27+ Content Marketing Statistics To Help You Succeed in 2023

The year’s end tends to prompt reflection on the previous 12 months and plans for the year ahead. You may spend time assessing what worked in your content program, what didn’t, and what you can do differently next year.

If you’re a content executive or leader, these reflections might influence where you direct those precious content marketing budgets and resources in 2023.

For individual contributors and managers, these reflections might influence how you feel about your current role and future career moves.

As you take this time to reflect and plan, use CMI’s recent research findings to add context to your analysis and reinforce any decisions you make.

What to know about your content marketing career – and your team’s

Our (first) Content Marketing Career & Salary 2023 Outlook (registration required) found:

As we wrote in the report, many content marketers are “poised and ready to leap when the right opportunity comes along – meaning the Great Resignation may be far from over.”

• 54% of content marketers feel they should be paid more.
• The median salary for U.S.-based content marketers who work for an employer (i.e., are not self-employed) is $82,738.
• Women in content marketing make approximately 80 cents on the dollar compared to men – the U.S. median content marketing salary for women is $79,891 and for men is $99,265.
• 31% of women in content marketing hold director-level and above positions, compared to 48% of men.
• Just 23% of content marketers report that they have a clear path for advancement inside their current company.
• 57% of content marketers are either planning to find another job in 2023 or are unsure about their next steps.
• 24% of content marketers say they are extremely or very stressed at work; women report higher stress levels (32% higher than men) and lower levels of job satisfaction (11% lower than men).

What to do for your career

If you suspect you’re underpaid, start by researching what others in your position make, as Ann Gynn advises in the article Content Marketers: Here’s How To Ask for (and Get) the Salary You Want.

In addition to CMI’s salary research, Ann mentions this salary tool from Creative Circle that shows average pay by job title and location. Another research option: Check the salary bands listed for open content marketing jobs.

Once you have a better sense of how your pay stacks up, start preparing a case for a raise based on your recent accomplishments. Ann suggests you consider how your role has changed, the business impact of your work, and any positive feedback you’ve gotten from others at work. Then, decide what you’ll ask for (and alternatives you might suggest if a salary increase isn’t possible).

What to do for your team

First, if your organization lacks a career ladder for content roles, collaborate with your HR partners to develop one. For a head start on the process, use the framework Robert Rose shared in this article: Don’t Let Content Marketing Be a Dead-End Career.

Then, get ready for requests for raises. Inflation and the increasing importance of content marketing in organizations (more on that in the next section) make these requests almost inevitable.

Advocating for your team may help you keep them around. Recent SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) research found that inadequate compensation is the main factor in employee turnover.

The same research found the average compensation increase in 2023 to be 4.6%, well below the inflation rate. Think about what else you can do to recognize and reward employees (consider options like additional days off, participation in high-profile projects, or a change in title).

Finally, spend some time preparing to answer questions about pay equity. With more states adopting salary transparency laws, employees may talk more openly with each other about their pay.

A recent Harvard Business Review article shares ways you can prepare to discuss pay equity questions, even if you don’t have complete control over your team’s salaries. The article suggests researching:

• What factors your company considers to determine salaries
• How the company reviews salaries to determine if they’re competitive (and what’s possible if they’re not)
• Where your employees’ pay sits within the salary bands (and why)

If you’re hiring next year, don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. Tailor your offers to what matters most to the candidate. When considering new content marketing opportunities, CMI’s study found that Baby Boom and Gen X employees are most interested in finding a cultural fit. In contrast, Millennials prioritize higher compensation and flexible work.

What to know when planning your 2023 B2B content

This year’s annual B2B research exposed some areas where content marketers may need additional support from their organizations. Consider these findings:

• 71% of B2B marketers say content marketing has become more important to their organization in the last year.
• 40% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy; another 33% have a strategy, but it’s not documented, and another 27% have no strategy at all.
• Just 29% of B2B marketers say their organization is extremely or very successful with content marketing.
• 64% of those who say their organization is very or extremely successful with content marketing have a documented content marketing strategy.
• 47% of B2B marketers think their organization will hire or contract content producers in 2023.
• 46% of B2B marketers say one group (or person) handles all types of content in their organization (including advertising, thought leadership, brochures, SEO content, etc.).
• 49% of B2B marketers used in-person events in the last 12 months; in-person events are also the content type that produced the best content marketing results in the previous 12 months; virtual events came in a close second, followed by research reports.
• 57% of B2B marketers expect investment in social media/community building during 2023, up from 37% the previous year.
• 89% of B2B content marketers use short articles/posts, making them the top type of content used; video comes in second, with 75% using video, up from 66% the previous year.
• 78% of B2B marketers expect investment in video during 2023, up from 69% the previous year.

What to do

Has content marketing become more critical to your organization (as it has for so many)? Have you gotten budget increases to support it? If not, talk with your department head about the impact content marketing has had, including any recent or planned changes to scope.

This article on How To Explain Content Marketing ROI to Win (or Keep) Buy-In offers suggestions on how to talk about content marketing’s impact in terms executives understand. (You’ll have actual numbers to substitute for the estimates the article suggests.)

You also might want to review your existing reporting to make sure you’re showing results in ways business leaders find meaningful. Remember, it’s not only about the numbers ­­– you need to tell the story behind the numbers. You’ll find suggestions for how to do that here: Stop Making These Reporting Mistakes (If You Want To Keep Your Content Budget)

Explaining content marketing’s value to the business should help you get the resources you need to plan, create, distribute, and measure content (including additional in-house or outsourced staff).

If these numbers convince you to do only one thing, let it be to document (or update) your content marketing strategy. Every year, our research shows that content marketers who feel their programs are successful document their strategy – and those who don’t feel successful don’t have a documented strategy. A written, shareable content marketing strategy will help you make a case for the resources you need to support everything you want to do in 2023 – and will keep your team on track as you execute.

Try this accessible process to get the strategy to create yours: How To Write a 1-Page Content Marketing Strategy.

What to know to plan your 2023 video strategy

Video’s importance in marketing continues to experience growth across all segments (B2B, B2C, nonprofit, etc.), as our video research shows. Among the latest findings:

• 73% of marketers say videos have become more important to their business in the last year.
• 69% of marketers say they mostly produce videos in-house.
• 52% of marketers say videos ranging from one to three minutes long have been most successful for their content marketing.
• 31% of marketers say their key audience seems to prefer video over other content types.
• Just 12% of marketers say their organization uses videos to their full potential.
• 85% of marketers say they get average or below-average results with their videos.
• 59% of marketers say the top thing they would need to get better results with video is a video strategy.
• 64% of marketers expect their video budget to increase in 2023 compared with 2022.
• 74% of marketers think their organization needs to invest more in video.

What to do

Now is the time to integrate video into your strategy for 2023.

As Andy Crestodina said in my article about the research findings, “Video is a ‘show-me’ medium. Without a strategy documenting how you will show instead of tell, a clearly defined outcome, and the resources you require, much of your time spent on video won’t bear fruit.”

Assess your video investment during 2022. Was it enough? If not, will you get more budget in 2023? If not, how will you make the most of the available resources?

Consider your organization’s goals for 2023. If it wants to:

• Increase thought leadership: Consider allocating more budget toward informational videos with executives
• Increase brand awareness: Consider short, customized videos for each social platform on which you want to be active
• Move more prospects through the buyer’s journey: Consider a series of videos focused on storytelling about your organization, its customers, and the solutions offered.

Yes, that sounds like a lot of videos to produce. But remember, you don’t have to start each one from scratch – and you can turn your videos into other content formats. The article How To Repurpose Video Content for Bigger and Better Results offers many suggestions for filling out your content menu by planning to reuse and repurpose existing and new videos.

For more video strategy inspiration, read the stories and lessons from the video marketing initiatives honored in the 2022 Content Marketing Awards: 4 Ways To Win With Video – the ‘It’ Content Format for 2023 [Research and Examples]

Make 2023 a strategic success

Statistics alone rarely persuade anyone of anything. But they can reinforce the stories you tell.

Use these statistics and related resources to make a case for the resources you need, document a winning content strategy, and decide how big a role video will play in your 2023 plans.

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