow-up tracker around each test.
Sources
- Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2025: https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/b2b-research/b2b-content-marketing-trends-research-2025