Content marketing can boost customer engagement, increase sales, and grow your business. These content marketing statistics prove it. You’ve definitely heard of content marketing, but is your business investing in it? Content marketing is a long-term strategy that uses diverse content channels to build long-lasting customer relationships, improve engagement, and increase brand awareness. If you’re skeptical about the benefits of content marketing or reluctant to commit money to something that you’re not 100% convinced will yield the results you want - get ready to change your mind!
In this article, we’ll share ten content marketing statistics that’ll convince you to implement a strategy into your business plan. We’ve gathered the most mind-blowing content marketing stats that will — you guessed it — blow your mind. Let’s go!
Why does your business need a content marketing strategy?
Valuable, relevant, and consistent content is a powerful tool for growing your business.
Why?
Let’s find out. Below are the top benefits that implementing a content marketing strategy can have for your business.
- Improve audience retention: Content can be used to capture your audience’s attention, reinforce a positive brand image, and nurture existing customer relationships to reduce customer churn.
- Generate leads: Content captures audience attention and can be used to guide them to landing pages with an effective call-to-action.
- Increase conversions: Customers are more likely to buy from brands they trust. High-quality content establishes trust and authority. This boosts the number of visitors to your website, thus improving the number of leads that qualify and convert.
- Enhance online visibility with SEO: Higher search engine rankings = more website visitors = more conversions. Simple as that.
- Builds brand authority: Quality content can establish your brand as an authority in your niche or industry. What’s more, consumers are more likely to purchase from brands they trust.
10 content marketing statistics that demonstrate content marketing works for any business
- 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. (Hubspot)
- 76% of marketers use organic traffic as a measure of content success (SEMrush)
- 61% of marketers believe that SEO is the key to online success. (Safari Digital)
- 94% of content marketers are using social media as a distribution channel for their content. (SEMrush)
- Blogs are among the primary three forms of media used in content strategies today. (HubSpot)
- Email campaigns (87%) and educational content (77%) are the top content marketing methods B2B marketers use to nurture their audience. (Content Marketing Institute)
- Only 48% of B2B marketers frequently craft content based on the specific stages of the customer journey. However, 74% of the most successful content marketers do. (Content Marketing Institute)
- The top 3 content mediums for B2B marketers are social media content (95%), blog posts/short articles (89%), and email newsletters (81%). (B2B Content Marketing Report)
- 74% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy or download a piece of software or app by watching a video. That number jumps to 84% when asked if a video convinced them to buy a product or service. (Wyzowl State of Video Marketing 2020)
- Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. (DemandMetric)
We’re not the kind of people who condone following the crowd, but when it comes to content marketing… You really should be following the crowd!
The fact that 70% of marketers are actively investing in a content marketing strategy is a testament to the fact that it works. The most successful businesses are investing as much as 40% of their marketing budgets in content, and are achieving 3x more leads by doing so.
Developing an effective content marketing strategy is essential to succeeding in today’s digital world. Strategic marketers know that it’s not all about producing and sharing large quantities of content. Instead, content marketers should use KPIs to track progress, measure results, and make data-driven decisions to inform content campaigns that align with business goals.
76% of marketers said that organic traffic is the most important metric they use to measure the success of their content strategy. With more than half of all web content accessed through organic search, it makes sense that this is a key KPI for marketers. So what other metrics are important for measuring content marketing success?
- Number of leads (62%)
- Sessions and pageviews (60%)
- Conversion rates (47%)
- Bounce rate (31%)
Also remember that it’s about generating quality leads, rather than large quantities who are unlikely to qualify and convert.
Search engine optimization (SEO for short) has been around for a while now. It’s a cost-effective inbound marketing tactic that attracts quality traffic, builds brand authority and awareness, and provides customers with an overall better user experience. Moreover, it’s constantly evolving, which is part of the reason SEO is crucial to online success.
Regular updates to Google’s organic search algorithms mean that building a successful SEO strategy requires a vigilant, dynamic approach to content marketing. Nowadays, SEO isn’t just about using keywords. Businesses must ensure their SEO efforts are in line with tech developments and website trends, to remain competitive and increase ranking potentials.
The ongoing benefits of SEO are why it’s ranked as the most effective way to increase awareness, traffic, and grow your business online. If you want to know more about developing a 2021 SEO strategy, we wrote about it here.
“Content is fire; social media is gasoline.” – Jay Baer, Marketing Expert and Founder of Convince & Convert
We live in a hyper-connected world, and it's more important than ever before to keep up with how consumers are communicating, sharing information, and making purchases. That’s why social media has become a prime content marketing channel for brands to engage with their audience, boost brand awareness, and generate leads.
90% of marketers report that their social media marketing efforts have increased business exposure, and 75% say they’ve increased traffic. If you’re operating an online business, having a social media presence is crucial to growth.
Not only is blogging the perfect content channel for SEO, it also generates 3x more leads than ads do! Moreover, Google really likes blog posts - which is always a plus! So it makes sense that 86% of companies produce blog content compared to other formats.
Sure, there are many different types of content you can share with your audience - podcasts, video, ebooks, etc. Although other forms of content are becoming increasingly popular, blogging is still the most valued content channel.
One of the most important aspects of B2B inbound marketing is nurturing customers. In today’s fast-paced world, retaining customers is crucial to long-term business success.
Well executed email campaigns and educational content are reliable methods to nurture customers and leads. It’s important to keep up with your audience's preferences to spot new opportunities. Blending channels with an omnichannel approach, like email and SMS messaging, is important for reaching customers where they want to be reached.
If this statistic from the 2020 Content Marketing Report can attest to anything, it’s that crafting content for each stage of the buyer journey yields the best results. Why is this important?
To assist your audience throughout their journey with your business, you must provide content that answers their common questions and concerns. That means providing content dedicated to the various stages of the inbound marketing funnel: awareness, consideration, and decision.
Why is this statistic important? It demonstrates that content marketing isn’t just about blogging. There is a diverse range of mediums content marketers can leverage to target their audience. As content channels continue to grow, B2B marketers must adapt to shifts in the digital landscape.
Trends shaping current B2B content marketing strategies include user-generated content, video, voice search content, podcasting, and data-driven content.
It’s no secret that video content creation can take marketing campaigns to the next level.
Video content is interactive and easy to consume. With the rise of video-based platforms like YouTube and TikTok, as well as the live video functions of popular social media apps like Facebook and Instagram, video has become a consumer's preferred way to interact with brands.
Video trends making a splash in 2020 and beyond include:
- Shoppable content
- Vlogging
- Personalized video content informed by data and customer feedback
- Interactive videos (360-degree video, branching, hotspots, etc.)
When it comes to digital marketing campaigns, businesses want results. This statistic proves that traditional marketing strategies don’t work in the same way they used to. Content marketing costs much less and yields much better, more measurable results. If your business isn’t leveraging the potential of content marketing, then you’re missing it.
Are you convinced yet?
Content marketing pulls in a significantly higher amount of website visitors and leads. As your website traffic grows, so will your conversions. For this reason, content marketing is crucial to growing your business in today’s digital world.
Whether you’re a small or medium-sized business or a large enterprise, content should be part of your marketing strategy. Each one of these content marketing stats attests to the fact that content marketing works.
Are you ready to boost your business with content marketing?
Download our buyer persona template to define your audience now!
