Everywhere you go, it seems that someone is talking about how great content marketing is. Searches for the phrase “content marketing” on Google remained pretty steady from 2004 through 2010, when the search term suddenly took off. By September 2017, the number of searches for content marketing had quadrupled since 2004.
But what’s the value of content marketing, and why is everyone so excited about it? Content marketing has a lot to offer brands. Here’s why.
It Helps Your Brand Achieve Its Goals
Your brand has goals, right? Ideally, the answer to that question is yes. Whether you want to get more customers, increase your number of blog readers, get more subscribers on YouTube, or get more people to sign up for your email list, you need content to do it.
Generally speaking, brands that use content marketing find it pretty darn effective when it comes to helping them achieve their goals. The Content Marketing Institute’s B2B Content Marketing 2016 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America report found that 30 percent of marketers rated their content marketing as either a 4 or 5 in terms of effectiveness when asked how well it helped them “accomplish your overall objectives.” Another 44 percent ranked their content marketing as a 3, or “somewhat effective.”
Of course, how long a brand’s been at the content marketing game had some influence on how effective they thought their marketing was. Those who had the most experience with content marketing were the most likely to rate their campaigns as effective. This just goes to show that practice really does make perfect — or at the very least, it makes content marketing more effective.
It Gives You a Lot of Bang for Your Buck
The 2017 State of the Creator Economy (SOCE) study found that nearly 30 percent of US marketers have a content marketing budget of more than $500,000. But here’s a secret: The value of content marketing doesn’t only lie in its effectiveness.
It also lies in its price tag. The SOCE found that most marketers were willing to pay way more than the average content creator charges for a project. For example, content marketers typically expect topic overview videos to cost twice as much as the average video maker charges. While a marketer might be ready to shell out more than $1,200, the average creator is charging just over $600. Marketers are often ready to drop more than $600 on an infographic, while creators are charging just over $150.
If the perceived price of content marketing is hold your brand back, now’s the time to jump in. It’s likely that your creators are going to charge you way less than you’re expecting to pay.
Consumers Spend a Lot of Time With Content
One last factoid that illustrates the value of content marketing is that consumers spend a lot of time with content.
According to the SOCE, there are more than 20 content marketing opportunities per consumer per month. The average person visits almost 400 websites a month, and reads more than 200 articles.
The average internet user spends 20 percent of his or her time online with content, according to Demand Metric. Plus, nearly 60 percent of people read at least one content marketing title per month, and 70 percent of people want to spend time reading up on or learning about brands they’re interested in.
Content that appears on brands’ websites is one of the most trusted forms of advertising. Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising study found that 70 percent of people trust what they read on a brand’s website, which is more than the number of people who trust consumer reviews posted online (66 percent).
Is your brand using content marketing? With its high rates of effectiveness, budget-conscious pricing, and high levels of consumer trust, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be.