Creating and distributing content requires a lot of resources. Discover how you can optimize your marketing ROI, and elevate your content strategy here!

Your marketing efforts are intended to showcase your company to the masses, but it can be difficult to gauge your marketing ROI from brand awareness alone. You need statistics, and you need to know how to gauge what kind of content works best with your target audience.

Incorporating metrics into your content marketing strategy is a great way to know what resonates with your customers. With hard data, you can monitor both the successes and downfalls of your content marketing efforts. Furthermore, monitoring your marketing ROI can help you see the fruits of your labor.

For example, when everything is maximized and executed properly, a content marketing campaign’s annual ROI can hit $984,000. That is a lot of revenue to bring into your business, and it shows just how cost-effective content marketing can be. B2B brands, in particular, have a lot to gain from content marketing because of how much cheaper it is compared to marketing strategies. Believe it or not, content marketing is 62% less expensive than outbound marketing—and can generate three times as many leads.

When Can You Expect Your Content Marketing To Show ROI?

Granted, to fully realize your content marketing strategy’s return on investment, you may need to wait a while. It could take anywhere from a few months to a full year before you see a significant uptick in your marketing ROI. However, despite the waiting game, it is still very much worth investing in.

As mentioned, traditional marketing tactics and strategies are significantly more expensive than content marketing. Content marketing is particularly effective when paired with a strong social media marketing strategy, as this can expand your reach and boost brand awareness exponentially. We have all seen the power of a viral post. Just one cheekily worded social media post can catapult a brand into fame overnight. The more you prioritize adding social media to the mix, the faster you can expect your content marketing strategy to move.

B2B Content Marketing ROI Statistics

B2B brands benefit from content marketing because of how cost-effective and efficient these strategies are in achieving business goals. Here are some B2B content marketing statistics you should know.

An overwhelming 96% of B2B marketers are planning to develop a content marketing strategy for the businesses and brands they work with.

Content marketing is rapidly becoming a dominant strategy in pursuit of accelerating brand goals. The majority of B2B marketers deem it a crucial element in expanding their company’s reach and brand awareness, especially since most marketing platforms are saturated with content from other brands.

It is important to 87% of B2B marketers to communicate to their target audiences in a way that resonates with them.

When it comes to B2B marketing, you need to know how to sell to industry experts and executives. The days of simply peppering your customers with promotional materials and hard sells are no longer enough. They need sufficient information about your brand and your product to be compelled to purchase. Finding the type of content that works best with your target market is the most efficient way to achieve this.

According to 78% of B2B marketers, keyword research is crucial to content marketing.

Regardless of industry or goals, search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any content marketing strategy. Keyword research is a pillar of SEO. This is because it helps you discover specific keywords that your target customers are looking for. Think of it as stepping into your customer’s shoes. What would they type into their search bar to elicit the desired results? This is precisely what keyword research can help you determine. Utilizing target keywords in your website and messaging can increase traffic to your digital space. The easier you make the buying journey—including the ability to find your products and brand online—the higher sales revenue your company can enjoy!

Social media, email, and blog platforms are the top 3 content distribution channels for content marketing.

Knowing where to reach your customers is just as important as knowing how to reach them. Most B2B marketers have cited that social media platforms, their brand’s in-house blogs, and email are the most popular and effective channels to share content with audiences. The goal is to find the platform that your target customers are most active on—and then capitalize on it by creating content fit for that platform.

B2C Content Marketing ROI Statistics

B2C brands also benefit greatly from content marketing. Customers want to purchase from brands they can trust, and content marketing is a great way to prove your business’s credibility and trustworthiness to your customers. When it comes to B2C content marketing, the key is to foster an emotional connection with your target audiences.

Here are some B2C marketing ROI statistics that you should know.

More than half—57%—of B2C marketers track their content metrics to measure their content marketing ROI.

Tracking content metrics is necessary to ensure that your content marketing tactics are working, which is exactly why most B2C marketers do it. These metrics help you estimate your marketing ROI and make informed decisions based on the information you gather.

Paid content distribution and content creation both experienced an uptick in budget allocation from B2C marketers in 2018.

A noteworthy 56% of B2C marketers increased their budget for content creation, while 37% increased their budget for paid content distribution. This is because these are the two most rewarding elements of content marketing. They are very effective in gaining positive marketing ROI.

Surprisingly, 67% of B2C content marketers don’t have a documented content strategy.

While content marketing is a must for most B2C marketers, only 33% of them report having a documented content strategy. This makes it difficult to study or analyze content marketing strategies, much less improve upon them. As such, documentation of content strategies is critical in measuring marketing ROI.

The majority of B2C marketers that use content marketing technologies say they allow them to collect better data.

There are better tools and technologies for marketers to measure marketing ROI and track key performance indicators (KPIs) than ever before. In fact, 68% of marketers say that using such technologies helps them better gauge performance and have more insight into how their content is performing.

The majority of B2C content marketers say that content marketing is a priority for their brands.

Content marketing is effective and cost-efficient. That is why 64% of B2C marketers are committed to developing and launching content marketing strategies for their brands.

Email Content Marketing ROI Statistics

One of the most effective ways to distribute content to target audiences is through email. This connects your brand directly to the inbox of your target customer while offering an open line of communication for comments, questions, or concerns.

With that, here are some email content marketing ROI statistics that showcase the power of content marketing.

The average email marketing ROI is 42x.

That’s right. The typical ROI for email marketing is a whopping 4,200%. This means that for every dollar invested in an efficient email content marketing strategy, a brand can generate $42 of revenue.

Dynamic content performs better than non-dynamic content.

Dynamic content tends to drive a marketing ROI of 44:1. Non-dynamic content, on the other hand, drives a marketing ROI of 36:1. This highlights how dynamic content resonates best through email.

Video content generates a 96% higher click-through rate (CTR) for email marketing campaigns.

Video is the most effective way to reach audiences across all niches and industries. Consumers are more likely to engage with video content, and this can be seen in the CTRs of email campaigns utilizing video versus those that don’t. A near 100% increase in anything is nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.

A study found that the majority of marketers analyze the marketing ROI of their email marketing campaigns.

This study found that 75% of marketers have experienced an uptick in click-through rates from their email marketing campaigns. Additionally, 76% saw higher success in their open rates. This demonstrates the continued effectiveness of email content marketing. It should be considered in all content marketing strategies!

What Content ROI Metrics Matter?

You can measure your content marketing ROI by setting measurable KPIs and analyzing content metrics. Most brands use content marketing to boost their sales, build and strengthen their relationship with their customers, and heighten brand awareness. However, other metrics matter when measuring your marketing ROI, too. These metrics include lead quality, SEO success, engagement, and traffic.

Lead Quality

Remember that most of the time, quality trumps quantity. Lead quality is a key metric in measuring your marketing ROI. You know your content is generating quality leads if your audiences engage with it. A lot of resources go into content creation, so ensuring your leads are high-quality is important.

You can gauge the quality of your leads by analyzing the actions the leads take when they interact with your content. If your content has a high reach but low conversion rates, this means you are generating a lot of low-quality leads. High-quality leads click on links that take them through your sales funnel and prompt communication with your team. They also engage with your lead magnet.

SEO Success

Search engine optimization, or SEO performance, is another crucial element of a successful content marketing strategy. The digital space is saturated with all sorts of content from different brands, platforms, and niches. Needless to say, it’s difficult to stand out. Prioritizing SEO can help your content reach the right audiences.

When it comes to measuring your SEO performance, there are a few metrics you should keep tabs on. Perhaps the most important metric is your SERP ranking, also known as your search engine results page ranking. This metric shows you how high up your website ranks in the search results. By increasing your SERP ranking, you can generate more traffic, more leads, and ultimately, more conversions.

Engagement and Traffic

Engagement and traffic help you measure your visitors’ behavior. Does your content resonate with your audiences well enough that they want to engage with it? Does it compel them to learn more about your product and brand? Is your content sticky enough to keep visitors on your page? All of this can be determined by examining your engagement and traffic metrics.

Content marketing is meant to drive more people to your website. However, it doesn’t stop there. You must engage and connect with your audiences for them to continue working their way down your marketing or sales funnel. Similar to lead quality, you are looking to usher quality traffic to your page. You need to make sure you are reaching the right audiences to boost your marketing ROI.

Good Content Takes You a Long Way

In the digital space, great content is king. A well-planned content marketing strategy is a must-have for any business to succeed. If you want to boost your brand’s reach, strengthen your relationship with your customers, and obtain positive marketing ROI, consider building an efficient and engaging content marketing strategy.

WriteForMe can help you do this. WriteForMe’s team of expert content strategists can help you develop a content strategy uniquely tailored to your company’s specific content marketing needs. Contact us to learn how you can elevate your content strategy today!