The State of Global Content Marketing 2020
Insights from the SEMRush report that surveyed 1,500+ marketers from 39 countries
Why do you want to do content marketing?
The obvious answer to get qualified leads.
However, I fail to understand if that’s the goal then why is producing quality content the top priority. Sometimes I wonder if we really have the clarity of what we want?
Okay, I won’t make a blog post on my thoughts on clarity.
SEMRush surveyed 1,500+ marketers from 39 countries and asked them what is the team’s topmost content marketing challenge?
Content marketing challenges
“Creating content that generates quality leads(51%) was the topmost challenge followed by creating content that attracts more traffic(47%).”
Interestingly the third challenge was proving the ROI of the content and this has been a challenge that marketers have battled for years.
The above data is one of the important insights from The State of Content Marketing report 2020.
See the above image once again and you will find developing content that resonates with your target audience is also listed as a challenge. If you are struggling to generate content for your audience, you need to look at the “WHY.” This will impact generating content for quality leads.
“You create content for your audience and not for leads. This is a simple thought that marketers have failed to understand over years since they themselves have never created content.”
Similarly, ideas of new content is a challenge because the ‘WHY’ is not sorted. As a content marketer, you should always answer: “The types of content you shouldn’t create.”
Content marketing tactics
Talking about the most efficient content marketing technologies, teams have shown faith in search engine optimisation, updating and repurposing content and publishing how-to guides or educational content.
The report also states that: “Your best performing content can be recycled.”
“Content repurposing has proved to be a true gem for many content marketing teams. It can come in many forms; for example, you can rework your content to appeal to a new audience or adjust it to reflect current events and trending conversations.”
When we look at what attracts the most attention at the Top of the Funnel(TOFU), educational content focused on high-level topics and aimed at solving your audience’s problems leads the way. More specifically, ‘how-to’ guides.
“‘How-to’ guides prove to be effective as they allow you to provide valuable answers to particular problems your target audience is facing, showcasing your expertise and encouraging them to engage further with your brand.”
What is disturbing is to see very few takers for optimisation content for mobile(23%). In a mobile-first economy, it should be at the top three.
Content marketing technologies
When it comes to technologies, content marketing teams have put their faith in Web analytics tools(88%), SEO tools(82%), Social Media posting(69%) and Email marketing software(61%).
Simply because of the types of content teams are producing. Blogs, Email and Case study dominate the charts.
At the Middle of the Funnel Stage, the goal is to guide prospects from introducing your brand to an in-depth understanding of your solution.
“According to the marketers, surveyed success stories work exceptionally well at the MOFU stage. Product overviews, case studies, tutorials and webinars, as well as how-to guides and webinars can also generate a lot of engagement.”
This is also the point when most marketers set up full-stack email marketing workflows to nurture leads and keep them engaged with the brand.
“Consumer motivation can vary significantly here, so you should experiment with various types of content to showcase the different ways you provide value. Other effective channels include social media, organic search and paid advertising (including retargeting).”
Content distribution
Creating content is not the only challenge that content marketers face, the distribution is another maze that the teams need to solve. Organic, Social Media and Email are the top three preferred channels of content distribution.
It is interesting to see that LinkedIn competing with Facebook. The reason being LinkedIn is still one of the few social networks that provide organic reach.
Also in the last few years, LinkedIn has tried to evolve from just being a professional network. Today the network wants you to think of it as a content consumption platform and is also creating small avenues for creators.
If I end this article without talking about ROI then it would be such a shame. Organic traffic remains the biggest metrics followed by pageviews and leads.
Look at the image again and “Time on Page” metrics should get more important because “Longreads are the best traffic drivers.”
“Detailed answers are more likely to satisfy the search intent and solve the problem.
The correlation we found is simple – the longer your text is the more pageviews it will get. Texts of 3000+ words get twice as many pageviews as those of 900–1200 words and the numbers grow linearly.
7000+ word articles remain the highest performing in all respects, from pageviews to backlinks and social shares.”
However, 39% of companies still don’t measure content marketing ROI.