3 Content Marketing Facts Every Small Business Should Know

Feeling overwhelmed with trying to keep up with content marketing facts?

There’s a lot of statistics out there, and you find yourself glossing over them. But keeping up on content marketing facts helps you make informed decisions about which trends to follow and how to adjust to changes in your industry.

Although you think you don’t have the time to do this research, you must know these content marketing facts.

Here is why you should keep reading—

81% of retail shoppers do research online before buying, according to this list of statistics by Invoca. And B2B clients are doing more research online and on their own, which means they aren’t solely relying on vendors for product or service-related information.

Your content marketing should answer their questions, provide them with the details they need to decide on a purchase, and give them the confidence that they’ve made the right choice.

While you should know several content marketing facts, we’ve put together three of the most essential content marketing facts.

Rather than overwhelm yourself trying to know and implement everything and then end up doing nothing, start small.  Imagine how your business would change in 90 days if you consistently integrated these three facts into your content marketing strategy.

Fact #1: Customers Read About Brands- A Lot!

Think about yourself as a consumer.  If you are a coffee drinker, you loved following the story of the most obnoxious Starbucks order of all time. Or, if you are the adventurous type, GoPros’ photos of the day give you a rush.

And if you’re on the B2B side, you’ve downloaded enough white papers and read enough case studies to last your lifetime.

Case in point—

According to Demand Metric, 68% of people spend time reading about brands that interest them, and 70% of people would instead learn about a brand through an article than an advertisement. 

In the B2B world, Google reports that almost 90% of B2B clients read information online about their potential purchases. And according to Marketing Charts, B2B buyers read 13 pieces of content (8 directly from the vendor) before making a buying decision.

The format also matters.  OkDork reported that their analysis of over 100 million articles in eight months that the following types of written content received the most shares:

• Long-form content (3,000-10,000 words);
• Quizzes; and
• List posts.

These statistics show how written content is a must for your business.  And you can’t take a one-and-done approach.  Like all content, you need to be consistent, whether it is once a week or every two weeks.

Not a writer? Then you can either hire one or learn how to repurpose the content you do like creating.  For example, if you feel more comfortable with video, use the transcript as a foundation to start a blog post.

For your leads and customers, written content does the following:

• Gives them a non-intrusive method of learning about your business;
• Allows them to experience your brand and decide whether it’s a good fit;
• Gives them value before they open their wallet; and
• Makes them more likely to take action.

For your business, written content has these benefits:

• Drives traffic through search engine optimization (SEO);
• Allows for engagement and feedback;
• Provides an opportunity for conversion; and
• Reinforces your brand, so customers don’t get confused.

No excuses.  Get writing!

Fact #2: Videos Are More Than Entertainment

What do you do when you are bored, need to learn something, or want a break?  You likely watch a video.  Remember when scaring cats with cucumbers was all the rage? Or maybe (like me) you’re more into goats that sound like humans?

Look at Khan Academy. Its whole premise is online learning through video lessons.

And how many times have you been in a store and pulled out your smartphone to check prices, specifications, or availability?

I’m sure you guessed it, but these statistics support your experience and the general population.

Sixteen hours of video is how much people watch on average per week, according to Wyzowl.  And most people (84%) said that a brand’s video convinced them to buy a product or service.  

And YouTube? Google reported that in an average week, YouTube reaches more 18–49-year-olds than all cable TV networks.

Vidyard identified the most common types of videos as webinars, demos, and social media videos. Businesses embed these videos most often on websites, social media, and landing pages.

More than half of shoppers use online video while shopping in a store, according to Google’s research as cited by OptinMonster.

YouTube will always be relevant for laughs and escapism, but videos across all mediums help consumers become aware of and learn about products and services. Video provides a format to showcase your product or service in an easily digestible, accessible way. 

Customers aren’t just watching videos while they’re sitting at home or in the office. These videos are also being used as part of the shopping experience, and more importantly, the decision-making process in stores in real-time.

Videos are part of the entire customer lifecycle.

If you aren’t doing them because they seem like a lot of work, here are three ways to deal with that:

• Repurpose videos and photos that you already have.
• Use the video tools on a platform like Canva to help bring your content to life for free.
• Practice your shooting and lighting, so your videos look polished even if you’re not a pro.

Brush up on those skills, and your content will be wowing and wooing customers in no time. Who knows, you may even have a viral hit on your hands!

Fact #3: You Have to Measure Your Content Marketing Efforts

You’ve put time and effort into your email newsletter.  Finally, you see decent open rates.  You are ecstatic.  Then, without warning, your open rates plummeted. 

What happened? 

If this occurred in the fall of 2021, then what happened is the Apple iOS15 update that introduced mail privacy protection, which impacted the data email marketers could get. 

Relying on only one metric is dangerous as platforms are ever-changing.

But what should you measure?

It depends, and it’s not always easy.

Marketing Charts reported that about 60% of marketers find it moderately or extremely difficult to measure the performance of their content marketing efforts.

Challenges noted included:

• Lack of budget and resources;
• Difficulties in determining return on investment (ROI);
• Limited data;
• Lack of a solid strategy; and
• Gaps in how sales and conversions are being assigned to touchpoints in different channels.

The most important metrics to measure content marketing performance were:

• Conversion rate;
• Website traffic;
• Social media engagement;
• Email engagement;
• Download/form completions; and
• Source/acquisition metrics.

You must be wondering, “Where does this leave me?”

What metrics you should measure depends on the context.  Databox outlines four steps to create a measurement framework for your business and specific campaigns.

1. Set a goal.  Sometimes you are happy enough just to get the content published.  But it’s impossible to evaluate your content if you don’t have a goal.
2. Determine how to measure progress toward your goal.  Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics specific to your goal. For example, you have KPIs related to the number of emails delivered, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, bounce rate, forwards, and conversions for email marketing.
3. Identify how you will measure your KPIs. Plug-ins and platforms typically have data analytics.  For example, if you have Google Analytics on your website, you have data on page views, average session duration, bounce rate, and new vs. returning visitors.
4. Review and revise as necessary. Look at your data over multiple time points to see if the content performed as you thought it should.  If not, then change an aspect and test again.

Final points—

Are there more statistics out there that are important to your content marketing?

Absolutely.

Do you need to know all of them to get started?

No.

Don’t make the common mistake of overwhelming yourself and then not doing anything at all. Take the first step to understand these three fundamental facts. Secondly, consistently implement solid written content, informative videos, and a measurement framework into your content marketing. Once you do that, then you can get fancy.