Many in the B2B world believe that it’s nearly impossible to measure the success of a content marketing campaign. This is a common misconception that needs to end now. When it is time for your marketing presentation, and you have to explain exactly why your company is investing in content marketing (or should be investing in it), know the facts about content creation and your content’s ROI.
When it comes to measuring the ROI of content marketing, it’s important to know the exact goal your marketing team wants to accomplish with its content – Is it to generate leads? Engage your audience? Increase the number of subscribers? Understanding the overarching goal of your marketing efforts is not only important for developing a brand name but also for knowing the context that you should use when determining the ROI of your content creation.
Still not entirely sure how to explain and measure your content’s ROI? Here are a few common ways marketing teams tackle it.
If your content creation goal is to generate leads:
Start by looking at the number of downloads you’ve been receiving for your offers (i.e., whitepapers, ebooks, webinars). Have they been increasing or decreasing? Share this measurement with your marketing team. If you’ve noticed a decrease, it’s time to reevaluate your content lead funnel.
If your goal is to engage your audience:
What are your interactions like on social media? Have you been generating more likes, shares, and follows? Also, be sure to note how many comments your content has received. Is your audience commenting on your LinkedIn or Facebook posts, tweeting at your brand, or leaving their opinion in the comments section of your blog? If you’re not seeing the desired social engagement, then it’s time for your brand to “take the first step.” For example, if someone is tweeting about how measuring the ROI of content marketing is tough, share a blog post that you recently wrote that outlined how to do just that.
If your goal is to increase your subscribers:
This one can be tricky! A great way to grow newsletter subscribers is to include CTAs (calls-to-action) throughout your website that direct visitors to the “newsletter sign-up box.” Additionally, make sure that your webpage is optimized for potential subscribers (i.e., including the newsletter sign-up option on every single page of your website in the top right corner). If you’re not generating the desired growth, perhaps it’s time to revisit your website and rewrite its content so that every single page indirectly points toward the newsletter opt-in.
If your goal is to convert leads into customers:
Proving the ROI for this marketing goal is quite simple. Simply count how many leads have successfully gone through your sales funnel and are now current customers. If the number is lower than you’d like (or nonexistent), take notice of where you lost them. Did they download a whitepaper but didn’t become a customer? Did they share a blog post but not click on the CTA? Paying attention to these smaller details will provide your marketing team with a better understanding of where you can strengthen your content marketing strategy for sales enablement.
The way you measure the ROI for your company depends on the overarching marketing goal that your team is looking to accomplish.