What Methods Do You Use to Measure Content Marketing ROI?

What Methods Do You Use to Measure Content Marketing ROI?

Determining the return on investment for content marketing campaigns is crucial, yet often complex. We've gathered insights from Content Marketing Managers and Founders to unveil the effectiveness of their strategies. From defining 'R' in ROI to comparing revenue against content costs, explore the diverse methods used by experts in our compilation of five insightful answers.

• Define 'R' in ROI First
• Track Demo Calls and Sales
• Blend Performance Metrics and Brand Equity
• Measure Engagement and Track Conversions
• Compare Revenue Against Content Costs

Define 'R' in ROI First

The most important step in measuring ROI is to first determine what metric the 'R' represents. What goal are you trying to achieve? Once you know that, then the 'how' of measuring the ROI becomes obvious — did we get the return (goal achieved) we were aiming for?

For example, we launched a content marketing campaign based around publishing original research. Our goal was to earn backlinks. Therefore, the return we wanted for our investment was backlinks. We could easily measure that using a tool like Ahrefs. In other cases, like when publishing a product landing page, the return we hope to get is revenue — that's the goal we set in the early stages of planning the campaign. So we tracked the number of conversions and revenue attributed to the page through Google Analytics.

Track Demo Calls and Sales

Our measurement is standard for all content marketing campaigns. We measure the number of demo calls booked and how many calls turn into sales. Ultimately, it's all linked to how much we sell. We track all of this on GA4. This also helps us gather which content type or topic is driving conversions.

Blend Performance Metrics and Brand Equity

As a long-time owner of a marketing agency, I can tell you that quantifying content marketing efficacy involves a balanced blend of both performance metrics and brand equity.

Our analytics showcase awareness asset success through sales-qualified lead rates and funnel progression. But also higher-funnel signals like organic search visibility, media exposures, social amplification, and qualitative sentiment shifts demonstrating audience connectivity gains that feed revenue indirectly.

ROI must tie short-term transactional response to long-term loyalty cultivation - both are essential for enduring growth.

Measure Engagement and Track Conversions

As the Head of Inbound Growth at Businessmap, one example of how I've effectively measured the ROI of a content marketing campaign hails from our 'Empowering Agile Transformation' series. Through content analytics, we closely examined metrics like organic traffic, click-through rates (CTRs), and time spent on the page. This gave us a clear insight into user engagement.

To calculate the ROI, we tracked lead conversions directly connected to these content pieces by leveraging our inbound marketing software's tagging and attribution features. Our measured success wasn't just higher traffic, but an increase in quality leads—our new subscriptions spiked by 29% quarter-on-quarter post this campaign. In financial terms, this translated to an ROI way over the initial investment, confirming the efficacy of our content marketing strategy.

Compare Revenue Against Content Costs

We create blog posts and styling tips for various brands. We track the number of people who click from that article to a specific landing page. Then, we see the number of visitors who add items to their carts and complete the purchase. By comparing the revenue generated to the cost of content creation, you can measure whether your photography tips drive sales across all genres, showing a return on your content investment on your platform.