The Ultimate List of 2021 Marketing Stats for Online Business Owners

At the beginning of 2021, we surveyed 425 online business owners on their content marketing, systems and sales strategies to get a picture of what’s working now in content. 

A major issue with typical marketing surveys out there is that they’re designed to tell you about how content and marketing work in big corporations or funded start-ups. This is a survey for online business owners by online business owners to give you insights into the state of content and content trends that impact US. 

Here’s what you’ll discover: 

• Content Marketing Strategies: What’s working NOW for online business owners, preferences and standard practices when it comes to content
• Content Systems: How much time is typically spent on different aspects of content marketing 
• Sales: The most effective sales strategies for online business owners and common challenges when it comes to sales
• How businesses at different monthly sales levels approach content marketing differently 

So if you want to take the guesswork out of content, read on for the 2021 stat run down: 

Content Strategy

What is the #1 feeling when you think of your content strategy?

• 104 of the responses mention ‘overwhelm’ 
• 46 of the responses mention ‘consistent’ (most are specifically not consistent or inconsistent)
• 41 of the responses mention ‘not enough’ 
• 19 of the responses mention ‘optimistic’ or ‘hope’
• 16 of the responses mention ‘scattered’ 

Nearly 25% of online business owners feel some kind of overwhelm when it comes to their content strategies. In fact, it was the number one reported feeling when it comes to content

Do you blog (whether it’s a written blog, podcast or videos)?

What are your most important content goals for 2021?

24.2% of respondents want to get more consistent with their content and marketing. 23.4% of respondents want to attract more leads, clients, and customers. And 19.3% of respondents want to systemize and streamline their business and marketing.

What are your biggest roadblocks when it comes to content?

Nearly 30% of survey takers cited having too many ideas and trying to do too much at once as the biggest roadblock when it comes to their content. 

What's your go-to blogging format?

How frequently are you blogging?

What’s the main type of lead magnet you plan on creating in 2021?

52.7% of survey takers plan on creating PDFs as lead magnets in 2021, while 44% will be creating micro-offers and 35.1% challenges.

What types of lead magnets do you find the most effective?

Over a quarter (28.5%) of those who use micro-offers as lead magnets find them to be very effective, while only 13.4% of those who use email courses find them to be effective. 

Which social media platforms do you use?

Which social media platform do you find most effective in 2021 for finding new leads?

The only three platforms where the majority of survey takers found them to be more effective versus not effective are: Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.

How much are you spending per month on marketing?

Over 70% of survey takers spend $100 or less on marketing their businesses.

How much are you spending per month on business coaching & education?

Over a third of survey-takers (36.9%) spend between $100-$500 per month on business education, while only 13.9% spend nothing per month on business education.

Content Systems

How much time do you spend on content per week?

Based on the survey, most online business owners spend: 

• Less than an hour planning their content per week (42.6%)
• A few hours per week creating content (42.1%)
• Less than an hour promoting their content per week (51.3%)

How much time do you spend planning content per week?

How much time do you spend creating content per week?

How much time do you spend promoting content per week?

How much time do you spend on social media per week?

The majority of survey takers spend a few hours per week on social media (32%) with most of that time being spent on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

What tools do you use to manage your content plan?

The majority of people use more than 1 type of tool to plan their content with 58.8% of survey takers using paper and pen (which might include a physical content planner or printing out a digital one) and 51.3% of survey takers use a project management tool (like Asana, Trello, Notion, Airtable, etc.).

How would you rank your content systems?

Over a third of survey-takers (41.9%) give their content systems a score of 1/5 (meaning they don’t have any content systems in place) while 2.6% of them give their content systems a score of 5/5 (meaning that their content systems are well documented). 

Sales

What sales methods do you find effective right now?

• #1 – Upsell from Paid Challenge: 29.6% Very Effective, 33.3% Moderately Effective, 37% Not Effective
• #2 – Free Trials: 28.8% Very Effective, 40.9% Moderately Effective, 30.3% Not Effective
• #3 – Upsell from Paid Workshop: 28.6% Very Effective, 44.9% Moderately Effective, 26.5% Not Effective
• #4 – Live Webinars: 24% Very Effective, 42.7% Moderately Effective, 33.3% Not Effective
• #5 – Email Marketing (Either Sales Emails or Automated Sequences): 22.2% Very Effective, 51.2% Moderately Effective, 26.6% Not Effective
• #6 – Summits: 21.8% Very Effective, 52.7% Moderately Effective, 25.5% Not Effective
• #7 – Automated Webinars – 18.2% Very Effective, 45.5% Moderately Effective, 36.4% Not Effective
• #8 – Paid Ads – 17.6% Very Effective, 41.5% Moderately Effective, 40.8% Not Effective
• #9 – Selling via Social Media – 16.8% Very Effective, 49.2% Moderately Effective, 34% Not Effective
• #10 – Free Challenge – 16.1% Very Effective, 52.5% Moderately Effective, 31.4% Not Effective

What are your top roadblocks when it comes to sales?

Nearly a third of survey takers report that not having enough leads is their biggest roadblock when it comes to sales (31%), while only 1.6% report that they don’t have any major roadblocks.

Content Profiles

Below you'll find information on how business owners with businesses at different monthly sales levels approach content. The four groups are broken down by:

• Under $1000 per month in sales
• Between $1000-$5000 per month in sales
• Between $5000-$10000 per month in sales
• Over $10000 per month in sales

How long have you been running your business?

What do you sell in your business?

What is your most important business goal for 2021?

What is your biggest roadblock when it comes to content?

How far in advance do you plan your content?

How far in advance do you create your content?

How frequently are you publishing blogs, videos or podcast episodes?

Do you have systems set up for your content?

How much time do you spend planning content per week?

How much time do you spend creating content per week?

How much time do you spend on social media per week?

What social media platforms do you use most often?

What types of lead magnets are you using to attract potential customers?

What are the top 3 ways you attract new leads?

How are you reaching your sales goals this year?

What is your current sales strategy?

What is your top channel for making sales?

How often do you send sales emails to your email list?

How often do you send sales emails to your email list?

How much are you spending a month on business coaching and courses?

How much are you spending a month on business coaching and courses?

What is the main type of support you're looking for in 2021?