Is your business struggling to prove content marketing is providing a solid ROI? According to a recent survey, this is a common problem among B2B marketers…

The survey, conducted by content intelligence platform idio, suggests digital marketers are struggling to integrate their content marketing and sales strategy, and it’s having a negative impact on daily business operations.

When asked ‘What is your biggest digital marketing pain point?’ many respondents cited a lack of understanding between content and ROI as the main challenge, and this seems to be a recurring theme amongst B2B marketers. It seems that many B2B marketers are unable to measure the quality of their content, so it’s being cast aside in favour of other channels.

So how do you measure the success of B2B content marketing? Well, it isn’t with views, likes or shares as many people think… these elements are all positive results, but the real success should be in the numbers – the B2B marketing ROI.

Firstly, measure the cost…

It goes without saying that you should be recording the time it takes to write each and every piece of content. This includes the time spent researching, planning and writing, and any creative design in the final stages. Once you have this figure, convert your copywriting and design team’s annual salary into an hourly rate. Multiple this number by the time it’s taken your team to produce the piece of content, add the cost of any images purchased, and there you have it. Your investment!

Next, attribute success…

Due to the nature of B2B marketing and the fact that the majority of customers convert after ‘touching’ several different pieces of content, it’s important to decide how you want to attribute the importance of each one to a prospect converting. Arguably the most reliable is multi-touch attribution, which divides the credit equally between content that was ‘touched’ during the conversion process. This reinforces the idea that all interactions are of equal importance.

Finally, calculate the ROI

The final piece of the puzzle is subtracting your investment amount from the attributed return of each piece of content, giving you the ROI figure.

By carrying out these calculations you’ll be left with a tangible number that will prove how successful your content is, and help identify areas that aren’t working so well. By constantly measuring and analysing the performance of your content, you’ll stay ahead of the curve and be able to adapt to any new industry developments.

 

For a more in-depth guide to measuring B2B marketing ROI…