The world of marketing has changed drastically in the last decade. We are experiencing a full-scale assault on traditional marketing tactics. The weapon of choice: content marketing.
Content marketing is a powerful tool for building a brand following, capturing sales leads, and driving your website to the top of search engine rankings.
The basic premise behind a content marketing strategy is to attract visitors who are already, at a high-level, interested in your brand, product, or service. The visitor may not know specifically of you, but they are aware of their need — their “pain point” — and are actively seeking a solution.
Through educational and informational content delivered to the universe via your web presence, you will stand head and shoulders above your competition as the trusted advisor in the customer’s time of need.
Content Marketing Statistics for 2014
As you map your on-going marketing strategy, consider these inbound and content marketing statistics:
Content Data
- There are 27,000,000 pieces of content shared daily [Tweet This Stat!]
- Marketers, on average, spend 25% of their marketing budget on content [Tweet This Stat!]
- 62% of companies outsource their content marketing [Tweet This Stat!]
- 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing [Tweet This Stat!]
- B2B companies that blog regularly generate 67% more sales leads per month than those who don’t [Tweet This Stat!]
Content Marketing Drives Engagement
- 50% of consumers say content marketing has a positive impact on their purchasing decisions [Tweet This Stat!]
- 61% of consumers feel better about a company that has a blog [Tweet This Stat!]
- 90% of consumers find detailed content useful [Tweet This Stat!]
- Interesting content is one of the top 3 reasons people follow brands on social media [Tweet This Stat!]
- 8 out of 10 people identify themselves as blog readers [Tweet This Stat!]
- 23% of all time spent online is spent on social media sites [Tweet This Stat!]
- Inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads [Tweet This Stat!]
- 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales due to lack of lead nurturing [Tweet This Stat!]
How Content Marketing Impacts Search Engine Rankings
- Websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages, on average [Tweet This Stat!]
- 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results [Tweet This Stat!]
- Long-tail searches are up 68% since 2004. The easiest way to rank for long-tail searches is through content marketing [Tweet This Stat!]
- The average page that ranks on the first page of Google is between 2032 words and 2494 words [Tweet This Stat!]
- Content rich sites generate 97% more links [Tweet This Stat!]
- Content that is greater than 1500 words, on average, receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook “Likes” [Tweet This Stat!]
- Visitors spend only 10 seconds on your website homepage. Bypass the homepage with meaty content in your blog [Tweet This Stat!]
Quick Content Marketing Tips
- Include customers in your conversation with words like “You and I” rather than “Me and You”
- Focus on solving specific problems — pain points — for your customer
- Get emotional. Go beyond just being useful, create a story that is unforgettable
References:
- http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/inbound-marketing-stats
- http://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/2013/09/21/social-signals-affect-search-engine-rankings/
- http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/50-content-marketing-stats/
- http://www.the-cma.com/about-us/why-customer-publishing