7 Unique Statistics that Confirm Content is King in Marketing

Ah, to work in the glamorous, sexy and cocktail-rich world of Madison Avenue, circa Mad Men. Instead, most content creators work in much smaller offices – or even at home – as they scramble to provide the original and information-rich content their subscribers, followers and prospective customers, clients and patients are looking for. Is this all a waste of time? Or, are we still playing in an era when Content is King?

Statistics Show Us Content is Still King. Tap Into Your Draper-Esque Intuition & Give Them What They Want

While you may wish your company’s marketing strategies could migrate more towards quick Tweets, catchy Facebook postings/offers and other “short” approaches, the statistics tell us that content is the main means of cultivating qualified leads and converting them into sales. Here are 7 interesting stats to prove our point:

1. Searches for “content marketing” are up. Google Trends tells us that online searches using the words “content marketing” are up by 400% since 2011. If it didn’t matter, people wouldn’t be looking for it. Pay close attention to your company’s stats to tap into the information your prospective customers are looking for.
2. Emotional marketing messages work twice as well as promotional ones. What made Don Draper such a star (in addition to his looks, sex appeal, appealing lack of syrupy charm, etc.) was his uncanny ability to tap into the hearts and minds of the target audience. Similarly, the CEB Leadership Council found that businesses who focus on emotional marketing messages first, and then promotional content second, are twice as successful at selling their products and services. Because online searches are so efficient at highlighting industry leaders in terms of SERP result orders, customers already know who the “best” companies are. Thus, they want the page they land on to tell them how you can meet their needs or answer their questions, not how great you are – and content is the best means of doing so.
3. Brands using content-rich marketing have significantly higher conversion rates. Percussion, formerly Aberdeen, spends a tremendous amount of time doing market research in order to promote their products. As a result, they have found that brands who use content-rich marketing have 6 to 7x higher conversion rates than their competitors. You know those heart stopping moments when Draper’s team is about to lose the advertiser? It’s usually Don Draper’s compelling words that sell his team’s ideas in the end, and it’s your compelling content that will do the same for you if it comes down to the wire.
4. Office workers check their email inboxes about 30 times per HOUR. According to com, office workers check their email an average of 30x per hour. That is PER HOUR, people, not PER DAY. What does this tell you about the importance of your company’s email newsletters? We hope your answer is, “a whole lot!” Make sure those subject lines are in spit-spot form and make newsletter content as engaging as possible. Email messages didn’t exist in Don Draper’s world but we suspect his newsletters and offers would have had record-number click-thru rates due to his ability to give the people exactly what they wanted, or didn’t even know they wanted yet.
5. Interesting content is a top reason why people follow you. Or, in the reverse, lack of interesting content may be the main reason why they don’t. Surveys conducted by the Social Media Strategies Summit found that interesting content is one of the main reasons why people follow a particular brand. If your content rocks – you will gain more followers. It’s really that simple. Also interesting to note, the reasons that trumped content – “promotions and discounts” or “to learn more about products and services” are also content-related.
6. Content marketing makes a huge impact on B2B marketing. It’s no surprise that those who work in the marketing arena are more critical when it comes to other companies’ marketing tactics. For that reason, 87% of B2B buyers say that content has an impact over vendor selection. Content marketing helps B2B buyers sort through the fat in order to find the meat. Look at Don Draper’s lifestyle; he didn’t mess around with any brands that didn’t deliver the very highest-quality products and services. He paid attention to the content!
7. As much as 70% of content is never used. Wait! Doesn’t this contradict the idea that content is king? Nope. The reason for this statistic is that content matters so much, that smart marketers know better than to publish sub-par posts or verbiage. Don Draper had no problem saying, “scrap it and start over” if he felt an ad missed the mark or wasn’t good enough – even though the ad was created on the company dime. Don’t be afraid to invest in surplus content from your writers and/or staff so your company has the ability to post the best of the best and still keep up with the publishing schedule.

So there you have it: compelling reasons why content is still king in today’s world of digital marketing. Wondering where to start with your content marketing program? Contact Kaufer DMC today!

Written by David Kaufer

David Kaufer is Founding Partner and Chief Dynamic Office in Kaufer DMC. He’s also a huge Oregon Ducks & Microbrew nut, Dad of awesome 9-year-old twin boys, husband, and big Sustainability and Autism advocate.