Marketing statistics 2017 is probably the next best thing to ponder over now as small business. The year is into second half already, you need these marketing insights to rethink your strategy.
Digital marketing is big on iteration, which requires that you continue to measure results you get from your marketing efforts online and improve for better performance.
Digital marketing growth statistics for 2017 and some gathered towards the end of year 2016 were brought forward. 10 of these marketing stats will definitely get you thinking, because of how actionable they are.
Marketing statistics 2017 covered in this piece cuts across Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Voice Search, Blogging, Pay per Click, Email Marketing and Digital Video. If you do not have all these well mixed in right proportion in your marketing solution, it is time to go over your strategy.
Marketing stats have a special way of inspiring people. They either ginger you to do more or confirm reasons you should turn a new leave.
Marketing Statistics 2017 on SEO
61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority. (HubSpot, 2017)
Inbound marketing is the marketing everyone loves. Why?
There is something in it for both marketer and target audience.
For 61% of marketers surveyed by HubSpot to have said they have found the need to improve on their SEO to become more prominent in organic search, you should rethink your SEO strategy as a small business.
Effective SEO strategy works like growth hacking. It is what I have really messed with. So, I understand the pain points of these marketers.
Start your SEO strategy with thorough Website Audit to identify Technical SEO problems, On-page SEO fixes. Do, effective Keyword Research; plan, publish and promote valuable content.
Use your content to gain social shares from influencers and back links from relevant websites.
50% of search queries are four words or longer. (WordStream, 2016)
This lays emphasis on effective keyword research. Before you worry about how much organic traffic you get from searches, you should identify keywords you can rank for.
It is not every relevant keyword with high volume you should fight to rank for. Consider Domain Authority and traffic for website already ranking for same keyword before going into fight for them.
Learn what are short tail keywords, longtail keywords and question keywords; tools to use and how to use these SEO tools in SEO BLOGGING STRATEGY FOR SMALL BUSINESS: KEYWORD RESEARCH & CONTENT PILLARS.
20% of search queries on Google’s mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches. (Search Engine Land, 2016)
It is time to include Voice Search in your SEO strategy as small business. Do not wait until you are behind all this.
Google Home is getting adopted in more homes by the day. Voice search via Google app on mobile phones too is gaining ground. While you plan optimizing your post for search, think beyond desktop and mobile, think voice search.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai got my back on this –Voice search growing as virtual assistant market heats up.
Marketing Statistics 2017 on Blogging
53% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. (HubSpot, 2017)
Business blogging delivers result, it has gone beyond getting more traffic. Depending on how you can integrate your marketing needs into content marketing marketing strategy, you can sure drive profit via blogging.
I see people hiring freelance writer from time to time. I have no issue with you outsourcing your content need. But, I would advice is to have content marketing strategy, part of which blogging will be.
Have content pillars that will put your business at the top of the mind of your target audience. When content is engaging, readers rarely care if they are indirectly being sold to.
Maybe you believe your business has nothing to blog about or you do not know where to start from, use the comment box. Let’s talk about it.
Read: HOW SEO BLOG POSTS WORK: SEO BLOGGING STRATEGY FOR SMALL BUSINESS
1 in 10 blog posts are compounding, meaning organic search increases their traffic over time. (HubSpot, 2016)
The law of compound interest applies to blog posts. Can you see that blogging as a small business is not a waste of time and money?
Consider many companies that have gone viral because of content they create with little investment with those that have permanently remained in obscurity despite a couple of million dollar ads.
BuzzSumo recently went viral because they analyzed 100 million headlines and wrote a blog post about it.
Marketing Statistics 2017 on Pay per Click
64.6% of people click on Google ads when they are looking to buy an item online. (WordStream, 2016)
Fast, cheap and effective rarely go together in digital marketing when it comes to strategy. Pay per Click is fast and effective. How cheap it is to achieve results PPC ads depends on your competition and your offer.
Wordstream confirms how much of lead generation magnet Pay per Click can be. There should be strategy around your PPC campaign. Of course, you have to iterate.and probably help your SEO by promoting posts that are already doing well organically.
Marketing Statistics on Email Marketing
51% of marketers say enriching contact data quality is their most significant barrier to achieving email marketing success. (Ascend2, 2016)
Email list building is crucial to any online marketing strategy. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to building your email list.
One sure way, I know, you can use to build your email list is good content via blogging. It will help if you can also promote you blog posts via social media.
Hourglass-kind-of email list form may be obtrusive at times. If you will make pop up, let it pop up when readers are about leaving the website, not as soon as they land on your website.
Marketing Statistics on Digital Video
43% of people want to see more video content from marketers. (HubSpot, 2016)
Video engages audience more than any piece of content on the internet today. From Instagram short videos, to Facebook live, to Youtube videos, brands and content creators have more control over attention span of people online.
Why did I say that?
Whiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’ featuring Charlie Puth became the most watched video on Youtube two years after it was uploaded. Trust me, I staggered when I was over 2.9bn views.
Whiz Khalifa’s sound track to Fast Furious 7 garnered close to 3bn views since it was uploaded in April 2015. That gives you an idea of the kind of legacy you can use video to leave on your audience’s mind.
Digital video will make your target audience to always see you again. Ask Whiz khalifa how he felt when his video that was published in 2015 was announced the most watched video on YouTube in 2017.
45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week. (HubSpot, 2016)
Confirmation of what I wrote earlier is in this HubSpot stats on digital content. One thing should be weary of is using the same video content and format across all online channels.
Using the same video content for Instagram, Facebook and Youtube makes a lot sense in terms of cost and time involved.
It sounds normal really. Let me shed light on why it is not normal.
Youtube video VS Facebook Video
Youtube is a search engine, video hosting platform and online community. This allows people to search for the video they want or they watch videos suggested to them by YouTube algorithm.
The hunger for video on YouTube is different.
- The first 15secs of your video should speak volume
- no auto-play so your thumbnail should be enticing
- you should optimize your YouTube video for organic search
- Keep your montage till you have passed reasonable message
Facebook video rolls up in audience’s timeline
- You can trust autoplay to entice them
- Use text to explain intro before sound is turned on
- Use call-to-action to boost engagement
- Be careful with length, a lot happens on the same timeline
51% of people have a lower opinion of brands that use autoplaying video ads. (HubSpot, 2016)
Imagine that? More than half of the people do link autoplay. May be it makes them feel like autoplay forces digital video content on them.
Whether autoplay or not, start off your digital video on an engaging note. If audience knows immediately when your video starts playing that it is an ad, it is not a good one.
Use compelling stories for your video content. Airtel Nigeria did ‘No data no life’ campaign last. The video ad was awesome. Some students told me they will watch again and again.
Heineken’s World Apart ad too had a great story in it. Learn from these video ads and your campaign performance will not remain the same.
Kindly share marketing statistics you find inspiring. I would like to hear from you. It may even be your own campaign. Let’s keep the inspiration flowing.
Nigeria
