Marketers live and die by the numbers. Data helps them plan campaigns, measure success, and make business decisions. With 2015 already half over, we wanted to take a look at some statistics that caught our eye.
These metrics highlight the trends in the industry and point us toward future marketing success.
A General Outlook
In a survey of 745 marketers, a quarter of respondents are devoting more than 50% of their budgets to content.
It’s been a long and steady path for content marketing, but at this point, the numbers don’t lie. With content taking up more and more marketing budget dollars, this is a good signpost of where the industry is going. More professionals are putting their money where their mouths are, and content is bigger than ever.
63% of panelists reported an increase in spending on data-driven marketing and advertising over the past year.
Big data has been a major buzzword across the business world of late, and marketing pros can take advantage of these insights. Putting the power of information behind your business decisions—including marketing—can yield positive results, and this increase in spending on the subject shows how many people believe in this strategy.
54% of client-side marketers said that bottlenecks caused by IT and web development teams are their biggest pain points.
The push into digital campaigns has also changed marketers’ biggest challenges. Sure, budgets are still an issue, but the top problem cited in this survey was happening within IT and web development teams. Lack of time to test and optimize campaigns was the second most common pain point, with 47%. As more departments leverage new technical tools, it’s important that the various programs and groups can work together with ease.
75% of content marketers release new content at least monthly, and 16.52% put new content out daily.
The Internet never sleeps. There’s always new content coming out, and material focused on marketing is no different. More and more brands have realized the importance of maintaining a calendar and schedule in their content strategies, and anyone who has yet to get on that bandwagon will need to do so in order to compete.
Stats on B2B Marketing
98% of B2B marketers say content marketing is core to their marketing strategy.
Marketers know the best ways to connect, and those focusing on reaching businesses have fully concentrated their efforts on content. This stat proves just how thorough the transition to content marketing has been in 2015, and shows that it’s unlikely to let up over the course of the year.
95% of B2B buyers prefer shorter content formats.
With so much of content marketing staying within the business world, understanding what and how people want to read and share can be a big competitive edge. It’s no surprise that busy professionals are voicing preferences for content that is short, snappy, and easy to digest.
78% of respondents said video was their most leveraged content type.
Our interest in quick consumption means that video has risen in popularity. It’s increasingly common for this medium to play a starring role in content strategies, while other channels have gotten comfortable in the supporting roles.
On average, B2B marketers employ 12 to 14 content formats.
Just because video is the current darling of the industry doesn’t mean other channels should be neglected. Quite the contrary. Smart B2B marketers are casting a wide net. So yes, do put your resources behind video, but remember that a holistic strategy still needs other formats in order to have the best chance for success.
Inefficiency in content production results in an estimated $958 million each year in excessive spend for mid-to-large B2B companies.
Being a strategic marketer isn’t all about data and numbers; it also takes streamlined processes to ensure your team is getting the most out of their time and resources. Without them, companies are wasting significant budget.
Stats on Mobile Marketing
80% of Internet users own a smartphone.
The mobile takeover is real. Personal computers and laptops are still in the top spot for ownership among Internet users at 91%, but smartphone ownership for this large demographic is drawing even. Even tablet share is improving, with 47% ownership. This means that marketers need to be making their materials available (and making sure they look good) across a range of devices.
71% of marketers believe mobile marketing is core to their business.
The growing popularity of mobile platforms has gone hand-in-hand with important new opportunities for marketing professionals. For the marketing field to be so fully on board with the need for mobile-friendly material this early in the game is an indicator of how quickly smartphones and tablets have come to have dominance. If you’re not in that 71% yet, it may be time to reassess your strategy.
In Q1 2015, mobile video views increased 100% year-over-year.
That may seem stratospheric, but it’s nothing compared to the more than 360% increase in views between Q1 2015 and Q1 2013. In the past few years, mobile has proven itself as a viable platform for the most popular marketing format. When you’re preparing any marketing videos, expect that a good chunk of your views will come on smartphones, and to a lesser extent, tablets.
Stats on Social Media Marketing
On Twitter, 55% of tweets contain a photo, and 31% contain a link.
Content marketers have to think about two things: the best method for sharing information and the best channels for distribution. That means knowing what kind of content will perform well on what platform. If your brand is focused on Twitter, it’s worth knowing what type of tweets are common. It’s an increasingly visual network, with more than half of tweets including an image.
The amount of video on Facebook, from both people and brands, increased 3.6 times year-over-year.
Visual content on Facebook is also snowballing, but here it’s more likely to be video. Thanks to the auto-playing features the social network rolled out, this may be one of the best places to get your video content into circulation.
The average Internet user has 5 social accounts and uses 3 each month.
Facebook and Twitter still tend to dominate the social business conversations, but this stat proves that there’s plenty of activity happening on other channels. That said, nobody can be equally attentive to LinkedIn, Google+, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest all at once. In order to best reach their desired audiences, marketers will need to dig deeper to find their people. The more you know about that goal audience, the better you’ll be able to target the channels where your content should be.
source: http://www.business2community.com/marketing/the-most-important-marketing-stats-of-2015-so-far-01268262#YWePE33X4YFHBwuT.99
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