content marketing budgets

Will content marketing be a hot form of marketing, more so than ever this year? The answer, in short, is YES! According to a hot 2016 BuzzSumo content piece, the future of content is more, not less. Platforms like The Washington Post publish thousands of posts each day, and Google increases its number of indexed pages by the millions each year. It’s clear that content is booming, and that it shows no signs of slowing down in 2017. If content is growing this fast, though, what will content marketing budgets look like–and how do you set yours? It’s a big point to discuss, and it’s one we’re going to dive into in today’s post. Infographic from our design team below – and beneath it are all the live links for the stats and data we pulled. Enjoy, and don’t forget to share and pass the love or leave us a comment if you found this useful! The Big 2017 Content Marketing Spend: Content Budgets by the Numbers, & How to Set Your CM Budget (Infographic) 10 Stats About the Inflating Nature of Content Budgets (by the Numbers) Here are a few stats to help you understand how (and why) content budgets are increasing this year. According to MarketingMag.com, content marketing will be a $300 billion industry by 2019 – this means it will more than double in under four years. Google’s number of indexed pages has grown from 1 trillion to more than 30 trillion in the last seven years alone! 2015 was the sixth consecutive year that the content marketing industry enjoyed double-digit growth. B2B content marketing accounts for 7% of the revenue in the content marketing industry. The US enjoyed $12.11 billion in content marketing revenue in 2014, which made it the world’s largest market for content. MarketingProfs reports that the most successful B2B marketers dedicate at least 39% of their marketing budgets to content. The average marketer spends 29% of their total marketing budget on content. 37% of marketers who aren’t successful with content marketing say it’s because they the content budget is too low. What’s more, 27% of marketers who have seen a decrease in the success of their content strategies say it’s because of inadequate budget or budget cuts. 70% of B2B marketers plan to create more content in 2017 than they did in 2016. 39% of marketers expect their organization’s budget for content marketing to increase in 2017. 5 Key Reasons for the Upward Trajectory of Content Marketing 2016 was a banner year for content, and 2017 shows no signs of being anything but a continuation of that trend. Here are a few of the top reasons this is true: 1. There’s not much to abate content growth Right now, it’s tough to even track the number of new blog posts and articles publishers put out every day. What we do know is that Google has seen a more than 29-trillion page increase in indexed content since 2008 and that WordPress alone is publishing nearly 2 million new posts every day. As it stands now, there’s virtually nothing to abate the rapid growth of content. Self-publishing is easier than it’s ever been before and about 40% of the world’s population has access to the web. As such, content continues to grow, virtually unfettered. 2. Content is the most functional modern form of advertising While outbound marketing has fallen out of vogue in recent years, content has risen to take its place. Less expensive yet more effective than traditional advertising, content serves the purpose of making an emotional connection with readers while also driving sales. When you think of it this way, it’s the perfect type of marketing! 3. Content automation is accessible and cheap Another factor contributing to the rapid growth of online content is content automation. Today, content automation has drastically lowered the cost of content production. It’s also made it easier to schedule and promote content without a massive hands-on effort. 4. Global literacy rates are increasing While a mere 12% of the global population could read and write back in 1820, all but 17% of the world’s population is literate today. Global literacy has exploded in the last twenty years, and the upward trend will only continue in the coming years. This increase in universal literacy creates more people to read, write, and interact with online content. 5. High-volume content strategies are driving massive success In addition to all the other factors driving the increase in digital content, it’s also worth noting that high-volume content strategies are incredibly lucrative. As such, they’re being adopted by publishers around the world. The Washington Post, for example, managed to grow its visitor rate by 28% between October and December 2015, all by creating more content. What Does this Growth Mean for the Future of Content Marketing Budgets? As content creation budgets uptick, content marketing budgets will, as well. As content forms ranging from search marketing and social media to display ads, and email marketing gain prominence in coming years, firms will increase their marketing budgets to match. According to a 2014 Forrester report, the firm will allocate 35% of their marketing budgets to content by 2019. This is as opposed to the 29% the average firm dedicates to content today. Budgeting for Content Marketing Will be Critical in 2017 According to a 2016 Curata post, marketers spend an average of 38% of their content budgets on curation and aggregation, 35$ on creation, and 29% on content workflow. Despite those large numbers, however, not all companies have defined content marketing budgets. In fact, only 64% of companies with a content strategy also have a content marketing budget. This can create significant challenges for companies. Because of these things, and the fact that the prevalence of content will explode in the coming year, and the years after this, it’s critical to develop a content marketing budget for 2017.  This is often easier said than done, though. Larger companies might have a tough time securing executive buy-in for a content marketing budget, while other businesses might mistakenly believe that content … Read more