The idea of content production seems to bring out quite a wide range of opinions. We’re hearing that there’s way too much content being produced, but on the flip side, some experts are saying that a consistently high amount of content production is what’s necessary to drive website traffic. The quality vs. quantity battle rages on.
At the core of this issue is ROI. No matter which side we’re on (or if you believe in a balance between the two), you’ll need to prove that the content you’re creating is producing measurable results for your business.
But how do you prove this?
Michael Brenner, CEO of Marketing Insider Group and esteemed content marketer, has some great tips for measuring the success of a content marketing program. We had the chance to chat with Michael about the future of content marketing, and we thought we’d share his awesome advice for proving the ROI of content marketing.
And if you want even more advice from one of the greatest minds in content marketing, I’d recommend checking out our webinar with Michael. You’ll walk away with some actionable tips for demonstrating the ROI of content at your enterprise.
Download 10 Steps to Content Marketing ROI here.
Building a Case for Content Marketing
A few things stood out to us here. Michael says that in order to attain ROI from a content marketing campaign, we need to build a strong business case. Essentially: why are we creating the content, and what do we hope to get out of it?
It’s best to answer this and examine where your enterprise stands very early on. Be critical here, and ask yourself how you’re doing in terms of these three metrics:
- Cost
- Utilization
- Performance
How much are you currently paying for content production? Is it being seen by the intended audience, or is it just being created and abandoned? If it is being seen – how is your audience engaging with it?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have a better understanding of what ROI you can expect out of your content marketing campaigns going forward.
And as always, make sure you’re analyzing the right metrics. Shares and clicks (while helpful) don’t necessarily equate to ROI. When you’re measuring performance, for example, don’t leave it at the average number of impressions to tell you how your content is performing.
Michael recommends tying it back to metrics that are indicative of quality. Website traffic is great, but conversion rates will tell you a lot more about how prospects are reacting to your content.
For awareness and thought leadership content, it’s important to go beyond traffic metrics to look at engagement rates. Anyone can buy traffic. But engagement is the key in today’s attention-starved world filled with so many choices.
For lead-generation content, it’s important to look beyond leads to measure both the quality of the leads (conversion rates) as well as engagement.”
Measuring your content marketing isn’t just about raw data, it’s about insight. So make sure that the metrics you’re analyzing are actually reflective of the ultimate goals you have in mind.
Creating the Right Kind of Content
If your content is meant to provide actual business value, it should encourage prospects to take a certain action, right?
Well yes, but there’s an art to this. It’s easy for content creators to get tunnel vision here and create repetitive content that’s overly promotional, and frankly, not enjoyable to read.
I loved Michael’s advice on this: If the goal of your content is to engage prospects in the very early buying stages, think of content creation like dating. You can’t expect someone you hardly know to commit to you – so let them get to know you first! Your brand, your product offerings, everything that encompasses who you are should be at the forefront of your content.
No one likes a Stage 5 Clinger, so don’t propose on the first date.
But that said, even your dating content needs to demonstrate ROI. Bounce rate and time spent on the page can help you understand whether you’re making a good impression, so to speak.
Although we don’t have any paid strategy in place at PostBeyond (yet), we’re still easily able to prove ROI for our content beyond clicks/engagement. I wrote more in-depth about our content strategy here.
What it boils down to for us is pipeline attribution. Our “dating” content (opinion or culture pieces) will have lower projections than say, a how-to post, but we still track the actions someone takes once they’re reading any piece of content on our blog. If this particular post leads them to download an asset, we then have a more detailed profile of that reader, and score them in our CRM.
It can be a bit of a process, but this is how we ensure that our content is doing more than just generating clicks – it’s helping us understand how our customers find us, what content is the most valuable to them, and where we should focus our efforts in the future.
It’s actually really cool to see the dollar amount that a piece of content is responsible for. It strengthens the business case for B2B content marketing and ensures that you’re offering tangible results.
My advice for content marketers: remember that your content needs to provide the same level of value for your readers and your business. Don’t sacrifice one for the benefit of the other.
How do you prove the value of your content marketing campaigns? What KPI’s do you look at?
Let me know in the comments!
