Using Marketing Statistics to Drive Your Content Strategy
It was the father of American literature himself, Mark Twain, who said that numbers don’t lie. But numbers alone can’t actually say anything at all. They need to be put into context to understand how to make the numbers, or the statistics, work from a marketing perspective.
An effective way to ensure you remain relevant and up to date with your marketing activities is by keeping an eye on the latest marketing statistics. Analyze what they mean for you and how you can leverage the numbers for the benefit of your content marketing strategy.
First, let’s take a look at some of the most currently relevant numbers for marketers. Here are some of the statistics most pertinent to content strategy and blogging which may give you food for thought:
- The majority of internet users say they are regular blog readers. Three-quarters say they regularly read blog posts. (Quoracreative)
- Marketers who make sure their blog strategy is a key priority are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI. (HubSpot)
- 55% of marketers say that their top inbound marketing priority is blog creation. (HubSpot)
- More than a third of people prefer list-type headlines. (IMPACT)
- Two-thirds of marketers are using blogs as part of their social media strategy. (Social Media Examiner)
- One of the best ways to improve consumer confidence in what your content has to say is to use statistics within your blog posts. (Forbes)
- A third of marketers say images are vital to their content strategy. (HubSpot)
- Content marketing creates three times more leads than paid search advertising. (Content Marketing Institute)
So those are the numbers, but what do the numbers actually mean for you and your marketing strategy.
Combining Statistics with the Human Touch
It’s not easy to think about numbers in conjunction with content. People are often divided between whether they have an affinity for numbers or for words. But the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Ensuring you are aware of the latest content marketing statistics and trends can really help you to focus your content marketing strategy.
You can use the numbers to ensure that you are giving your readers, or users, content in the form they want, that is easy to digest, and that, importantly, will yield results, whether you are looking to grow your audience, conversions or revenue, or all of these.
You need to know not just what your audience is interested in – which is where your SEO strategy could come in to discover the most searched for keywords among your target audience. But, you really do need to know how they would like to consume that content. For example, do the statistics reveal that your existing, and potential, audience would like you to include imagery? Do they want more headings and sections? How often should you be blogging? Where should you be concentrating your marketing budget?
Ensuring you aren’t developing your content marketing strategy in a “bubble” but are looking at the wider picture. The statistics that are available to you can elevate your efforts and get you the ROI you are looking for.
Having taken a look at some of the most recent numbers, here’s a quick reminder of some of the tips you can draw from the statistics to add value to your digital marketing strategy:
- Use imagery. This makes your content more attractive to your audience.
- Ensure your format is easy-to-read. Use headers to ensure your content is not in a large chunk of text that will be a turn-off for users.
- Try a listicle format. That way if readers are only skimming content, you can still get your message across.
- Use your own statistics. The marketing statistics are important. But how about your own numbers? Does your organization have interesting statistics you can use within your content to improve trust among your audience?
- People first, bots later. Marketing statistics reveal three-quarters of internet users read blogs. So, remember you are writing for actual people, not just SEO purposes.
- Share your blogs. Don’t just write them for your website and then leave them in a silo. Share them via social media to grow your audience and develop potential leads.
- Think about your marketing budget. If content marketing creates more leads, as revealed by recent marketing statistics, does your strategy and where you are directing your resources, reflect this?
It can be only too easy to put your content marketing strategy on the backburner amid day-to-day pressures. However, the numbers really don’t lie. They reveal the importance of developing, and executing, a content marketing strategy which is based upon key statistics. It is, vitally, also a plan that uses those numbers to develop content that is of interest to, and is easily digested by, your users.
Writing new content and keeping up with SEO can be challenging even for the savviest marketers. At MintCopy, we have a team of trained writers and SEO experts who can help with your content marketing. We use proven best practices to elevate your marketing strategy and help you achieve success for your business online.
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