This week, more than 4,000 people from around the world gathered in Cleveland, Ohio, not for political or sports related reasons, but to learn more about content marketing at the largest industry event, Content Marketing World. With more than 225 speakers and 550 companies also getting involved with the festivities, these numbers beg one question—why is content marketing such a big draw?
The demand for content is higher than ever. The distribution network is massive and thriving. In just one minute, people like Facebook posts 4,166,667 times and Instagram posts 2,430,555 times, upload 300 hours of video to YouTube and send nearly 350,000 tweets.
That is likely why about 90 percent of brands have attempted marketing with various forms content. But how has content marketing developed over the past few years?
Modern Content Marketing
Standard banner ads that first graced the internet in the ‘90s now only garner a .12 percent click through rate, and adblocking grew by 41 percent from 2014 to 2015. Conversely, digital media consumption has increased by 49 percent since 2013, and content marketing will generate more than $300 billion by 2019.
Additionally, brands that blog are 13 times more likely to generate a return on investment versus those that don’t. And personalized content is driving 56 percent greater engagement among target audiences. Finally, digital ad spending will surpass TV spending this year.
These stats (and there are plenty more that prove the point!) show that static advertisements no longer garner the results brands need to survive, but rather highly educational, highly relevant content is needed to drive engagement and garner sales.
What This Means for Brands
For B2B marketers specifically, the No. 1 goal of their content marketing efforts is generating brand awareness. And it’s working: 74 percent of the general public trusts content from businesses that aim to educate readers about a particular topic as long as it does not push a sale.
Furthermore, B2B companies are reporting increased:
- sales lead quality (87 percent)
- sales (84 percent)
- high conversion rates (82 percent)
- sales lead quantity (71 percent)
- website traffic (71 percent)
- brand lift (69 percent)
- SEO ranking (87 percent)
To capitalize on this sort of success, brands should concentrate on creating high-value, highly informative content and distributing it across all channels, especially video and social media.
Need some inspiration to get started? Check out brands doing it right, including Marriott, Intel, McDonald’s and Microsoft. Because, yes, content marketing is still a thing.
Did you attend Content Marketing World 2016? Let us know your favorite insights in the comment section below!
