Why Content Marketing Beats Out Advertising [INFOGRAPHIC]

Advertising has met a fierce rival: Content marketing.

According to an infographic by Marketo, content marketing is a growing force because it develops trust and minimizes risk, drives traffic and captures leads, and nurtures those leads. 

The biggest problem for content marketers is figuring out how to produce engaging content, followed by trying to produce enough content. Over the next year, 51 percent of B2B marketers will increase their budgets for content marketing, and currently, an average of 26 percent of all budgets are devoted to content marketing.

Frank Reed of Marketing Pilgrim points to Econsultancy and Responsys marketing data that finds that in terms of digital marketing spending, content marketing is leading the way. Seventy one percent of marketers plan to increase digital marketing budgets in 2013, and the highest ranked priority is content marketing, followed by search engine optimization and email marketing.

The Inbound Writer found that 61 percent “of consumers say they feel better about a company that delivers custom content” and claim they will be more likely to buy from such a company. One of the top three reasons that people follow brands on social media is for interesting content, and “social media sites and blogs reach 8 out of 10 of all U.S. Internet users and account for 23% of all time spent online.”

Content marketing is cheaper than outbound marketing, which includes advertising. The average cost of lead generation through inbound marketing is $143, which is about half of the average for outbound marketing.

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