Digital marketing is changing at a meteoric rate, making it more difficult for businesses to keep up with the latest industry standards. According to Adobe, 76% of people think marketing has changed more in the past two years than it did over the previous fifty, which sums up the pace of change right now.
So to help put things into context for the year ahead, here are 20 digital marketing stats and charts to quickly summarise the state of content marketing, as it stands now.
Mobile marketing stats
Mobile is no longer the new kid in town; it’s the most common way people access the web. So there are no excuses for failing to meet user expectations across multiple devices. Sadly, the stats suggest most businesses are still coming up short.
#1: Mobile loading times are way behind the 2-second target. (Marketing Charts, Google)
#2: 85% of mobile advertisers think they’re providing a positive experience; only 47% of users agree. (Unlockd)
#3: Mobile will account for 72% of digital ad spend by 2019. (eMarketer)
Takeaway
It’s ten years since the first iPhone was released and the majority of brands are still failing their mobile users. Worse still, most of them don’t even realise they’re doing it but you can guarantee their visitors do. Bloated sites, sloppy code and aggressive advertising are just a few of the bad habits many sites are still guilty of – and we should all know better by now.
Search marketing stats
When you talk about change in digital marketing, search has got to be the most chaotic aspect of it all. Google algorithm updates alone have kept so many marketers awake at night we should be considering a lawsuit but user habits are just as decisive in how we approach search marketing.
#4: 60% of people have started using voice search within the last year. (MindMeld)
#5: The average number of organic results on Google searches has dropped from 10 to 8.5. (Searchmetrics)
#6: The average world length of content that ranks on the first page of Google results is 1,890 words. (Backlinko)
Takeaway
The age of voice search is very much here but don’t expect it replace displays entirely. Google continues to prioritise its own ads and products over organic listings but text ads don’t exactly fit into voice-only searches. There’s also a lot of demand for visual content while it turns out search engines and users alike have developed a love for long-form written content.
Email marketing stats
Despite newer strategies like content and social media marketing getting most of the attention, email remains as one of the most effective ways to generate new leads and get customers back for another purchase. Email is the marketing strategy that refuses to go away – not we’d want it to.
#7: The best time of day to send emails is between 4pm and 8pm. (Experian, Marketing Charts)
#8: Segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than non-segmented campaigns. (Mailchimp)
#9: e-commerce customers who receive multiple abandoned shopping cart emails are 2.4 times more likely to complete the purchase than those who receive only one follow up email. (Experian)
Takeaway
Email lists continue to be one of the most valuable owned marketing commodities for brands but relevancy is key to maximising open and conversion rates. Use a form optimisation tool like Leadformly to get people signing up and then something like ActiveCammpaign to send targeted messages to people based on what they signed up to.
Conversion optimisation stats
Conversion optimisation has become an integral part of marketing since mobile and UX design went mainstream but are we really creating a better web?
#10: Mobile conversion rates are on the up but still in third place. (Monetate, Smart Insights)
#11: The average ROI on CRO tools is 223%. (Venture Beat)
#12: 4.8% is the average conversion rate for websites using video, compared to 2.9% for those who don’t. (Adélie Studios)
Takeaway
Thanks to brands taking conversion optimisation seriously, mobile conversion rates are now comparable to other devices. There’s still a long way to go for online businesses to remove friction and maximise sales but the return on investment brands are seeing from conversion optimisation suggests we’re heading in the right direction.
Content marketing stats
Producing great content is difficult for every brand and users are getting more demanding about the kind of stuff they want to engage with. So what do our digital marketing stats say about the current role of content?
#13: 46% of marketers say photography is critical to their current marketing and storytelling strategies. (CMO Council)
#14: 72% of marketers worldwide said relevant content creation was the most effective SEO tactic (Marketing Profs)
#15: Brands spend 25%-43% of their marketing budget on content, yet only 23% of CMOs feel they are producing the right information for the right audience, and delivering it at the right time and correct format (Marketing Profs, eMarketer)
#16: Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. (Demand Metric)
Takeaway
Brands who invest in content marketing are seeing the benefits but few believe they are really getting the most out of it. The strategic planning and execution of content marketing is still a challenge and the majority of marketers feel they could be producing more effective content.
Social media marketing stats
Social media hit the scene as this kind of promised land for instant marketing success – and some brands really did get overnight results – or so it seemed – in the early days. With so many voices fighting to be heard on social, the challenge for brands is finding a way to cut through the noise.
#17: 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as part of their content strategy. Other popular platforms include Twitter (87%), Facebook (84%), YouTube (74%) and Google+ (62%). (Content Marketing Institute)
#18: Infographics are Liked and Shared on social media 3X more than other any other type of content. (Mass Planner)
#19: Social media has become the most popular content marketing tactic reported by 90% of B2C businesses.The next most used content marketing tactics are illustrations and photos (87%), eNewsletters (83%), videos (82%) and website articles (81%). (Content Marketing Institute)
Takeaway
Brands realise now that social media is essentially a content publication tool, not a quick fix to instant marketing results. The key is knowing which networks to use, what kind of content to publish and how to get your brand seen by the right people – which generally means adding social advertising into the mix.
And finally…
#20: Marketers who use automation tools say time is the biggest barrier to advanced marketing while those who don’t automate say that budget is their biggest barrier. (Openprise)
Takeaway
Choosing the right automation tools is an art that pays for itself and frees up more time to focus on increasing your marketing ROI. Automation will be one of this year’s industry buzzwords as marketers realise it’s not so much a question of how much you spend, but how much you make in return.
Today’s offering of digital marketing stats says a lot about the state of the industry today. Despite the rapidly changing nature of marketing, most of the areas for improvement come from brands making the same old mistakes. The fact we’re still talking about mobile loading times shows how little progress most businesses have made. The good news is this also shows how easy it could be to get the edge on your competitors by getting a few essentials in order with your own online brand.
