Every marketer out there has heard, at one time or the other, that content is king. Quite frankly, we believe that – and we believe that statement has been overused too. Statistics are more important than a worn out marketing phrase. And statistics show that quality content is actually the real power.
It is either many don’t understand that the content being talked about is quality content, or they just don’t know how important that content is at all. We also know that it is easy to hammer on and on about our perceived importance of content – but that would be full of bias. That is why we will let the statistics do the talking today.
When we’re done, you can see from there whether or not you have been treating your content with the kingly respect it deserves.
Relevance
HubSpot research concluded that 55% of marketers believe blog content creation is the top inbound marketing practice for them. That number represents way more than half of the marketers on that survey, and they must have had something going for them if they all weighed in that direction.
They didn’t go with ads. They didn’t go with any of the other marketing buzzwords that seem to be taking up the entire space today. They went, instead, with content creation.
Consumer Knowledge
The difference between making a sale and being stuck trying to convert a prospect is not usually the product – or the functionality it offers the user. It is likely the lack of knowledge that a customer has toward a product.
Afterall, about 52% of buyers are of the strong notion that relevant content packaged together by brands helps make a buying decision faster.
This means you should not just create content, but you should create relevant content.
Anticipate the grey areas around what you are offering and put out content to fix it. The faster everyone knows everything they are getting themselves into, the faster they can build a relationship with you.
Global Reach
If Statista is to be trusted, as they should, the digital population of the world is more than 4 billion. The interesting thing is that this number will only continue to grow, and it has already accounted for more than half of the entire world’s population.
Putting that in context, you have a market of about 4.4 billion people who you can reach by just going online.
Of course, you don’t have their emails, phone numbers, or contact details. That makes content the only way you can tap into your target markets.
Without that content, you are missing out on serious opportunities.
Local Reach
A business needs to first conquer its locality if it is to conquer the world.
As of the time of this writing, it is estimated that some 50% of potential buyers conduct a local search for a business and visit within 24 hours. We don’t want to sound redundant here, but you already know the only way you will show up in searches is if you have created relevant content.
Why lose all that potential market just by sitting idle on your content strategy? Content drives search regardless of the platform or engine. You need to be there with great content to grow your local fan base for your brand.
Statistics on ROI
We have yet to meet a business that didn’t care about its Return On Investment – as it should be. That makes it important to note that content marketing will generate up to 3x the amount you invested in it.
Seeing that in another way, it means your content marketing will soon be able to pay for itself while lining your pockets in the same vein.
The bigger advantage here is that it sets up your website/ blog for the long-term haul. After your initial traffic attempts, you get to start acquiring new visitors at a lower cost while keeping the old ones that have come of their own will.
This averages to give you an even better value for your money in the long run. With a long term perspective your growth develops relationships instead of just transactions.
Power is Everything
The brands that know how powerful an impact their content has on consumers have been leveraging this to achieve a better sales report for years now.
The buyers themselves have now weighed in on the matter. In fact, about 34% of consumers in one survey agreed that they will make an unplanned purchase if they receive personalized content from a brand.
There are two takeaways in the above:
- These prospects won’t just be willing to make a purchase, but actually make one.
- These relationships had no intentions of buying anything but were turned by the content they got.
We don’t know about you, but that is some serious power waiting to be tapped into.
Purchasing Tilt
For those who have been following, you should have seen that content influences consumers to make a purchase. If that has not been obvious, it should interest you to know that a stunning 64% of consumers will purchase something if they watched a marketing video of it (common on Facebook).
This is not just applicable to your everyday buyer persona.
Considering that 65% of senior executives will visit a website after seeing a YouTube video on a related product, that is some serious traffic stream for you. Worked well with the right copy, that traffic stream will become a relationship driven income stream.
Industry Opinion
It is one thing for a strategy to work. Having that strategy work for you is yet another thing.
Thus, we believe content marketing is only a shining star if it can get the job done for you – bar the impressive statistics we have been getting so far.
Fortunately for us, 72% of marketers (globally) believe that the creation of relevant content is the single most important tactic for SEO. They also have the backing of the brands they work for – given as these brands spend 25 – 43% of their marketing allocation on content creation.
If your industry is going in on content like this, it is a given that you must create high quality engaging content to build long term relationships.
Conclusion
Like we said at the start of the piece, our goal today is not to convince you go into content marketing. We will let the statistics speak for themselves.
We see your choices as two options. Either start developing and implementing a content strategy today, or wait till your top competitors do so instead. Let us be your advocate to help you grow. Schedule a free initial consultation today with a member of our team today.