A survey of U.S. marketers reveals that the No. 1 reason cited for a content marketing strategy is lead generation. In fact, 44% of respondents in 2013 cited lead generation as most important as opposed to 16% in 2012.
Oddly, in 2012, 9% of respondents said increased revenues was the primary goal of content marketing, but in 2013, that wasn’t even on the list.
When you consider the number of companies that have a content marketing strategy of any kind, these are odd numbers. Last year, 28% of companies said they had a content marketing strategy. This year, that number jumped to 49%. So more people were surveyed than last year and the number of companies that use their content marketing to generate new leads more than tripled while those interested in increasing revenues declined by 9%.
These numbers are deceptive because of the way the question was asked. The survey wanted to know what was the primary reason for a company’s content marketing strategy. Maybe many of these companies see increasing revenues as important but not the primary purpose of their content marketing initiatives. Okay.
What do you think is the primary reason for a good content marketing strategy? Should it be to acquire more leads to increase your company’s revenues? Or maybe it’s something else. You tell me.