Top 12 Content Marketing Trends & Insights in 2024

In 2022, the marketing budget of companies increased from 6.4% to 9.5%.¹ A considerable part of success in marketing strategies comes from content writing, as ~60% of companies have gained new customers through content marketing.²

Content marketing has been regarded as a vital part of companies’ marketing strategies. It is estimated that 2 out of 3 local searches on the Internet result in visiting the store within 24 hours, with almost 30% of the searches turning into purchases.³

Here we provide

• Content writing insights
• Top content marketing trends

Content marketing insights

Source: mba SKOLL

Figure 1. The most common content marketing applications

• 40% of B2B companies with content marketing strategies do not have a documentation process; instead, they intuitively develop new strategies.

Top twelve content marketing trends

1 – Audience insights

Although there are effective practices, such as implementing SEO tools for increasing traffic, knowing who your audience is crucial to developing unique strategies that attract your customers.

For instance, some customers make local searches on the Internet, and research shows that 80% of these searchers turn to conversions.⁴Understanding the target audience to develop different content marketing strategies (i.e., local) can provide great potential for purchases.

2- Machine learning

Since GPT models that produce human speech using artificial intelligence based on large text corpus are introduced, the capabilities of machine learning algorithms and NLP models accelerate rapidly. As a result, machine-generated content produced by AI-powered algorithms has gained popularity among content marketers.

AI content generators help businesses in creating texts with the given keywords. It is estimated that the AI-powered content market will exceed $250 billion by 2022, suggesting that companies invest in AI-generator tools to increase their conversion rates and achieve high-quality content.⁵

3- Focusing on a niche

Rather than covering various and distinct topics from different industries, content marketers suggest finding a niche in content creation. Writing content within a niche and then expanding the horizon can help readers identify the brand identity and trust the source.

4- Increased investment

Source: Web Strategies

Figure 2. The total marketing budget of companies spent on content marketing

Although content writing is a budget-friendly marketing strategy compared to influencer marketing or digital marketing, to create engaging content, businesses should allocate their resources to content marketing.

It is estimated that 30% of the marketing budget of companies can be allocated to content writing to achieve the best results in clicks or reaching potential customers.⁶

If you are wondering how much to spend on SEO content writing services and what the metrics affecting SEO prices are, here is a guide on SEO content services pricing.

5- Outsourcing content writers

About half of the companies outsource writers to create content, and large companies with more than 1,000 employees, are more likely to get help from outsourcing.⁷Getting help from domain experts in content writing processes enables businesses to cover in-depth articles.

Source: Clickworker

Figure 3. Clickworker, one of the content writing service providers, explains the processes of hiring writers for content creation

We conducted a benchmarking study on the vendors that provide content writing services, and our results show that Clickworker is the only company that satisfies all the criteria determined.

You can also check our article on B2B content writing to learn about the questions to ask before choosing a content writer.

6- Relying more on images and videos

Reading plain text for specific keywords to learn about a new topic could be boring. Research shows that readers spend only 37 seconds reading content on the web, and 43% do not even read it thoroughly.⁸

That’s why implementing image, or video content (i.e., short-form videos) can make your content more engaging and also increase the content’s visual search capabilities.

7- Recycling content

By breaking the content into small pieces, you can make a more in-depth analysis and use the content in different media channels, such as

• long web content
• social media posts
• newsletters
• RSS feeds

So, you can benefit from a single topic much more efficiently.

8- Taking a stand in the content

The customers must hear the writer’s voice as it builds authority and trust. This can also include the name, expertise, or a short “About me” page of the writer to give the readers a more comprehensive picture while evaluating the content in terms of its informativeness.

9- Interactive content

Keeping the readers engaged with the content may take work, as there are dozens of reasons to get distracted. As people find these contents (i.e., pop quizzes or mini surveys) more appealing and exciting, they spend 4-5 times more on web pages with interactive content.⁹

10- Writing “How to” content

It is estimated that 77% of blog posts consist of “how-to” articles, and a survey including 500,000 blog posts shows that the organic traffic is 1.5 times higher for “How to” content, meaning that content with practical suggestions, creative solutions, and call-to-actions attracts audience’s attention more.^{10 11}

11- Leveraging audio formats

Source: Statista

Figure 4. The number of people (in millions) who listen to podcasts in the US from 2013 to 2023.

The podcast industry has gained popularity in the last years as in 2006, only 22% percent of people were aware of podcasting in the US, and now it has risen to almost 80%.¹² Businesses use podcasts to increase their brand awareness and engagement with the target audience to ensure brand reputation. Thus, turning high-quality content into podcasts can create unique interactions.

Here are some podcast channels that turn content into audio form to bring ease to the listeners.

Figure 5. Shopify, McKinsey, and eBay share their business management expertise on their podcast channels.

12- Benefit from voice search features

In the US, almost 45% of Internet users get help from voice assistants when searching the Internet.¹³ When writer’s block is experienced, checking voice research trends can also help understand the topics that make listeners curious, understand the listeners’ needs, or generate new ideas on what topic to write about.

If you have more questions about content marketing, do not hesitate to reach us:

External Links

• 1. “The State of Marketing Budget and Strategy 2022.” Gartner. Retrieved from November 23, 2022.
• 2. Ouellette, Coral (April 22, 2022). “Ultimate List of Blogging Statistics and Facts (Updated for 2022)”. Optinmonster. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
• 3. “Local Search Conversion Statistics.” Google. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
• 4. “Local SEO Statistics: 35+ Stats to Prove You Need a Local SEO Strategy”. WebFx. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
• 5. “Market Research Report.” Fortune Business Insights. April 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
• 6. Agius, Aaron (January 20, 2021). “How Much Should Your Company Budget For Content Marketing? Forbes. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
• 7. “12th Annual B2B Content Marketing” (PDF). Content Marketing Institute. July 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
• 8. G. Nick (November 26, 2022). “29 Important Blogging Statistics Every Blogger Should Know in 2022.” Techjury. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
• 9. “10 Statistics That Prove Interactive Content Is the Future”. Outgrow. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
• 10. Todorov, Georgi (February 12, 2021). 81 of the Most Up-to-Date Blogging Statistics in 2021. Semrush. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
• 11. “The State of Content Marketing.” Semrush. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
• 12. Götting C. Marie (October 2019). “Number of podcast listeners in the U.S. 2014-2023.” Statista. November 23, 2022.
• 13. Petrock, Victoria (November 16, 2022). “Voice Assistant and Smart Speaker Users 2020.” Insider Intelligence. Retrieved November 26, 2022.