In this fast-paced technology environment, measurable content marketing outcomes is possible even for businesses with smaller marketing teams and limited funds. Staying on top of a hundred complex metrics or hiring new people is not required to pore over business analytics.
As per the Content Marketing Institute, more than 80 % of businesses use metrics to understand how well their content succeeds. Website traffic (90%) is the metric that is used most frequently. This should be no surprise as any good marketing strategy should be measured consistently to ensure its effectiveness.
Over the past year, since trade programs and conferences have been put on hold, content has been an integral part of any businesses marketing strategies. Thus, CMOs play an essential role in determining if the content makes a real difference in revenue. Else, the content may never reach its full potential as a vital marketing tool.
Read More: The Growing Need to Focus on High Impact Advertising
CMOs can determine whether their content marketing strategy is hitting the bottom line by continually critiquing three crucial performance indicators:
- Marketing-qualified leads
Content Marketing Institute says 47 % of marketing professionals don’t track how many marketing-qualified leads got generated due to their content. Instead, many of them rely on broader metrics like general leads and new connections to measure success. This is where they go wrong. Unlike those more general metrics, marketing-qualified leads enable businesses to identify people who are genuinely interested in buying their products or services.
Read More: Smart CMO strategy going into 2021
Leads are considered qualified based on multiple factors, including designation, industry, and the frequency of contact with pieces of content. Accurately identified marketing-qualified leads can inform the business if their content marketing is efficiently pulling potential consumers and not just the standard population.
- Qualified leads turned into sales calls
After a lead is qualified, the next step is to look at both the number and percentage of marketing-qualified leads that get on the phone for sales calls.
If fewer marketing-qualified leads are moving ahead to get on a sales call, it either means that those contacts didn’t get qualified in the first place or that the lead-nurturing process requires improvement.
Therefore, CMOs encourage their teams to revamp their email sequences being delivered to marketing-qualified leads. Moreover, their team could also change when and how often they connect with the lead or rethink their lead scoring strategy.
- Sales conversions
This content marketing metric also helps to track which leads source is driving the current sales. For instance, if three of the last ten sales came from webinars, that’s likely a strategy ready for more investment. On the other hand, if nine of the previous ten sales originated from organic search, the businesses might need to put the maximum effort toward SEO.
Final Thoughts
CMOs need not track dozens of metrics to measure their content marketing strategy’s success. By focusing on critical metrics such as tracking sales conversions, marketing-qualified leads, and qualified leads that turn into sales calls, every company can make content a potent tool in its marketing toolbox.
