Anyone investing in their content marketing strategy will want to know that they are getting a return on their investment. Hopefully, through getting content published online, you will be engaging with new audiences and promoting your brand, but how measurable is all of this? ROI is all about quantifiables, and it can be one of the toughest parts of a content marketing strategy to nail down. Whether you’re looking to persuade your CMO to invest in your strategy, or trying to justify your existing costs, you are going to need evidence of ROI. Here are our top 10 ways to make sure that your published content is truly giving you value for money.
- Grow your audience. The more you invest in your content marketing, the more people you will reach, and the bigger your audience will become. This means your content has more impact and is more durable, and as time goes on, gives increasingly good value for money.
- Develop flexible content. You can get fantastic ROI from your content marketing if you publish pieces which can serve a variety of purposes. A blog can equally act as a sales funnel or as a conduit to your website. Perhaps you want to build up brand awareness, earn more conversions from people already visiting your site, or improve public relations. Whatever your goal, build a variety of content that can be used for many purposes, ensuring that every published item delivers maximum value.
- Create useful content that people enjoy. One of the reasons that content marketing provides such great ROI (when done well), is that pieces which strike a note with readers get shared, re-read and bookmarked countless times. Who doesn’t have a favorite piece of writing that they come back to time and time again, either because they love it or because it’s the most useful source out there? It’s for these reasons that content marketing is 62 per cent cheaper than traditional marketing and still generates three times as many leads per dollar.
- Share your content in a human way. It may seem obvious, but don’t share content like you’re a robot. Share it at different times of the day, week and month and from various accounts across a range of platforms. Remember to throw in two or three hashtags and to tag anyone your piece may have referenced. Get them (and their followers) involved too!
- Optimize for search engines. If you don’t know how, find a company that does. Expertise in this area makes sure that your content gets found. It’s at the heart of success for your content marketing strategy.
- Don’t limit your strategy to external content marketing. Share your published material internally through a newsletter, ensuring that people across the whole business are up to speed and on message – and, more importantly, are sharing as well. No-one can advocate for your brand like your work colleagues, so make sure they are on top of what you have published and are promoting it for all its worth. It won’t just help spread the message of your strategy, but it will build on your team morale and make sure that your company’s culture is spread across every individual co-worker.
- Make sure your email signature leads to your latest published content. And not just yours, but company leaders’ as well. Any conversations you and influencers are having need to direct people back to your most current content. It’s a key part of any content marketing strategy to layer your sharing of material at all levels.
- Get some value for yourself. Why not? Update your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts with anything that you have authored. It will enhance your credibility and do your reputation and networking a ton of good.
- Share the benefits with human resources. Your content marketing strategy doesn’t stop at communications and public relations. It can benefit your whole business by adding value within your training and recruitment processes. You will know during an interview if a potential hire is keen, because they will have read up on everything you have published. Likewise, new employees can be given relevant content to read as part of their induction. There’s no need to spend money on expensive training packs if you have a stock of great educational content to hand.
- Be brave and network. If you know of key influencers in your network, don’t be shy. Drop them an email and share your latest material with them. It doesn’t cost you anything, and great content will always get shared. You’ll strengthen your network and get loads more views in the meantime.
Put simply, the best way to get ROI from your content marketing strategy is to make sure that your published material is shared right across your company. Invest in any skills gaps, whether it’s SEO or the writing itself. By sharing at all levels, across several platforms and making human connections with content that is enjoyable, you’ll have no trouble convincing your CMO that your content marketing spend is justified.
