Content marketing and agency red flags

Hi there,

We have two great resources for you today:

Let's dive in.

#1: How SMBs Engage in Content Marketing (Study Results)

In the U.S. alone, there are approximately 32.5 million SMBs (small- and medium-sized businesses). In fact, 99.9% of all U.S. businesses are SMBs.

We decided to find out how those businesses use content marketing to drive results.

To do that, we surveyed 217 SMBs across a range of industries. We asked what content strategies they're using, and what's working best.

Here are a few things we learned:

Over 60% of SMBs use in-house writers to create their marketing content. 18% use agencies.

B2C and B2B businesses have very different goals for their content marketing. The top B2C content marketing goal is building engagement on social media. While the most common goal for B2B businesses is lead generation.

64% of SMBs have a budget of under $1,000 per month for creating content

We also uncovered which content types drive the best performance for SMBs, how different industries approach content differently, and more.

Get all the insights in our post on SMB content marketing.

#2: The Top 10 Red Flags That Scare Away Agency Clients

This one is for all the agencies (and freelancers) out there.

Have you ever wondered what makes prospective clients say "no" to your sales pitches?

To find out, we surveyed business leaders across 30+ industries. And we identified the 10 major red flags that companies avoid when they're considering hiring an agency.

Here are some of of the biggest reasons why agency pitches fail: