Crafting custom content for your current customers—and your potential future ones—is the future of marketing.
That’s according to 78 percent of chief marketing officers recently surveyed by Demand Metric. Reinforcing this sentiment is the fact that 91 percent of business-to-business marketers employ content marketing currently, while 86 percent of business-to-consumer marketers do the same.
What does this all mean? Simply put: Content marketing is here to stay.
Of those surveyed, 80 percent responded that content marketing is the most important aspect of a company’s outreach to its customers, while 37 percent agreed custom content was the most effective tool to use to get a customer’s attention and keep his or her interest.
But with resources already allocated, what can companies do to help meet the demands of successful content marketing? These days, budgets are tight—there’s no denying that. And with only so many hours in the day, resources are stretched thin. That’s why 62 percent of those surveyed reported outsourcing their content marketing operations.
And it appears to be a good investment. Demand Metric’s research shows that 68 percent of people spend their time reading about brands that interest them, and that 80 percent of people are more than happy to learn about a company by reading its custom content. Those numbers are certainly not insignificant, and as the trends indicate, business owners are increasingly recognizing the power content marketing has to reach these receptive minds.
Why It Should Matter To You
Here’s where the research likely gets more interesting to decision makers: Content marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional marketing, while at the same time generating three times as many leads per dollar spent. So not only are content marketers spending less money, they’re getting a much more substantial return on investment—the textbook example of a win-win situation.
Because of the way our world has changed with the integration of mobile technology and connectivity, consumers want what they want when they want it. They are ignoring television commercials, tossing away direct mail and unsubscribing from email marketing lists.
Today’s consumer is actively searching for and reading custom content that is of interest, as evidenced by the fact that 70 percent of people prefer to learn about a business by reading content. Whereas traditional marketing relied on sort of distracting people and trying to get their attention, with content marketing, there’s an already-engaged potential customer. The only thing that’s left to do is make the sale, which can be done by proving a brand’s value extends beyond simply the products and services it offers.
Demand’s research also discovered four encouraging statistics regarding consumers’ habits and perceptions surrounding content marketing:
- 60 percent of consumers enjoy reading relevant content from brands
- 82 percent of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content
- 70 percent of consumers feel closer to a company as a result of content marketing
- 78 percent of consumers perceive a relationship between themselves and a company using custom content
Business owners who embrace content marketing and invest properly into crafting customized material are likely to develop strong, lasting relationships with customers, according to the research. Couple that fact with a substantial amount of money will be saved in the process and one can only wonder why some businesses have yet to step foot in the content marketing arena.
Edited by
Carrie Schmelkin
