Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less
Companies with a documented content strategy are 413% more likely to report success than those without one
72% of marketers say content marketing increases engagement and number of leads
Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing methodologies
Email marketing has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent
The most successful B2B marketers spend 40% of their total marketing budget on content marketing
73% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy but only 40% have documented it
69% of the most successful marketers have a documented content marketing strategy
91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers
Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users
Articles with images get 94% more total views
Video is the #1 form of media used in content strategy overtaking blogs
Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors
72% of online marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic
Websites with a blog have 434% more indexed pages
Content Formats & Media
- 1Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users
- 2Articles with images get 94% more total views
- 3Video is the #1 form of media used in content strategy overtaking blogs
- 4Infographics are liked and shared on social media 3x more than any other type of content
- 5Podcasts are used by 41% of B2B marketers as a content channel
- 679% of people say a brand's video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or app
- 7Posts with at least one image get 2x the traffic as text-only posts
- 8Interactive content generates 52.6% more engagement than static content
- 980% of people would rather watch a video about a brand than read a blog
- 10Case studies are the most effective content format for B2B marketers at 66% effectiveness
- 11Lists posts get 218% more shares than "how-to" posts
- 1251% of marketers say video content has the best ROI
- 13User-generated content results in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns or websites without it
- 1440% of consumers say they have purchased something after seeing it on an influencer's Instagram Story
- 15Emails with video have a 300% higher click-through rate
- 1661% of successful marketers use webinars as a content format
- 17Blog posts over 3000 words get 3x more traffic than posts of average length
- 18Content with meaningful visuals receives 94% more views than content without
- 1990% of customers say product video helps them make buying decisions
- 2087% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website
Interpretation
If you are still running text-only blogs, you're whispering in a stadium: the data make clear that video and strong visuals dominate attention, engagement and buying decisions, infographics, interactive and user-generated content multiply shares and conversions, and long-form pieces, case studies, emails with video, influencers, podcasts and webinars turn that attention into measurable revenue.
Cost Efficiency & Budget
- 1Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing methodologies
- 2Email marketing has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent
- 3The most successful B2B marketers spend 40% of their total marketing budget on content marketing
- 446% of marketing budgets go toward content creation
- 581% of marketers plan to increase their original content budget in the upcoming year
- 6Cost-per-lead drops by 80% after 5 months of consistent content marketing
- 7Outsourcing content creation costs 62% less than hiring a dedicated internal team
- 8Repurposing content can save up to 60% of content creation time and budget
- 9Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than those without
- 10While content marketing costs less than outbound it generates 3 times as many leads per dollar spent
- 1198% of marketers say that content marketing justifies its cost
- 12Using influencers for content marketing returns $5.20 for every $1 spent
- 13Video content marketing has a perceived ROI that is good or excellent for 89% of marketers
- 1470% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing due to cost-efficiency
- 15Brands spend 46% of their budget on content creation which is seen as the largest driver of ROI
- 16PPC leads cost 61% more than organic leads generated via content
- 1739% of marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget specifically for organic search ROI
- 18Interactive content costs 20% more to produce but generates 2x the conversion rate
- 1950% of marketers say that producing content consistently is their biggest budget challenge
- 20B2C marketers allocate on average 32% of their total marketing budget to content marketing
Interpretation
Taken together, these numbers show that content marketing is the frugal powerhouse of modern marketing, often costing around 62% less than traditional methods, earning as much as $36 for every $1 via email and three times the leads per dollar versus outbound, rewarding consistency, repurposing and outsourcing, and driving most brands to shift big chunks of budget toward video, search, influencers and interactive formats even as half say keeping up production is their biggest challenge.
Lead Generation & Conversion
- 1Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less
- 2Companies with a documented content strategy are 413% more likely to report success than those without one
- 372% of marketers say content marketing increases engagement and number of leads
- 4Content marketing provides conversion rates that are nearly 6x higher than other methods
- 574% of companies indicate that content marketing is increasing their marketing teams lead quality and quantity
- 6Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound marketing
- 760% of people are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it
- 8Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads
- 993% of B2B marketers say content marketing generates more leads than traditional marketing strategies
- 10Companies that nurture leads generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost
- 1187% of B2B marketers use content marketing to generate leads
- 12Marketing automation can result in a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead
- 1357% of marketers report custom content was their top marketing priority for lead gen
- 14Brands that rely on content marketing save over $14 on every new customer acquired
- 15After reading recommendations on a blog 61% of online consumers made a purchase
- 1682% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content
- 1770% of consumers feel closer to a company as a result of content marketing
- 18Long-form content generates 9x more leads than short-form content
- 1967% of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make purchasing decisions than they did a year ago
- 20B2B companies with a blog yield 67% more leads per month than those without
Interpretation
Taken together, these stats make the argument impossible to ignore: content marketing delivers far more and higher-quality leads at a fraction of the cost of outbound tactics, a documented strategy multiplies your chances of success, nurturing and automation boost conversions and average order size while long-form posts and blogs feed the funnel and make customers feel closer and more positive about your brand, so treating content as optional is basically paying to lose.
SEO Traffic & Awareness
- 1Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors
- 272% of online marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic
- 3Websites with a blog have 434% more indexed pages
- 4Organic search is the primary source of traffic for 53.3% of all websites
- 595% of people only look at the first page of search results
- 6Updating and republishing old blog posts with new content and images can increase organic traffic by as much as 106%
- 747% of buyers view 3 to 5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep
- 8The average first-page result on Google contains 1447 words
- 9Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website
- 1061% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority
- 1180% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement
- 12Using keywords in the title tag is still the most significant on-page SEO factor
- 1368% of all online experiences begin with a search engine
- 14The top result in Google's organic search results has an average CTR of 31.7%
- 1575% of users never scroll past the first page of search results
- 16Compounding blog posts make up 10% of all blog posts and generate 38% of overall traffic
- 1749% of marketers say that organic search is the content distribution channel with the highest ROI
- 18Content marketing generates over 4x more traffic than traditional marketing for small businesses
- 1950% of search queries are 4 words or longer making long-tail content vital
- 20High-quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google to rank your website for search
Interpretation
Think of blogging as your website's compound interest; consistently publishing and refreshing high-quality, keyword-focused long-form posts that earn links and first-page rankings for long-tail queries will drive far more organic traffic, leads and ROI than ads.
Strategic & Adoption
- 173% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy but only 40% have documented it
- 269% of the most successful marketers have a documented content marketing strategy
- 391% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers
- 486% of B2C marketers think content marketing is a key strategy for their organization
- 564% of marketers want to learn how to build a better content strategy
- 678% of CMOs believe custom content is the future of marketing
- 794% of small businesses use content marketing as a primary strategy
- 860% of marketers create at least one piece of content each day
- 951% of businesses that invest in content marketing publish content every day
- 1063% of businesses don’t have a documented content strategy
- 1188% of B2B marketers agree that creating content makes their audience view the organization as a credible and trusted resource
- 1272% of marketers report that having a good content strategy was a major key to their success in 2023
- 1358% of marketers said original research was the content type that produced the best results
- 1442% of B2B marketers say they’re effective at content marketing
- 15The top three goals of content marketing are creating brand awareness educating audiences and building credibility
- 1696% of the most successful content marketers agree their organization helps build audiences
- 1754% of successful B2B marketers rely on a centralized content marketing group
- 1870% of marketers are updating older content as part of their strategy
- 1932% of marketers check their content marketing metrics weekly
- 20Only 21% of B2B marketers claim to be successful at tracking ROI
Interpretation
Content marketing is the go-to for credibility and audience growth, embraced by nearly everyone, but the catch is that only the most successful teams actually document their strategy, centralize efforts, update and research content, and regularly track performance; it's no wonder only 21% can demonstrate ROI.
