5 B2B Content Marketing Stats to guide your 2021 strategy

With the right content marketing strategy, you’ll generate a higher rate of engagement, a constantly full sales funnel and a higher number of leads. But what is working in content marketing in 2021? Are there any common features of a content marketing campaign to help guide our efforts? Backlinko has listed a number of B2B stats in this insightful article here in which we’ll elaborate on the B2B content trends. Take a look and see if these up-to-date stats can inform your strategy this year:

1. Content that ranks on the first page of Google has an average of 1,447 words (Backlinko)

Gone are the days of the 400-500 word blog post if you’re looking to dominate search engines. Whilst shorter blog posts may be great for social media distribution, longer form posts tend to perform much better in the search engines, ranking higher than short posts for one reason - value.

Posts weighing in at 1,000 words and more are more informative and valuable to the reader, so they should take longer to create, too. On average, the first page results tend to be filled with posts at 1,447-1500 words (for B2B industries). This means that covering a topic thoroughly is key if you want to get the best results from your efforts.

Don’t skim over the surface - dive deep and incorporate as much nuance and complexity and most importantly - value, as you can. Gone are the days of holding back all of your knowledge until a paycheck arrives. The more you share upfront, the more confident your potential customer will be of your ability to satisfy their requirements.

Tip: Create a keyword research-driven content schedule and aim to produce the most valuable content with each blog post.

2. It takes 3 hours and 55 minutes to write a blog post (Orbit Media)

Okay, so we know that longer more informative content simply ranks better - but how long should we be setting aside for content creation? It’s no surprise that blog posts have been reported to take almost 4 hours to create (which has significantly increased since 2014). In fact, Nuts About Money [nutsaboutmoney.com] a money advice website, spend as much as 8 hours per article!

If you’re going to write a truly valuable blog post that dives deep and covers all of the nuances of the topic, spending longer writing it is key. It may be tempting to bash out a 500 word post in 30-60 minutes, but it takes longer to provide true value. Remember - nothing worth creating is easy!

Of course, the time taken to write a piece of content depends on a number of factors such as the level of expertise of the writer, the amount of research needed and the writing skill of the content writer. However, the general idea is that it takes a higher time investment to produce something truly valuable. 

Tip: Allocate more time for content production but if it’s possible ask the in house subject leader to write the content. They’re likely to produce content more quickly as they already have the knowledge. 

3. 67% of B2B content teams say top-of-funnel content is the type of content they create most Databox)

There are clear benefits to creating ‘bottom of the funnel’ content. I.e a landing page that drives traffic for ‘accounting software’ or ‘best CRM,’ however, these keywords are - of course - very difficult to rank for. 

Therefore, creating top of the funnel content that focuses on ‘research intent keywords’ not only increases your brand awareness early on in the sales funnel, but allows you to drive traffic at a lower cost. 

Research has shown that this is a popular stance when it comes to B2B content production as 67% of B2B content teams choose to create top-of-funnel content. Just 28% say that they create their content for people who are in the middle of the funnel, and only 5% create content on B2B buyers moments away from buying. 

Tip: Your ‘money pages’ at the bottom of your funnel are very important, but focussing on research intent phrases helps to educate, provide value and drive leads just as effectively. 

4. Listicles get 218% more shares than “how to” tutorial-style posts (Backlinko)

Listicles get twice as many shares compared to how-to tutorials. They also tend to outperform another B2B content marketing favourite - infographics. Why? This may be because list posts are easier to digest, and buyers don’t need to commit to sacrificing hours of their valuable time to get what they need from a listicle. Infographics can be tough to skim - plus, listicles target people higher in the sales funnel, so more people will see it. You can also expect more shares on socials. 

Tip: Make sure you have diversity in your B2B marketing efforts and find out the format that your audience engages with the most.

5. 52% of B2B buyers say they’re “definitely” more likely to buy from a brand once they’ve read their content (MarketingCharts)

Content is an effective way to direct traffic to B2B sites, and will more than likely drive leads into your sales funnel. Focussing on content efforts is such a popular strategy because over half of B2B buyers are ‘definitely’ more likely to buy from a brand once they have read their content. Simply putting content out there can show your expertise in the eyes of your potential customers. 

Your customers will often ask ‘do they have the expertise to supply what I need’ and if they cannot confirm this by reading your content you’re missing out on enquiries.

Tip: Treat your content marketing efforts with as much importance as your regular sales activity - it could be the difference between an enquiry or no enquiry. 

6. Most marketers publish new content several times weekly (Databox)

It’s not always easy to constantly produce content and to make sure you’re reaching the intended audience, however, putting out content regularly is so important. The more content you put out, the more likely people will be to see it, whether you’re creating blog posts, videos, or even podcast episodes. Publishing new content at least once per week can only benefit your sales - many even choose to publish a new piece of content each and every day. It takes commitment, and quality is key, but it’s worth it.