Content marketing. Statistics you should know and why you should invest.
Content marketing has been moving at the speed of light in recent years.
Why? Consumers are attracted to authenticity, transparency, and friendliness in a brand. The advent of the internet and social media has a lot to do with this. These channels help consumers pick and choose exactly which brands they interact with. If people don’t want to see your ads, they’ll click away – it’s as simple as that.
We must add value to consumers’ lives to make them want to give us the time of day. Content marketing isn’t about “selling” your products and services. Content marketing is about offering the consumer something of “value” to your target audience. Content marketing builds trust with your customers.
Let these statistics do the rest of the talking. They really do speak for themselves. Prepare to persuade.
1. Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less.
That’s right. Content marketing is not only cheaper than outbound marketing; it also generates more leads.
Outbound marketing is the old way of doing business. Outbound marketing consists mainly of promotional messages that try to tell consumers how great a brand, product, or service is. These ads are served to consumers whether they want to see them or not. These ads are pushy, interruptive, and intrusive.
Turns out, people today generally don’t respond to this type of product-pushing. That’s because there are other ways to engage with brands – better ways (*cough* content marketing *cough*).
2. In 1984, a person saw an average 2,000 ads/day. By 2014, they saw around 5,000.
Two words: Ad Overload.
How are people dealing with this overload, where they’re bombarded with ads daily?
Two more words: Ad blockers. More than 615 million devices now have ad-blocking software, according to PageFair 2017 Global Adblock Report.
In the face of consumers pelted with ads day in and day out, content marketing swoops in like a breath of fresh air. It provides value for their lives, isn’t intrusive, and aims to be helpful above promotional.
3. Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than small businesses without.
A whopping 77% of internet users read blogs. Combine that stat with the fact that small businesses with blogs see more lead growth. Now you’re onto something.
Regular blogging is a go-to content marketing strategy for a reason – it works.
4. After reading recommendations on a blog, 61% of U.S. online consumers made a purchase.
Content marketing builds trust in a way that no other method can match. Building trust over time means consumers pay attention and listen to your brand’s voice.
That is incredibly, ridiculously powerful. It’s subtly persuasive without being in your face. It’s built on transparency and a down-to-earth approach. It’s content marketing.
5. Content marketing rakes in conversion rates six times higher than other methods.
Traditional marketing is starting to look a little sad at this point, but let’s keep going. Content marketing, among all the other benefits, also drives higher conversions In fact, it has 6 times the power of traditional marketing for converting people into leads and leads into customers.
Content marketing may require more time, patience, and effort over the long haul, but the rewards are far greater.
6. The most effective SEO technique? Content creation.
Populating websites with blog content is how you end up with 434% more search engine-indexed pages than other business sites that don’t publish content.
The result of content creation: You have lots of little pathways sprinkled over the internet that lead back to your site. And, the more content you create around topics relevant to your audience, the better your chances of boosting traffic from search and nabbing conversions.
7. Businesses publishing 16-plus posts a month get almost 3.5 times more traffic than businesses publishing zero to four articles.
You want leads? Guess what.
Does it need saying? Even if it doesn’t bear repeating, here you go. One more time for the people in the back: Content marketing, content creation, and blogging lead to leads. Lots of leads.
It takes an investment, but the returns are real.
Bottom line: Skilled, consistent content marketing works.
Content marketing is the present and future of marketing. It’s efficient, compelling, and subtly persuasive. It also can be less expensive. Best of all, it works, as these seven statistics prove beyond a doubt.
Of course, like any strategy, content marketing requires skill, persistence, and consistency to work.
Contact Us at LMD Power Marketing