Tag Archives: Content Marketing Statistics

15 Content Marketing Stats Essential for Every Business

15 content marketing statistics

15 content marketing statistics

Saying that developing a content marketing strategy can be hard is an understatement.

With so many angles to consider, you want to make sure the strategy you are pursuing is effective – both in terms of time and money.

Read on for 15 statistics that confirm exactly why content marketing should be at the top of your marketing arsenal.

1) 60% of marketers publish at least one piece of content every day

Unsurprisingly, prolific publishers have an easier time generating leads than those who are fickle with their content creation.

The key point here? Consistency. It doesn’t matter whether the content is an article, a podcast, a video, or an infographic – regular posting reaps rewards.

2) Compared to content marketing followers, year-on-year growth in unique site traffic is 7.8x higher for content marketing leaders

Innovative content that sets you apart from the pack will boost your website’s views, so take the time to create useful, interesting content that presents you as a leader, not a follower, for an increase in unique site traffic.

3) Content marketing generates about 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing while costing 62% less

More than double the leads and less than half the price. What’s not to like?

Switching from traditional marketing should slash your costs while generating more leads. This could be due to content marketing nurturing your leads and relationships with potential customers in a way native marketing cannot.

4) Compared to non-adopters, conversion rates are nearly 6x higher for content marketing adopters

Work smart, not hard.

Why waste time on traditional marketing when content marketing conversion rates are significantly more effective?

5) The most effective B2B marketers spend 39% of the marketing budget on content marketing

Follow in the footsteps of those who do it best and designate a portion of your budget to content marketing.

It’s a winning strategy.

6) “Original written content” is the most important type of content for 58% of marketers

This is good news for those on a tight budget.

You can still deliver an effective marketing campaign by focusing on written content, which is usually cheaper while packing a bigger punch.

7) Content marketing is used by 93% of B2B marketers

Working with a company requires trust, and the overwhelming majority of B2B marketers know that content marketing is key for this.

8) A positive ROI is seen by 82% of marketers who blog

Blogging can help grow your business, and the statistic above shows that time spent blogging pays dividends.

9) The demand for infographics has increased 800% in recent years

That’s huge.

While professional infographics can be pricey, the data is clear: they’re hugely effective.

10) 68.1% of content reading is done on mobile devices

Smart phones have transformed how people use the internet.

With over half of people browsing the internet on a mobile device, it’s essential that your content is optimized for mobile viewing – or all your hard work won’t be seen.

11) Emails from brands appeal to 57% of 45 – 54-year-olds, but only 22% of millennials

The age-old marketing adage still applies: know your audience.

Content marketing is highly effective, but you have to combine it with reaching consumers via the right channels.

12) 71% of B2B consumers review a blog when making a purchase

When it comes to business consumers, blogs are the key.

For the best results, keep your blog updated with high-quality, engaging content.

13) Almost 1/3 of consumers check out a brand’s social media presence before their website

This echoes Point 11.

To get the most out of your marketing strategy, it is imperative that you publish your content in the right places.

Having a good social media presence is essential and can make or break your efforts.

14) Instagram is the fastest-growing platform for selling via video

Speaking of social media, Instagram is your go-to for content marketing via video.

Keep an eye on TikTok too.

15) Content marketing costs 41% less than paid search

Do you need another reason to put more effort into content marketing?

This is it.

As demonstrated by the statistics above, content marketing is an essential strategy in your marketing repertoire.

Consistent, interesting content is a sure way to boost engagement, site traffic, and ultimately, sales – so bear these statistics in mind next time you tweak your marketing strategy.

Is content marketing losing its sheen?

Is content marketing losing its sheen?

Is content marketing losing its sheen?

One of those phases.

During a particular period of the year, you start coming across articles and blog posts evincing the end, or at least a steep decline, in your profession. It also happens in content marketing.

Yesterday I came across an article on Forbes telling how content marketing has overstretched itself and consequently, is killing itself. It also insinuates that many renowned content marketing companies are borderline scams.

Today I received a newsletter update from someone that conducts writers’ workshops and he says blogging seems to be on the wane.

My personal experience is the opposite.

The number of content writing queries from my website has almost doubled. I’m getting more queries from India, Malaysia, China and The Philippines. I’m even getting more queries from Europe and America.

Yes, the quality of the queries has changed. It has improved. People now understand what they want.

The Indian clients, or rather, the Asian clients, are the same: they cringe at the thought of having to pay to a lowly content writer, and they assume that most of the writing, no matter how well it is done, should be either provided free of cost, or dirt cheap.

But there has been a marked, a welcome change.

Once they have received a few documents, once they have experienced the quality, they are more or less, even if reluctantly, ready to pay what I ask. This didn’t happen before.

Not just my personal experience, this Forbes article says that 89% of B2B marketers and 86% of B2C marketers are using content marketing to increase their leads and branding.

One of the biggest companies, Coca-Cola, as totally turned its corporate website into the content publishing platform.

American Express uses its OPEN Forum content publishing platform to use content marketing to drive traffic to its website.

77% of Internet users read blogs in one way or another.

Why do some people think content marketing in general and blogging in particular are dying

It’s all about where you stand. I will tell you a story.

In the early 2000s I used to design websites. For some time I did great. There was a dot com boom and everybody wanted a website.

People weren’t aware of the concept of the phrase “content marketing” but there were some entrepreneurs, including yours truly, who were using articles and tutorials to promote themselves.

Anyway, just as everybody wanted a website, everybody started designing websites after a while.

If you live in India you must have come across poor tailors sitting at the roadsides, under shady trees if lucky, working with their sewing machines.

You could see web designers just like that, those days, there were so many. I mean, they were not sitting under trees by the roadsides like tailors, but you get my point.

Microsoft had launched a tool called Front Page, if I’m not forgetting, that would allow you to make websites using a GUI. It was notorious for generating junk code, but neither the clients cared, nor the designers who would charge Rs. 2500 for a 10-page website.

I used to hand code my websites. When I designed and developed websites, there was not a single line of code extra.

Naturally I couldn’t make websites for Rs. 2500. When I insisted on hand coding my websites, clients thought I was crazy. All the assignments dried up. I switched to promoting web hosting plans.

One day I was sitting in the front room that I used as my office and a person dropped by. It was 10 a.m., early March, if I’m not forgetting. His white shirt was torn at the seams, and was dirty. He was unshaven, sweaty, and with hair that hadn’t been combed or washed for a few days.

I thought he was some construction worker, or a sweeper, or some poor person who had stopped by to get a glass of water.

He wanted to design a website for me. He had come across my ad in the local newspaper. He collected addresses from the classifieds and then did door to door marketing for his web design business. He told me that he visited 30-40 business establishments every month and got 3-4 projects every month. He used Front Page to design websites. He charged Rs. 2500. He didn’t have a computer (laptops were mostly unheard of during those days). He used to design the websites in an Internet café.

I don’t remember now why I hadn’t published my website URL in the ad because I would never go into a business without having a website, being a web designer myself and having had 3-4 websites even by the early 2000’s. Anyway, I turned him away.

With my own experience and after having seen that person, I had the same feeling that web designing as a profession was dead, or at least, it was not a good way of making money.

Still, since then, I have come across, and I’m not exaggerating, hundreds of websites promoting web design services, doing great. They charge thousands of dollars and clients gladly pay them.

In fact, that was a time when most of the businesses didn’t even have websites, and now every business has a website and still, web design and web development companies charge a premium.

The problem was not with web design as a profession, the problem was the way I was promoting my service and the way I was targeting my clients. I wasn’t targeting the right clients. I was targeting clients who were okay with having Front Page websites. I wasn’t targeting clients who appreciated hand-coded websites. There were many, and they were ready to pay for the effort. I just didn’t look for them. Somehow I wasn’t able to reach out to clients who would gladly pay for quality.

Why am I telling this story?

It happens in every business.

Take for example the restaurant business. Does every restaurant owner get to start a franchisee? I’m pretty sure if 100 entrepreneurs start a restaurant business every year, 98 don’t succeed. It doesn’t mean the restaurant business is a dead business. Some people succeed, most don’t, and that’s fine. It happens in every business.

The same holds true for content marketing.

As it was bound to happen, when people started claiming great success with content marketing, everybody wanted a piece of the pie. And as it was bound to happen, there was a no holds barred rush to create and publish content.

So, why do some people believe that content marketing doesn’t work?

Because they don’t know how it works.

People to content marketing all wrong

People to content marketing all wrong

You see, you have to understand what content is. Most think that content is a way to improve your search engine rankings.

Although there is nothing wrong in wanting to publish content to improve one’s search engine rankings – I get lots of business due to this approach – eventually, it is an improved level of engagement that does the trick. And this is why, some businesses are doing great with content marketing, but most don’t. Maybe the problem is with the “marketing” part. I don’t know.

Publishing content on your website or blog is all about helping people make a decision, and provide them timely help when they need it.

Even if you are able to generate lots of traffic from search engines by publishing “optimized” content, if people don’t feel motivated once they come to your website, they are not going to buy from you.

Do I mean to say you shouldn’t publish content for traffic? I don’t mean that. Every business needs traffic and content marketing is the best way of generating targeted traffic to your website.

In fact, a big reason why people use content marketing is because they don’t want to solely depend on search engine traffic. Search engines can be whimsical. If you are a serious business, you cannot afford to completely depend on search engines for qualified traffic. You need to create your own sources, and content marketing is the best way. You become known for your quality content and authoritative insights.

The problem is not with wanting to generate targeted traffic. The problem is using content marketing just for generating targeted traffic.

This sort of content marketing doesn’t work, it has never worked and it is never going to work.

Sure, you need to publish content to draw targeted traffic to your website. But the primary purpose of your content must be to provide quality information to your visitors so that they can make up their mind regarding doing business with you.

This is exactly why the newspaper industry is failing. There was a time when content – journalism – used to be the primary content. Now it is advertising. Journalism is almost dead. Mostly it is either propaganda or traffic-oriented content to earn advertising revenue.

The primary purpose of content marketing should be to become a valuable part of your customers’ and clients’ lives.

You need to become an information hub, and believe me, even if you are a very small business, you can become an information hub within your niche. Don’t think that only big businesses can become information hubs.

All the businesses who have understood this are doing great with content marketing. The ones who are just greedy for targeted traffic aren’t succeeding.

Why do people get trapped in the traffic trap? Because it’s easier to generate traffic than generate business. Content that gets you search engine traffic is very cheap. It is very easy to create such content. Hire a jobless writer or someone who simply wants to make a few extra bucks and isn’t bothered whether your business benefits or not, and you can get scores of blog posts and articles without even realizing you are spending money.

And when you are able to publish 50 articles or blog posts every month, the quantity reassures you. The traffic DOES begin to manifest and you begin to feel that eventually, this is going to lead to more business.

It doesn’t.

What gives you more business is the quality of your content, the meaningfulness, and the level of engagement it can generate.

Search engine traffic should be a byproduct. When people begin to understand this, content marketing will work wonders for them.

Statistically most B2B enterprises use content marketing for brand awareness

Certainly B2B enterprises don’t use content marketing to publish advertisements. They need to strengthen their presence on the Internet and consequently, raise brand awareness. A Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs study has revealed that (understandably these statistics are from the USA but they are quite a representative)

  • 94% B2B small businesses are using content marketing
  • 83% B2B small businesses use content marketing to raise brand awareness or at least have it as a goal for 2015
  • 47% B2B small businesses plan to increase their content marketing budgets in 2015 and only 1% plan to decrease their budget
  • 45% B2B small businesses engaged in content marketing claimed that they are effective at it
  • 81% B2B small businesses are producing more content than they were a year ago
  • 33% find producing engaging and quality content a big challenge
  • 24% find it harder to arrange budget for content marketing
  • 48% of the B2B small businesses have a documented content marketing strategy

Here is an updated list of 30 essential content marketing statistics for 2020.

The last point is very important. In order to be successful in content marketing, your organization must have a documented strategy. What does that mean?

You should know what you want to achieve from your content marketing strategy, whom are you going to target for that and what sort of content you need to produce in a given amount of time. On with the statistics…

B2B content marketing tactics statistics

  • 78% B2B small businesses have a dedicated person who oversees the content marketing strategy
  • On an average B2B small business marketers are using 13 content marketing tactics including social media content, blogging, articles on the websites and publishing email newsletters. The use of mobile content has risen from 27% to 35%. The use of infographics has risen from 39% to 48%.
  • Interestingly, people are using more electronic newsletters – 82% compared to blogs – 77%.

Graphic source: the PDF report above