5 digital marketing facts to help validate your efforts

“Why does that budget need to be that high?” “How can we prove that this strategy impacts our bottom line?” “…Where is all of this going?”

Marketers get asked these questions every day by the top dogs at their companies. It’s smart to always be equipped with some current data and digital marketing facts that support your efforts—and to feel empowered to throw out those numbers at any time. There’s plenty of data and digital marketing facts around the value of various digital advertising efforts, but it’s often outdated or hidden inside of a long-form blog post.

Digital marketing facts and marketing stats you need to know

Your time is valuable and often stretched. We get that. Whether you’re in the market for chatbot statistics, to define the value of content marketing, how to market to millennials, or just marketing stats in general, keep these five digital marketing metrics top-of-mind for the next time the questions start rolling.

1.Conversions are 391% higher in the first minute.

That new chatbot software you want to put on your website? It may garner some skepticism from other teams or upper management. But fear not, marketer—all the recent data surrounding messaging apps and, more specifically, chatbot statistics, is in your favor. In addition to that impressive data point above, 78 percent of leads buy from the vendor that responds to them first. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to sit on my computer all day and night responding to inquiries. Chatbots are estimated to actually save billions of dollars within the next five years. Plus, according to Drift’s 2018 State of Chatbots Report, traditional websites are no longer providing information in the ways customers want to find it—quickly, easily, and at any time of the day. With a chatbot, you can solve all of those in one fell swoop.

2.Google estimates that for every $1 a business spends on Google Ads, they receive $8 in profit.

Just in case your own numbers aren’t speaking enough for themselves, this stat is a pretty good one to show that your paid search efforts aren’t for nothing. In their Economic Impact Report, Google points out that the $1 to $8 ratio on Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is actually rather conservative. If search clicks were just as valuable as paid clicks, that number would be closer to $11 profit for every $1 spent—and that number can climb for different industries. For instance, a technology company such as ours might see an average return on ad spend upwards of 1244% for PPC campaigns. In addition, 66 percent of buyer-intent keywords are paid clicks. Bottom line, PPC deserves to be a part of your greater marketing strategy.

3.Content marketing gets 3X more leads than paid search advertising.

We don’t want to contradict our last point, but hear us out—this is all part of a larger picture. While digital marketing is ever-changing, one thing’s for sure: the value of content marketing is still as present as ever. It’s true that it can be hard to argue a strategy that’s more of a marathon, not a sprint, but when 47 percent of buyers view 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep, the data is pretty telling. In addition, companies & brands utilizing content marketing see conversion rates that are 6X higher on average than those that aren’t. As a content marketer myself, I also like to throw in some non-quantifiable points that can be pretty hard to ignore. Through thoughtful content, we can inform, educate, and further convey our message as a brand. And truthfully, sometimes that just can’t be measured. (Stay strong.)

4.Programmatic display ad spend is expected to increase to $69 billion by 2020.

You didn’t really think I’d leave this out, did you? I promise it’s not entirely self-serving. Even though consumer sentiment is down on the advertising industry overall, the numbers still speak for themselves. Display advertising is still as effective as ever, especially on mobile. Advertisers are pouring about 51 percent of their budget into mobile ads, and our own data supports that as well. According to metrics pulled from the Choozle platform from the latter half of 2018, 70.5 percent of all clicks belonged to mobile. If you need even more proof, in the IAB’s revenue report from the first half of 2018, mobile, which now covers 63 percent of all digital advertising revenue, continues to be the internet’s leading ad platform up from 54 percent.

5.82 percent of buying committees include at least one Millennial.

…And that’s just for B2B. In a nutshell, if your company isn’t shifting its mindset to something like, “How to market to millennials?”, any of your competitors who are making that shift are going to start outperforming you. In DemandGen’s article about the rise of Millennial buyers, they mention that recent research has shown a clear disconnect between B2B companies and their buyers. How to connect with them, you ask? Visual content is a start. An online marketing and social video study from Animoto showed that 60 percent of Millennials prefer video over reading a newsletter, and 80 percent consider video content when making a purchasing decision. Want to take it a step further? Consider starting a podcast—Millennials made up 44 percent of all monthly podcast listeners in 2017.