4 Content Marketing Statistics Every B2B Marketer Should Know
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B2B marketers of all kinds and creeds will tell you how ever-changing their industry is.
It is key for content marketers, then, to remain ahead of the curve where they can, and what better way to do this than with some good old-fashioned data?
Trends, stats, percentages – though not the friendly world of letters and words that content marketers are as familiar with, these insights show marketers the cold, hard facts about their industry’s most important aspects.
In this blog post, we’ll be sharing a few content marketing stats to help you understand the world of content marketing in the B2B world.
97% of marketers include content marketing strategies
More than anything, this shows that the industry is basically entirely in agreement that content marketing is an essential strategy.
Content marketing is expansive as it is versatile, which is why B2B marketers use an average of 13 content marketing strategies encompassing text, video, infographics, and more.
Content Marketing builds trust with your audience by providing them with the answers or information they seek so when the time comes for them to convert, you are at the top of their mind.
It also happens to be a relatively cost-effective strategy thanks to many of the resources that exist online being much cheaper or even free (such as social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram).
This is especially true when compared to resource-heavy approaches like traditional marketing and video marketing which require expensive investments in distribution or technology.
Not Everyone Has Got the Message…
Despite a majority of marketers including content marketing strategies, a surprising percentage of B2B organisations (32%) have no one employed on a full-time/dedicated content marketing team, with just an average of 4% with a dedicated team of over 11 people.
Similarly, over half (58%) of B2B organisations have just one person running their entire content marketing strategy!
Marketing is very much a team game, requiring a lot of plates to be spun at once in great harmony. The more people on your marketing team, the likelier you are to experience success, especially once your business begins to scale its efforts.
65% of marketers say case studies and success stories are the biggest value drivers
Say you’re looking for a restaurant to eat at for the evening. You’re in a big city and you’re overloaded with choices. What’s the next logical step for you in figuring out where to go?
Online reviews!
Whether this is on Google, TripAdvisor, or any other review site, you let the comments of previous customers do the deciding for you.
And this is no different in the B2B world, and it explains why case studies are the fifth most popular type of content that marketers use outside of:
- Video
- Infographics
- Blogs
- eBooks
Much of organic content marketing is about building trust between a brand and its target audience until they finally feel safe enough to part ways with their money and convert into paying customers.
When looking for solutions, businesses also have a wide range of options to choose from and want to know that they are choosing the best business to invest their own limited resources on.
Case studies provide quantifiable results of your product or service, acting as social proof that it can be trusted to do the job. They also act as a cherry on top of any convincing copy you may have on your site.
Let the Results Speak For Themselves
Instead of trying to persuade potential clients, case studies and success stories appeal to the logical side of people who see good results and want that duplicated for themselves.
When it comes to businesses utilising the power of case studies, make sure that you have them in several places on your website:
- Case studies on your home page – This will ensure that people visiting your site don’t have to look very far before stumbling upon the great things that your previous customers have to say.
- Case studies as their own separate page – Depending on where someone is in the sales funnel, a detailed case study page may be the turning point for a potential customer to convert.
Explain in simple terms how your product or service helped solve a problem that another business had, and this may turn prospective visitors to converted customers quicker than any copy or sales call would have.
67% of marketers want more resources for content creation
Every business wants an ace team of writers at the helm who can shift and shape their writing style to the task at hand, but relying on the pure skill of your writers won’t get you great content all the time.
Imagine content marketing as the halfway point between the art of writing and the science of digital marketing.
Marketers are always at the whims of algorithms and updates meaning there is a ‘correct’ way to write in a way that appeases this ever-changing digital environment dictated by the likes of Google.
For many B2B marketers, vital resources written by other professionals in the industry as well as quality-of-life software tools are crucial pieces of this digital marketing puzzle.
Faced with keywords, tone of voice, and ever-changing search trends that seek to upheave their established rhythm, it’s understandable why more than two out of three marketers feel like there’s always more to learn and take advantage of.
44% of B2B buyers typically consume 3-5 pieces of content before engaging
This further speaks to the long-term nature of content marketing and how its main focus is on building trust with an audience.
The digital marketing industry is as ubiquitous as ever. It seems everyone and their grandma has a blog nowadays – and so they should! Businesses have understood how a good online presence can help drive sales for a long time.
Whilst this greater ubiquity of digital marketing is a boon, it’s also becoming an increasingly overcrowded space where information and resources are ten a penny. In this digitally savvy, attention-poor age, it takes more than ever for a brand to stand out amongst its competitors.
The best way to ensure this?
An abundance of high-quality content that constantly speaks to your target audience and sells your product or service without you having to say a single word to them in person. In this way, the success of content marketing is very much consumer-led so it only makes sense to meet them where they’re already looking.
On the consumer side of things, ‘branded content’ – content marketing’s distant cousin – works on the same combined principle of satisfying the consumer’s insatiable search for information whilst being the very provider of that information.
By always providing sought-after information, you slowly but surely build up a level of trust with the reader, something which salespeople with their more direct, less elegant methods could only wish for.
This is further backed up by a not insignificant 70% of consumers who say that they prefer to learn about a product or service through content rather than traditional advertising.
Ready to Take Your Content to the Next Level?
As these stats show, the case for B2B content marketing as a digital marketing strategy is essentially bulletproof regardless of where a business is in the sales funnel.
If you’re aiming to earn conversions, content creation provides your audience with the valuable information that they need to know about their product or service of choice which, in the long run, will convince them more easily to make a purchase.
Not that you needed persuading on the importance of online content – you clicked on this blog post after all…
Are you looking to take your business to the next level with rock-solid content? Get in touch to see how we can help you plan out the perfect content strategy to fit your business!
