--- title: Content Marketing’s Bad Stats-Good News for Industrial? description: Recent stats say that Industrial content marketing is faltering. Yet, the opportunities have never been better for the savvy industrial marketer. image: https://www.thereppgroup.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/pile_of_content_crap-3.jpg --- [![The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2.png?width=640&height=211&name=The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2.png "The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2")](https://www.thereppgroup.com) Open main menu Close main menu - [Tom Repp](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tomrepp) - [What We Do](https://www.thereppgroup.com/consulting) - [Resources](https://www.thereppgroup.com/publications) Open the submenu - [Content REPPliKator](https://www.thereppgroup.com/repplikator) - [REPPliKator Q&A](https://www.thereppgroup.com/repplikator-qa) - [Partners](https://www.thereppgroup.com/partners) - Industrial Marketers Ask Open the submenu - [What Are The Seven Infrastructure Pillers](https://www.thereppgroup.com/what-are-the-seven-infrastructure-pillars) - [What Is the Digital Moat?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/what-is-the-digital-moat-framework) - [What Are Large Language Models (LLMs)?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/what-are-large-language-models-llms-what-every-industrial-ceo-must-understand-now) - [What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?: How AI Answers Are Quietly Rewriting Industrial Buying](https://www.thereppgroup.com/what-is-answer-engine-optimization-aeo-how-ai-answers-are-quietly-rewriting-industrial-buying) - [What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Why Industrial Leaders Need to Know](https://www.thereppgroup.com/what-is-generative-engine-optimization-geo-why-industrial-leaders-need-to-know) - [Why B2B Industrials Aren’t Using the Web as a Channel to Market](https://www.thereppgroup.com/why-b2b-industrials-arent-using-the-web-as-a-channel-to-market) - [What Percentage Should Mid-size B2B Industrials Spend on Digital?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/what-percentage-should-mid-size-b2b-industrial-spend-on-digital) - [In the Digital Age, Does a Mid-Size Industrial Need to Rethink Their Brand Message?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/does-a-mid-size-b2b-industrial-need-a-great-brand-story) - [How Will the AI Revolution Effect B2B Industrial Marketing?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/how-will-the-ai-revolution-effect-b2b-industrial-marketing) - [How Long for Online Success for B2B Industrials?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/how-long-for-online-success-for-b2b-industrials) - [Should Mid-Size B2B Industrials Deploy Marketing Automation?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/should-mid-size-b2b-industrials-deploy-marketing-automation) - [Do B2B Industrials Need a Marketing Coach or Consultant?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/do-b2b-industrials-need-a-marketing-coach-or-consultant) - [Do B2B Industrials Need a Digital Marketing Agency](https://www.thereppgroup.com/do-b2b-industrials-need-a-digital-agency) - [As an Industrial Marketer How Often Should I Update Website](https://www.thereppgroup.com/how_often_do_i_need_to_upate_my_industrial_website) - [Do Mid-Size B2B Industrials Need to Embrace AI for Digital Marketing?](https://www.thereppgroup.com/do-mid-size-b2b-industrials-need-to-embrace-ai-for-digital-marketing) - [Contact Me](https://www.thereppgroup.com/contact-me) ## Hiring an outside marketing guide...is well worth it. ![Tom-Repp-Front-page-transparent](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/Tom-Repp-Front-page-transparent.png?width=2000&name=Tom-Repp-Front-page-transparent.png) # Content Marketing’s Bad Stats-Good News for Industrial? ![Tom Repp](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/a31fd2565e9302ced7f587a7d4791f5a) [Tom Repp](https://www.thereppgroup.com/author/tom-repp) Mar 14 2016 [industrial marketing strategy,](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-marketing-strategy) [industrial content marketing](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-content-marketing) ![pile\_of\_content\_crap.jpg](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/pile_of_content_crap-3.jpg?width=323&name=pile_of_content_crap-3.jpg "pile_of_content_crap.jpg")I was talking the President of a local B2B manufacturer the other day.  He cited some statistics he read about the effectiveness of content marketing in the B2B space. He said, “Tom, I noticed in a marketing blog that engagement rates for content are really dropping. Does that dampen your enthusiasm for content marketing for industrial?” My response, “To the contrary.  Tell you what, I have some thoughts about that issue and let me post a blog about that subject this coming week.” So…here goes. True, there are some dismal stats concerning B2B content marketing & content marketing for industrial that takes the bloom off  the rose. For example [TrackMaven](http://trackmaven.com/blog/2016/02/content-marketing-strategy-report/) tells us that we are producing more content than ever, but engagement has fallen dramatically. Content Marketing Institute tells us in *[2016-B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing](http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/research) *that overall effectiveness of content marketing has lowered this past year. Here is why I think these stats spell opportunity for the the savvy industrial marketer. My conclusions are based on my own opinions, anecdotal evidence from my knowledge in the industry and research from some of the resources cited above. **Quality vs Quantity:** Frankly…content engagement has fallen because there is so much crap out there and the crap continues to pile up. If this trend continues, then engagement rates will continue to fall. Yet, the opportunity for savvy industrial marketers has never been better. Do your research. Find out what your customers want in terms of content that will make their daily jobs easier. Then, find outside help from an experienced agency that knows how to differentiate commodity items. Then, get on with beating your competitors to your prospects roaming on the web with great content. **Lack of a Brand Theme:** I believe B2B engagement rates are falling because a lack of awareness about brand themes. Many industrial marketers have never thought about their brand theme.  Yet, in the age of search, mobile and social, [brand consistency is more important than ever](https://www.thereppgroup.com/a-road-map-for-industrial-branding).  An industrial marketer that develops a strong brand theme across all content formats and all media channels will surely benefit from engagement and top-of-mind-awareness. **Sprint vs Marathon:** Content marketing is a long-term commitment.  It is unlikely industrial marketers will see a financial benefit in the first year so many marketers lose interest and quit or they continue producing the same ‘ol content without improving their game. This helps drive down engagement rates in the industry, yet opens opportunities for the industrial marketers that stick to it and continually improve their game. **No Measurement:** From my experience, many industrial marketers have cobbled together a content marketing strategy without real documentation or specific goals. Further, they cobble together a website, landing pages, blog posts, calls-to-action, social media, without connecting any of their valuable marketing assets. The results of their marketing efforts are difficult to measure even using marketing automation, such as HubSpot. Without marketing automation it is next to impossible. Not measuring your marketing efforts will, ultimately, lower your engagement opportunities. Again, this is an unseen benefit for industrial marketers that embrace a robust marketing automation platform and leverage all its capabilities. **Content Saturation in the Industrial Market:** Most industrial marketers are really bad at producing content. Therefore, there is little competition for topics such as “quench oil coolers”, “custom-built hydraulic manifolds” or “severe duty electric motors”. [I have written extensively about this topic](https://www.thereppgroup.com/blog/why-understanding-content-saturation-is-a-bonanza-for-industrial-marketers) and believe it is one of the most significant opportunities for industrial marketers in a generation. So, as word gets out that some industrial marketers at not doing well with content marketing, engagement stats drop. Yet, market realities tell me there is more opportunity than ever for the savvy industrial marketer to establish a competitive advantage. **Innovation & Creativity:** As I said earlier, the crap piles up and the engagement numbers fall. Moving forward with a successful content marketing strategy requires change, creativity & innovation in marketing. Most industrial marketers are new to the digital marketing arena, let alone the content marketing arena. So again, this leaves large gapping opportunities for the industrial marketers that take advantage of their competitors’ lack of marketing innovation and creativity. [Get outside help if you need it](https://www.thereppgroup.com/blog/your-industrial-marketing-strategy.-outsourced-or-in-house), but raise your game when it comes to marketing innovation & creativity. **Optimism about Content Marketing for Industrial:** So…the bottom line. There is no doubt that engagement will continue to fall for content deployed on the web as more & more amateurs deploy poor quality. However, for the industrial marketers that want to raise their content game, embrace market realities, the opportunities have never been better. Enjoy, Mr. President Subscribe to my twitter list: industrial-inbound  at [https://twitter.com/twrepp/lists/industrial-inbound/subscribers](https://twitter.com/twrepp/lists/industrial-inbound/subscribers) [![Subscribe to The Repp Groups Blog](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Callout-Banner-Subscribe-1-May-11-2021-06-22-23-39-AM.jpg?width=634&height=175&name=Callout-Banner-Subscribe-1-May-11-2021-06-22-23-39-AM.jpg)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/blog-for-tom-repp/) [![Request 30 Minute Consultation](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Callout-Banner-Request-May-11-2021-06-22-23-11-AM.jpg?width=634&height=175&name=Callout-Banner-Request-May-11-2021-06-22-23-11-AM.jpg)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/consulting) ![Tom Repp](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/a31fd2565e9302ced7f587a7d4791f5a) #### Author:Tom Repp A passionate marketer attempting to change the way industrial marketers leverage the web as a growth-oriented, lead generation machine. [View all posts by Tom Repp](https://www.thereppgroup.com/author/tom-repp) ### Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked \* ###### [PREVIOUS For B2B Lead Generation…It Is ALL SYSTEMS GO](https://www.thereppgroup.com/industrial-marketing-strategy/for-b2b-lead-generation-it-is-all-systems-go) ###### [NEXT Ad-blockers, Changes Everything for Industrial Content Marketing](https://www.thereppgroup.com/industrial-marketing-strategy/ad-blockers-changes-everything-for-industrial-content-marketing) #### WATCH THIS and find out how to beat your rivals to the best industrial leads [![Image description](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TRG-B2B%20Content%20REPPLIKATOR-logo-PNG-half-transparent-v2-4-1.png?width=280&name=TRG-B2B%20Content%20REPPLIKATOR-logo-PNG-half-transparent-v2-4-1.png "Image description")](https://www.thereppgroup.com/repplikator) [![](https://i2.wp.com/hubspot-academy.s3.amazonaws.com/prod/tracks/user-badges/d6b287413e59457fa6564d08c2da8154-1580141375300.png?w=840&ssl=1)](https://academy.hubspot.com/certification) [![](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hubfs/images/2019-09-Tom-Repp-SEMrush-certification-300x205.jpg)](##) ### RECENT POSTS ### FOLLOW US! [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomrepp) [Follow us on Facebook](https://twitter.com/twrepp) ### TAGS - [industrial marketing strategy (158)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-marketing-strategy) - [industrial content marketing (70)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-content-marketing) - [B2B industrial marketing (52)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/b2b-industrial-marketing) - [B2B content marketing (38)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/b2b-content-marketing) - [AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) for B2B (29)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/aeo-answer-engine-optimization-for-b2b) - [inbound marketing for industrial (27)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/inbound-marketing-for-industrial) - [Industrial branding (20)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-branding) - [marketing automation for industrial (17)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/marketing-automation-for-industrial) - [Industrial Marketing (16)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-marketing) - [industrial blogging (16)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-blogging) - [SEO strategy for B2B industrial (15)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/seo-strategy-for-b2b-industrial) - [brand strategy for B2B (15)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/brand-strategy-for-b2b) - [Content Marketing for Industrial Marketers (14)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/content-marketing-for-industrial-marketers) - [industrial brand strategy (14)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-brand-strategy) - [content saturation for industrial (13)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/content-saturation-for-industrial) - [integrating AI into industrial marketing (13)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/integrating-ai-into-industrial-marketing) - [Generative Engine Optimization (11)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/generative-engine-optimization) - [B2B Lead Generation (10)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/b2b-lead-generation) - [GEO for industrial marketing (10)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/geo-for-industrial-marketing) - [Search engines vs AI bots (10)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/search-engines-vs-ai-bots) - [AI marketing for B2B industrials (9)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/ai-marketing-for-b2b-industrials) - [Digital Moat Framework (9)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/digital-moat-framework) - [digital marketing strategy for B2B (9)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/digital-marketing-strategy-for-b2b) - [LLM and B2B industrial marketing (8)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/llm-and-b2b-industrial-marketing) - [brand visibility (8)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/brand-visibility) - [SEO strategy for B2B (7)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/seo-strategy-for-b2b) - [industrial digital marketing (7)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-digital-marketing) - [industrial lead generation (7)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-lead-generation) - [hubspot for industrial (6)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/hubspot-for-industrial) - [industrial marketing strategies (5)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-marketing-strategies) - [B2B lead geneation (4)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/b2b-lead-geneation) - [David Meerman Scott (4)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/david-meerman-scott) - [The Repp Group B2B Content REPPliKator (4)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/the-repp-group-b2b-content-repplikator) - [content marketing for industrials (4)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/content-marketing-for-industrials) - [marcus sheridan (4)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/marcus-sheridan) - [AI Commerce is here for B2Bs (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/ai-commerce-is-here-for-b2bs) - [ChatGPT Agent for Industrial Marketing (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/chatgpt-agent-for-industrial-marketing) - [Inbound Marketing (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/inbound-marketing) - [Industrial Internet Marketing (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industrial-internet-marketing) - [SEMrush (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/semrush) - [answer engine optimization (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/answer-engine-optimization) - [content marketing strategy (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/content-marketing-strategy) - [digital marketing for B2B (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/digital-marketing-for-b2b) - [featured snippet (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/featured-snippet) - [industry marketing strategy (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/industry-marketing-strategy) - [pillar pages for industrial (3)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/pillar-pages-for-industrial) - [Custom GPT for B2B marketers (2)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/custom-gpt-for-b2b-marketers) - [Mark Schaefer-Marketing Author (2)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/mark-schaefer-marketing-author) - [content marketing for industrial (2)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/content-marketing-for-industrial) - [content saturation (2)](https://www.thereppgroup.com/tag/content-saturation) The Repp Group, 7250 Eagle Terrace, Mattawan, MI 49071. Phone: [269-375-0349](tel:269-375-0349) [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomrepp) [Follow us on Facebook](https://twitter.com/twrepp) ![The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2](https://www.thereppgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2.png?width=640&name=The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2.png "The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2") ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Tom Repp", "url" : "https://www.thereppgroup.com/author/tom-repp" }, "dateModified" : "2021-08-03T04:59:30.774Z", "datePublished" : "2016-03-14T00:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Content Marketing’s Bad Stats-Good News for Industrial?", "image" : [ "https://www.thereppgroup.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/pile_of_content_crap-3.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thereppgroup.com/industrial-marketing-strategy/content-marketings-bad-stats-good-news-for-industrial", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.thereppgroup.com/hubfs/The-Repp-Group-Logo-2025-r2-3.png" }, "name" : "The Repp Group" } } ```