Hubspot relased some extremely interesting research about blogging and lead gen earlier this week. And because we love Hubspot’s content marketing strategy and have great respect for them as a company, we listen to them when they publish research like this.
They are truly the inbound marketing and content marketing kings!
Here is a summation of a couple of their findings. Spoiler Alert: We agree with their findings, but question the implications some could draw from them.
1) Companies that blog more generate more traffic. Hubspot found that companies that blog 15 times or more each month have TWICE the traffic of companies that blog only once or twice a month. That’s substantial and dramatic.
They also found that companies blogging 9-15 times each month have 3 times more traffic than companies that never blog.
In other words, blogging drives traffic.
2) Companies that blog more generate more leads. Hubspot says that companies that blog 15 or more times each month receive 6x more leads than companies only blogging 2 times each month. They also show (and this surprised us) that companies blogging 15 times or more each month have TWICE as many leads as companies only blogging 9-14 times a month.
3) B2C companies benefit more from blogging than B2B companies. This is an interesting finding. Hubspot’s research shows clearly that–in terms of leads and traffic–blogging benefits B2C companies more than B2B companies. Generally the results are twice as dramatic.
Why?
Our guess is because B2C companies generally have larger audiences they market to. It is also likely because B2C companies have a more broad range of topics thay can write about.
Our Only Disagreement About These Findings
These findings prove how valuable content marketing is to lead gen. This is without question.
However, readers of this study should not assume a causal relationship between blogging and leads and/or traffic. We are certainly not disputing Hubspot’s data. There is no doubt that companies blogging 15x or more each month generate more leads and more traffic than companies blogging 1 or 2 times each month. We are not questioning this at all.
What we are simply saying is that there are other factors at work that contribute to increased leads and traffic. We are disputing that blogging more caused ALL of these things to occur. Certainly the companies that blog 15 times each month are likely doing other things well too. Perhaps they have a larger sales force or, perhaps they are producing more White Papers and eBooks. They are also likely spending more money on outbound marketing and other marketing channels.
Our point here is simple: if a company is blogging 15 times each month they are likely doing other things right as well. Those ‘other’ things, no doubt, also contribute to their success.
This shouldn’t take away from Hubspot’s findings or from your epic desire to have a robust content marketing and inbound marketing strategy. Content marketing should be at the center of any robust marketing plan. SEO is increasingly reliant on content. Customers want to read content. Leads are generated via content. And, to be sure, blogging should be a big part–maybe the biggest part–of any company’s content marketing strategy.
Content marketing truly is king.