The 75 Essential Content MarketingStats You Need To Know

Everything from budgets to metrics to effectiveness. Here’s what’s happening with content marketing right now.

What is Content Marketing?“Content marketing is the marketing and businessprocess for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

— Content Marketing Institute

Testing Content Marketing’sRising Tide

1How Content

is Being Used by Marketers

2Content

Marketing Goals& Initiatives

3Content

Marketing fromthe Audience Perspective

4

5 6 7Content Marketing

ChallengesContent Marketing

EffectivenessThe Super-Charged Results of Interactive Content Experiences

Infographic Sections

Content Marketing’sRising Tide

S E C T I O N  1

“Content is the reason search began in the first place.”

— Lee Odden, TopRank Marketing

27,000,000 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared each day.

AOL

86% of B2B companies use content marketing.

86%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

On average, 28% of marketing budgetis now allocated towards content marketing.

28 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

77% of B2C companies usecontent marketing.

77 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

of marketers expect to increase content marketing spending in the next 12 months.55%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

59% of marketers create at least onepiece of content each week.

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

Content marketing is the top area of investmentfor the next 12 months.

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

B2B marketers use an average of13 content marketing tactics.

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

said their organization hasa dedicated contentmarketing group.47 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

70% of B2B marketers are creating more content than they did 1 year ago.

70 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

Best-in-class content marketers plan to increase content marketing related program spend by an

average of 22% over the next 12 months.

Aberdeen

42% of content marketers publish new contentto support content marketing strategies

multiple times a week.

42 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

54% of marketers are prioritizing contentmarketing hiring over any other

type of marketing.

54 %

Kapost

“Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.”

— Seth Godin

How Content is BeingUsed by Marketers

S E C T I O N  2

How content marketers distribute content:

94%88% 84%

72%

64%41%

33%24%

14% 12% 11% 10% 9% 5%

20%

SnapChatVineTumblrFoursquare

StumbleUpon

LinkedInTwitter

Facebook

YouTube

Google+

SlideSharePinterest

InstagramVimeo

Flickr

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

Content marketing tactics used:

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

On average, 3 paid advertising methods are usedto promote/distribute content.

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

80% of B2B content marketing assetsrequire registration to access.

80%

Email

REGISTER

Name

Jeff Zabin, Starfleet Media

Content Marketing Goals& Initiatives

S E C T I O N 3

“Content is anything that addsvalue to the reader’s life.”

— Avinash Kaushik, Google

55% of content marketers are currently working on better understanding what content is effective. 31% plan to

begin working on it within 12 months.

55%

31%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

63% of content marketers are currently working on better converting visitors to the website. 23% plan

to begin working on it within 12 months.

63%23%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

84% of content marketers rank brand awareness asa highly important goal for their content marketing.

84 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

69% of content marketers are currently working oncreating more engaging/higher quality content.19% plan

to begin working on it within 12 months.

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

54% of content marketers are currently workingon creating a greater variety of content. 28% plan to

begin working within 12 months.

54%28%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

63% of content marketers are currently working onfinding more and better ways to repurpose content.23% plan to begin working on it within 12 months.

63%23%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

Percentage of marketers who identifythese as their goals:

Brand Awareness 84%

Lead Generation 83%

Engagement 81%

Sales 75%

Lead Nurturing 74%

Customer Retention 69%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

60% of content marketers are currently workingon creating visual content. 26% plan to begin

working on it within 12 months.

60 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

63% of content marketers are currently workingon better understanding their audience.

21% plan to begin working on itwithin 12 months.

63 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

How marketers measure success:

Brand Awareness 84%

Lead Generation 83%

Engagement 81%

Sales 75%

Lead Nurturing 74%

Customer Retention 69%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

58% of content marketers are currentlyworking on optimizing content. 26% plan to

begin working within 12 months.

58%

26%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

Content Marketing from the Audience Perspective

S E C T I O N  4

“Content marketing is all about telling a compelling story.”

— Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute

20% of Internet Users’ online timeis spent on content.

20 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

In the past 12 months, buyers have used thiscontent to research purchasing decisions:

Whitepapers 78%

Case Studies 73%

Webinars 67%

eBooks 58%

Videos 58%

Blog Posts 56%

Infographics 52%

Interactive Presentations 28%

ROI Calculators 25%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs

68% of users spend time reading aboutbrands that interest them.

68 %

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

60% of people are inspired to seek outa product after reading about it.

60 %

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

55.8% of B2B buyers frequently accessbusiness-related content on mobile phones.g

55.8 %

B2B Content Preferences Survey: Buyers Want Short, Visual, Mobile-Optimized Content

82% of consumers feel more positive abouta company after reading custom content.

82 %

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

80% of people enjoy learning about companiesthrough custom content.

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

70% of people would rather learn about companiesthrough an article than an advert.

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

70% of consumers feel closer to a company asa result of content marketing.

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

95% of B2B buyers prefer shortercontent formats.

B2B Content Preferences Survey: Buyers Want Short, Visual, Mobile-Optimized Content

Content MarketingChallenges

S E C T I O N  5

“Content is king.”

— Bill Gates

Only 38% of marketers say their contentmarketing is effective.c

38 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

81% of marketers cite the ability to create compelling content as one of the biggest challenges

of content marketing.

81 %

Jeff Zabin, Starfleet Media

Challenges B2B marketers face:

Producing Content Consistently 50%

Measuring Content Effectiveness 49%

Producing a Variety of Content 42%

Lack of Budget 41%

Integration Across Marketing 30%

Buy-in from Higher Ups 29%

Tech Related Challenges 20%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

58% of marketers say content doesn’tcreate opportunity for engagement.

58 %

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

29% of marketers say their content isn’tgenerating interest or attention.

29 %

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

29% of marketers say content formatsare boring or uninspiring.

29 %

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

Only 39% of marketing professionals consider themselves at least somewhat successful

in tracking ROI of content marketing.f

B2B Content Marketing Report

29% of marketers say long-form contentis too hard to absorb.

B2B Content Marketing Report

46% of content marketers are currently working on measuring content marketing ROI. 36% plan to begin

working within 12 months.

36 %46 %

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

Content MarketingChallenges

S E C T I O N  6

“You need to createridiculously good content– content that is useful,enjoyable and inspired.”

— Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs

Content marketing costs 62% less thantraditional marketing and generates about

3 times as many leads.

62 %

Demand Metric

Content marketing produces three timesmore leads per each dollar spent.

3X Kapost

53% of marketers rank content creationas the single most effective SEO tactic.

53 %

Cursive

In the last 12 months, Best-in-Class companies increased content marketing-based

leads by 18%.

18 %

Aberdeen

Website conversion rate is nearly 6x higher for content marketing adopters than it is

for non-adopters.

6X Aberdeen

41% of organizations with content marketing programssay they see an increase in brand awareness.

41 %

MarketingLand

7.8X Year-over-year growth in unique site traffic

is 7.8x higher for content marketing leaders thanit is for content marketing followers.

Aberdeen

51% of companies report that leads from content marketing are of higher qualitythan those generated through other means.

51 %

Aberdeen

What content marketing tactics are most effective?

Webinars/Webcasts 64%

Videos 60%

Blogs 60%

Case Studies 58%

Research Reports 58%

eNewsletters 55%

eBooks 55%

Microsites 54%

2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends - North America by Content Marketing

Institute and MarketingProfs

48% of organizations with content marketingprograms say it results in engagement

with customers and prospects.

48 %

MarketingLand

On average, companies with blogs produce67% more leads per month.

67 %

A Guide to Marketing Genius: Content Marketing

The super-charged resultsof interactive content

experiences

S E C T I O N  7

88% said interactive content is somewhator very effective at differentiating from competitors,

versus just 55% for static content.

55%88% vs

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

93% said interactive content is somewhat orvery effective at educating the buyer, versus just

70% for static content.

93%

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TIV

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STA

TIC

70%

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

38% said interactive content is somewhat or veryeffective at being shared, versus just

17% for static content.

38 % 17 %vs Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

Interactive content generates conversionsmoderately or very well 70% of the time, compared

to just 36% for passive content.

70 % 36 %vs

Demand Metric's Lead Generation Benchmark Report for 2014

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