The content marketing industry is one of the most dynamic industries on the internet. Just like SEO, content marketing tactics are constantly changing.
You’ll wake up one morning and discover that what worked the previous day isn’t effective again, and you have to move on.
As a serious content marketer, you always need to stay current and know where the industry is headed. Otherwise, you won’t know what’s happening and how to adjust your own tactics for more growth.
Sure, you might be good at making educated guesses. But believe me, nothing beats having substantial evidence that will give you a 100% guarantee that you’re on the right path.
Therefore, to make it easy for you and to ensure you’re not moving backward, here are 15 content marketing statistics that will help you with your content marketing struggles.
1. 93% of B2B Marketers Use Content Marketing
(Source: Content Marketing Institute)
The majority of B2B marketers now prefer content marketing to formal traditional advertising. The reason why is probably that it’s easier to communicate with a new audience by writing and publishing quality content, instead of just asking them to buy your product. It might also be as a result of the longer sales cycles in B2B.
Quality content enhances trust over time and keeps prospects close to you. And remember that trust comes before any sale. Consumers won’t buy from you if the trust is not there.
For example, we shop at Amazon and Walmart because we trust them. We know that those companies will promptly deliver our items and that we will get what we ordered.
Amazon is one of the most reliable e-commerce companies in the world, and that gives us (consumers) great peace of mind. No wonder Amazon has a stronger influence on consumers than Google does:
2. 78% of CMO’s See Custom Content as the Future of Marketing
(Source: Demand Metric)
The web is continuously changing, and audiences are changing along with it. Because the noise on social media platforms is becoming unbearable, CMOs and businesses need to adapt to remain in the race.
As a content marketer, you need to spend some time learning about your audience. One of the best ways to do so is by using email list segmentation to identify exactly what each group of your subscribers wants from you.
Visit blogs, forums, online communities, and any other places where your prospects might be hanging out and interacting with one another other.
Once you’re on these platforms, you need to figure out what problems your audience is discussing—this is the beginning of your custom content.
3. The Best B2B Marketers Spend 39% on Content Marketing
(Source: Top Rank Blog)
The first question I always ask my prospects when I meet them one-on-one is, “Where are you presently spending your marketing budget?”
Here’s the point: if you really desire to attract more leads, then you have to allocate some percentage of your marketing budget towards content creation, content promotion, and content metrics.
4. 48% of Small Businesses Have a Strong Content Strategy
(Source: CMI)
This statistic contrasts with the 41% of larger organizations who have a well-documented content strategy.
The team at ConversionXL performed up to 6 rounds of tests before accurately defining a landing page variation that boosted the TruckersReport’s landing page conversion by 79.3%. That’s the power of a well-documented content marketing strategy.
You may have heard a lot of people talking about content strategy, but what is it all about? Let’s put it this way:
A “documented strategy” is simply a set of actionable and proven steps (in written form) that produces a predictable result. Having a strategy eliminates guesswork and the possibility of getting lost while writing content.
5. B2B Marketers Use an Average of 13 Content Marketing Tactics
(Source: Top Rank Blog)
To release the full potential of content marketing, you need to have more than one tactic. These would include anything from discovering marketing opportunities within the social media networks to using visual content.
Smart content marketers don’t put all their eggs in one basket. They spread their nets wide and incorporate other tactics in order to achieve maximum output.
Don’t focus on blog posts alone. You can also create videos, podcasts, webinars, white papers, infographics, and so on.
Distribute these types of content continuously over different channels (including social media), and you’ll have a handful of targeted leads.
6. 73% of Companies Have Someone to Manage Content Strategy
(Source: CMI)
Time is the most precious asset of entrepreneurs. As marketers, we often struggle to find enough time to fully give our customers all they want from us.
However, there’s an easy way to do so: get someone to help you with the job. Then focus on the most important tasks that will generate revenue.
But you have to be careful about delegating your content strategy. You must assign it to someone with good experience.
7. 69% of Marketers Say Content Is Superior to PR and Direct Mail
(Source: Custom Content Council)
Direct response marketers know the power of a well-written direct mail campaign. And they equally understand how essential PR is to business.
But did you know that most marketers have experienced strong results by creating quality content and targeting the ideal customers? This strategy has worked better than sending direct mail pieces or promotional kits to them.
8. Almost 60% of Marketers Reuse Content 2 to 5 Times
(Source: Look Book HQ)
Marketers repurpose content in order to generate “snackable” content based on assets. And 45% of companies with marketing automation consistently repurpose content for efficiency. Content repurposing is critical to your success. It’s the fastest way to create “snackable” content.
That’s because you might not have the time and resources to continuously produce informative content for your audience. As you can see on the chart from Curata, many companies have started doing this:
The bottom line is: if you create a blog post that many of your readers find useful, the next thing you should do is repurpose it. Put it into other formats such as videos, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, etc.
9. 64% of B2B Marketers Outsource Writing to Professionals
(Source: Top Rank Blog)
As a B2B marketer, one of the few habits you should acquire is content outsourcing. Content outsourcing will significantly boost your lead generation and productivity.
There are several ways to find good freelance writers. Just ensure that every writer you decide to hire is good enough and can deliver.
10. 50% of Marketers Want Their Content to Get Real Attention
(Source: Contently)
It’s never enough to create content and hope that people will like, read, and share it. Serious marketers measure everything. Content marketing is never complete until you track and measure how much real attention your audience is paying to every piece of content you publish.
11. 72% of B2C Marketers Are Producing Large Amounts of Content
(Source: CMI)
B2C marketers are producing much more content than they were a year ago. It does not matter how much content you can create. The most important quality is how useful the content is.
The reason why is that consumers are not looking for more content. What they want is better content. With all the content out there, you need to find ways to make a difference.
With more than 2,000,000 blog posts published daily, it’s easy for people to ignore yours. That is something you want to avoid.
The fact that 72% of marketers are producing more content now than they did the previous year is good news. But it’s only good news if your content is more helpful and engaging now than ever before.
12. 73% of Marketers Produce Content to Achieve Brand Awareness
(Source: Contently)
Content marketing (when done well) can significantly improve a company’s brand awareness. However, as I stated earlier, what’s important is to know what you wish to achieve with your content marketing campaigns.
If what you want is to increase your brand awareness, then you have to channel all your efforts and strategies towards that goal. You also need to map out a good way to track and measure your efforts.
13. 87% of Content Marketers Use Social Media Most Often
(Source: CMI)
Social media networks, such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Periscope and LinkedIn, have changed the way marketers communicate with consumers.
These are popular social networks, as well as being free to join and easy to use. Time will be your main expense when it comes to pushing content via social media. The one exception is if you decide to run paid ads, which is also good.
Social media is where quality content really stands out. Many companies send benefit and sale information via their social media channels. Doing so is a big mistake.
To get the best results from social media marketing, focus more on the social aspect and build trust with your fans. Give them lots of valuable content. Then drive them back to your landing pages and use email marketing to nurture the friendship from there.
14. 81% of Marketers Plan to Use More Original Written Content
(Source: Social Media Examiner)
In case you didn’t know, Google penalizes duplicate content because users dislike it. People want useful, original, and engaging content that creates a memorable experience for them.
This year, a lot of people are going to spend more money on original content, and you ought to be among them.
15. Use of Video Content Increased by 8% to 58% in 2014
(Source: Demandgen)
Infographic usage increased by 9% to 52%. By producing content in different formats, such as videos and infographics, you will be able to satisfy your whole audience. Neil Patel grew KISSmetrics’ blog from 0 to 350,000 visitors per month by creating infographics.
Infographics are effective because consumers enjoy when complex information is condensed into a visual asset that delivers the same value as a written piece of content.
Also, as I said earlier, you can often create infographics by repurposing written content you’ve used in the past.
Content Marketing Statistics Help Your Strategy
Content marketing remains one of the best ways to promote a brand, irrespective of the industry. However, one of the biggest problems most marketers face is figuring out how to develop the right type of content that will inspire readers to take the desired action.
I urge you to take advantage of these content marketing statistics the next time you want to create a blog post. These stats should help you generate more traffic and sales from your website.