47+ Content Marketing ROI Statistics for 2020

Content marketing – is it worth it? Let me work it. I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it…

To be honest, no matter how I flip it or reverse it, my answer is going to be yes. But, I would say that, wouldn’t I? I’m a content marketer, after all.

You want to see the numbers.

The great thing about this list of statistics is that, if you’re a marketer, or represent an agency, you can use the data to prove the ROI of content marketing to your target audience or clients.

If you’re coming from a business perspective, you can use these stats to determine the value of content marketing for your company.

Either way, this data will help to inform your decisions and content marketing strategy, and boost the ROI of your content marketing efforts.

So, let’s get into it.

CONTENTS

• Content Marketing ROI Statistics
• Content Marketing Benefits
• Content Marketing Goals and Challenges
• Content Marketing Budget Trends
• Content Marketing ROI by Channel
  • Social Media ROI Statistics
  • Email Marketing ROI Statistics
  • Video Marketing ROI Statistics
  • Blogging ROI Statistics
• Content Marketing Measurement and Metrics
• Content Marketing Across the Customer Lifecycle
• Stats to Help You Boost Content Marketing ROI

BONUS MATERIAL: How to Measure Your Content Marketing ROI: Cheat Sheet

Content Marketing ROI Statistics

1. 96% of decision-makers say that content marketing is effective for their brand. (Zazzle)

2. Organizations that have a content strategy achieve 27.1% higher win rates and 18.1% higher quota attainment rates than those without a content strategy. (CSO Insights)

Organizations that have a content strategy achieve 27.1% higher win rates and 18.1% higher quota attainment rates. Click To Tweet

3. 42.78% of people say offering free content about a topic they’re interested in is the best way to attract their business. (Fractl)

4. 62% of B2B buyers say they can finalize a vendor list or develop selection criteria through digital content alone. (Forrester)

5. Marketing leaders say content marketing is important (41%) or very important (51%) in the decision-making process. (Heinz/PathFactory)

6. For subscription-based businesses, the cost of acquiring a customer through content is around 15% less than through paid channels. (ProfitWell)

7. Subscription-based companies who deploy content see 5-10% better retention rates. (ProfitWell)

8. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates 3x as many leads. (Demand Metric)

Key Takeaways:

• The ROI of content marketing is undeniable. It costs less than other forms of marketing, yet produces more valuable leads and sales. Content marketing should, therefore, take up a significant chunk of your marketing efforts. 

• Content is a vital tool for consumers and decision-makers throughout the purchase process. When researching products or services, it helps them to make an informed decision. Essentially, you can use it to convince potential customers to buy.

Content Marketing Benefits

9. Quality content is one of the top ranking signals for SEO. (SEJ)

10. The average visitor-to-subscriber rate for blogs is 19%. (Databox)

11. 96% of the most successful B2B content marketers have built credibility and trust with their audience through content. (CMI)

96% of the most successful B2B content marketers have built credibility and trust with their audience through content. Click To Tweet

12. 68% of the most committed B2C content marketers have built loyalty with existing customers through content. (CMI)

Key Takeaways:

• The benefits of content marketing are far-reaching – the ROI of content isn’t always directly related to sales. Content marketing boosts micro-conversions, such as email signups.

• In the awareness stage, content plays a vital role in building trust with your target audience. But, you can use it for more than simply attracting new customers. Create content that helps or delights existing customers to keep them on board.

Content Marketing Goals and Challenges

13. 69% of marketers are not confident in the way they measure content and attribute ROI. (PAN Communications)

14. What marketers hope to achieve through content marketing:

1. Generate more quality leads (75%)
2. Attract more traffic to our website (71%)
3. Improve brand reputation (56%)
4. Improve customer engagement and loyalty (45%)
5. Empower new products positioning (19%)
6. Increase the number of payments (17%) 

(SEMRush)

15. Marketers’ top 3 content marketing challenges:

1. Creating content that generates quality leads (54%)
2. Creating content that attracts more traffic (52%)
3. Developing content that resonates with our target audience (45%) 

(SEMRush)

Key Takeaways:

• Marketers use content to achieve a range of goals from attracting website visitors to product positioning. These are some solid reasons to invest in content marketing.

• Content marketers’ goals, however, seem to directly correlate with what they find most challenging. Nobody said it was easy, but as you’ve already seen, the results can be outstanding.

Content Marketing Budget Trends

16. Marketers expect to dedicate most of their time/budget to content marketing this year (40+%). (Databox)

17. The average content marketing budget for B2B companies is $185,000. (CMI)

18. Almost half of B2B marketers expect their content marketing budget to increase this year. (CMI)

19. The average content marketing budget for B2C companies is $230,000. (CMI)

20. 59% of B2C marketers expect their content marketing budget to increase this year. (CMI)

Key Takeaway:

• Companies allocate a significant amount of time and resources to content marketing. For many brands, their average content marketing spend will increase this year, meaning that content marketing is becoming increasingly important.

Content Marketing ROI by Channel

Social Media ROI Statistics

21. Social media channels that have the highest ROI according to marketers:

1. Facebook (56%)
2. Instagram (22%)
3. Twitter (9%)
4. LinkedIn (5%)
5. Youtube (5%)
6. Pinterest (2%)
7. Snapchat (1%) 

(HubSpot)

22. 9 in 10 consumers will buy from a brand they follow on social media. (Sprout Social)

9 in 10 consumers will buy from a brand they follow on social media. Click To Tweet

Email Marketing ROI Statistics

23. For every $1 spent, email marketing delivers an estimated $44 in returns. (Brafton)

24. 60% of all marketers cite email marketing as their biggest source of ROI. (Brafton)

Video Marketing ROI Statistics

25. 83% of video marketers say video has helped generate leads. (Wyzowl)

26. 80% of video marketers say video has helped to directly increase sales. (Wyzowl)

Blogging ROI Statistics

27. Subscription-based companies with blogs generate 67% more leads than those who don’t have a blog and inbound marketing close rates are 8-10x higher than outbound. (ProfitWell)

28. Marketers who make blogging a priority are 13x more likely to see positive ROI. (HubSpot)

Marketers who make blogging a priority are 13x more likely to see positive ROI. Click To Tweet

Key Takeaways:

• Social media has a fantastic ROI given that most consumers will buy from brands that they follow. The social media channel which provides the biggest ROI: Facebook.

• Research shows that email has a super high ROI. Many marketers feel it gives the highest returns.

• Video content is an effective tool that produces leads and sales the majority of the time.

• Blogging is much more effective than outbound for SaaS companies in terms of closing deals. The other thing you need to know about blog content is that you get out of it what you put into it. Focus on blogging and your returns will be much higher.

Content Marketing Measurement and Metrics

29. 37% of content marketers measure content performance every week, 26% measure content performance daily. (Databox)

30. 80% of B2B marketers use metrics to measure content performance; of these, 65% have established KPIs and 43% measure content marketing ROI. (CMI)

31. Top content marketing metrics for B2B marketers:

1. Email engagement (90%)
2. Website traffic (88%)
3. Website engagement (86%)
4. Social media analytics (83%)
5. Conversions (78%) 

(CMI)

32. 78% of B2C marketers use metrics to measure content performance; of these, 63% have established KPIs and 51% measure content marketing ROI. (CMI)

33. Top content marketing metrics for B2C marketers:

1. Conversions (81%)
2. Website traffic (80%)
3. Website engagement (79%)
4. Social media analytics (76%) 
5. Email engagement (75%) 

(CMI)

34. The most popular tools for measuring content marketing performance are Google Analytics, Google Search Console and SEMRush. (Databox)

35. Bloggers who always monitor their analytics are around 2x more likely to report strong results than those who only do it sometimes. (Orbit)

Bloggers who always monitor their analytics are around 2x more likely to report strong results than those who only do it sometimes. Click To Tweet

Key Takeaways:

• You must measure the impact of your content marketing efforts. If you measure key metrics and use the data to inform your content marketing strategy, you will see better results.

• The most important content marketing metric for B2B marketers is email engagement, while B2C marketers measure their content performance according to conversions. This is not doubt due to the fact that the B2B buyer journey is longer and requires more nurturing.

Content Marketing Across the Customer Lifecycle

36. Most B2B buyers (53%) consume 3-5 pieces of content before contacting a supplier. (Isoline)

Most B2B buyers (53%) consume 3-5 pieces of content before contacting a supplier. Click To Tweet

37. 66% of B2B buyers use content to educate themselves about options available on the market and 56% use content for purchase planning. (Isoline)

38. Top-performing content at each stage for B2B companies:

• Brand awareness: blog posts/short articles (31%), social media content (25%), in-person events (8%)
• Secure leads: in-person events(19%), webinars/online events (16%), Ebooks/guides (13%)
• Nurture leads: Email newsletters (31%), blog posts/short articles (13%), in-person events (9%), case studies (9%)
• Convert leads: in-person events (25%), case studies (23%), webinars/online events (11%) 

(CMI)

39. B2B buyers engage with video (65%), white papers (60%) and blogs (56%) the most during the buying process. (Demand Gen)

40. B2B buyers are most willing to register for webinars (51%), research reports (50%) and white papers (48%). (Demand Gen)

41. Top-performing content at each stage for B2C companies:

• Brand awareness: blog posts/short articles (31%), social media content (31%)
• Secure leads: Email newsletters (16%), social media content (13%), in-person events (13%)
• Nurture leads: Email newsletters (24%), social media content (17%)
• Convert leads: in-person events (22%), Email newsletters (21%) 

(CMI)

Key Takeaways:

• Content is valuable at every stage of the customer lifecycle, for both B2C and B2B buyers. Naturally, different types of content are more effective at different stages of the customer lifecycle.

• During the buying process, B2B buyers seek out content that will help them make a decision, such as educational content and in-depth research.

Stats to Help You Boost Content Marketing ROI

42. The top 5 factors contributing to a successful content strategy according to content marketers:

1. Our ability to understand and connect with our audience’s values, interests, and/or pain points (50%)
2. Clear roles and responsibilities for content creators (25%)
3. Our ability to measure/extract insights from content consumption (10%)
4. Well-implemented content management technology (8%)
5. Clear governance and workflow process (7%) 

(CMI)

43. According to bloggers, the content formats which get the best results are:

1. Guides and eBooks (40%)
2. Original research (39%)
3. Infographics (37%)
4. Gated content (36%)
5. How-to articles (34%)

(Orbit Media)

44. Marketers says the most effective content marketing tactics are:

1. Search engine optimization (67%)
2. Updating and repurposing existing content (51%)
3. Creating more video/visual content (37%)
4. Publishing more how-to guides/educational content (36%)
5. Optimizing the customer journey (35%)

(SEMRush)

45. B2B buyers say companies can improve content by using more data/research to support content (47%) and curbing the sales message (43%). (Demand Gen)

46. Bloggers say the #1 factor that drives success is content quality. (GrowthBadger)

Bloggers say the #1 factor that drives success is content quality. Click To Tweet

47. Long-form posts (3,000+ words) get 3x more traffic, 4x more shares and 3.5x more backlinks than short posts (SEMRush)

Key Takeaways:

• To improve your content marketing efforts, you need to have a deep understanding of your audience’s needs and desires, a clear process for content creation and the means to measure and improve performance.

• Boost ROI even further by being strategic with your content. Optimize content for both SEO and the customer.

• Long-form, well-researched, high-quality content produces the best ROI. Seek to create content that’s useful and informative, rather than salesy.

Final Word

Content marketing has been proven to generate leads and sales. But it’s not always easy to measure the ROI of content marketing in its entirety because the value of content marketing goes far beyond your top-line sales.

As you’ve seen, content increases brand awareness, customer loyalty, micro-conversions, engagement and so much more.

Let’s just say that, all in all, content marketing is worth the investment.

If you’d like to invest in content marketing, drop me a line at kelly@copygoals.com.

BONUS MATERIAL: How to Measure Your Content Marketing ROI: Cheat Sheet

Want to calculate the returns of your content marketing efforts? This cheat sheet will walk you through how to measure content marketing ROI using simple methods.

Show your clients or your boss the fruits of your labor!