Content marketers had no choice but to get creative during the Covid-19 pandemic to spread their messages digitally.

A new report from HubSpot and Venngage confirms that most marketers around the world shifted to visual content in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.

Most marketers also intend to continue on this path in 2022 and beyond to achieve their goals.

For the average marketer, visual content includes infographics, illustrations, stock photos, charts, and videos.

The most-used visuals are infographics and illustrations, at 33%, followed by stock photos at 30%.

HubSpot’s customer relationship management (CRM) platform data and Venngage survey data revealed the extent that the pandemic has changed how companies reach out to customers.

Nearly 60% of marketers overall said they shifted their visual content marketing strategy in 2020.

Marketers in Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. said they made the shift to visual content because of the pandemic.

Here is the breakdown of the number of marketers within each of these countries:

• Australia: 64%
• Canada: 62%
• U.K.: 73%
• U.S.: 50%

According to the report, this shift is here to stay. Sixty-three percent of marketers expect businesses to heavily rely on visual content as a “key plank” in their 2022 marketing strategies.

The percentage is expected to be highest in Australia, with a whopping 86%, followed by 80% in the U.K., 76% in Canada, and 60% in the U.S.

Overall, the report found that although the pandemic seriously affected the average company’s connection with consumers through marketing campaigns, the majority of marketers adapted via visual content.

For many companies around the globe, business is faring well, and some are even better than they were before.

Parse.ly’s Content Matters Report 2022 found that 66% of marketers have created more content than ever.

However, many companies struggle to create content with current staff, and struggle to generate leads with the content they have.

The majority of respondents said they only have 1 to 10 people dedicated to creating content.

“Clearly, to be effective, organizations must balance people, process, and technology,” the authors of the report said. “Only then can marketers create not just more content but content that produces better results, based on focusing efforts in the highest performing areas.”

Effective marketing can be challenging and complicated for companies that lack the time, energy, and resources, experts say.

In that case, businesses may want to connect with an experienced digital marketing agency to help them navigate the research necessary to effectively reach customers — and continue generating high-quality leads.

Image by Tumisu.