You Should Be Measuring the Effectiveness of Marketing Strategies for Your B2B
Are you employing a content marketing strategy for your midlevel B2B business but not measuring the effectiveness of your content?
You’re not alone.
According to the 2020–2021 Content Operations Study by Content Science, 65 percent of businesses surveyed admitted to not regularly evaluating content impact and success. And this was costing them.
Competitors who were regularly measuring the marketing effectiveness of their content were three times more likely to report very or extremely successful content operations across multiple marketing channels. Additionally, these businesses were more likely to report positive content conditions that primed their content marketing campaigns for success. For example, 71 percent of businesses that regularly measure the marketing effectiveness of their content report that their marketing team has clear goals and actionable steps to take to successfully achieve those goals. Of the businesses that do not measure their marketing content effectiveness, only 31 percent can make this claim.
Why measure marketing effectiveness? Sure, a robust content marketing strategy that includes SMART key performance indicators (KPIs), an agile and responsive content marketing team, and a healthy, fully developed content calendar have all been proven to contribute to the success of a content marketing campaign. But, without a proven system to track, measure, and define marketing effectiveness, it can be challenging to see the results you need to reach your business goals.
What Is Your Company’s Definition of Marketing Effectiveness?
It is not enough to simply create content. If you want that content to help your business grow, it is imperative to define what content marketing success will look like. Hearkening back to the Content Operations Study mentioned above, 43 percent of surveyed businesses admitted to no clear content strategy and to creating content on the fly. A lack of strategy results in a lack of direction, and with no direction, there is no clear measurement of how your content is delivering results.
The answer? SMART goals.
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals that allow your business to hone into specific key metrics to measure your marketing efforts. To develop your SMART goals:
Start by auditing your own content. If, for example, you are looking to increase your SERP ranking through blog posts, then first determine which pieces of content are performing well, where in the search engine results page they show up, and what keywords they are ranking for. Tools such as Google Analytics are good for this.
Then, perform keyword research to identify what keywords are attractive competitively and how your competition is using them. Where is their content displayed in the search engine results page? How does their apparent SEO strategy differ from or complement yours?
From there, you can develop a comprehensive understanding of what a reasonable goal for your business might be.
Once you’ve developed a broad goal, use the SMART guidelines to test and flesh it out. Let’s say after conducting research, we decide that the ultimate goal for our content marketing strategy is to jump from the second search engine results page to the first.
Specific: Jumping from the second page to the first page is pretty broad, but jumping from the twelfth listing on the second page to the fifth listing on the first page is specific.
Measurable: The goal of improving our SERP ranking from twelve to five is also measurable. There is a clear way to measure marketing effectiveness by charting the ascent of our targeted landing page through the results page.
Attainable: Jumping seven spots is an attainable goal, unlike if we were trying to go for the number one spot that was occupied by Amazon.
Relevant: It’s also a relevant goal. We know that establishing an SERP presence on the first page can result in improved lead generation, website traffic, and healthy business growth.
Timely: Ensure your goal has an attainable timeline. For our increased SERP presence, for example, a timeline of six months would allow for the marketing efforts to achieve our goal.
A clear goal allows you the clarity needed to successfully implement your marketing budget and efforts. What’s more, this goal will set the groundwork for how you choose to measure your marketing effectiveness.
Measuring Marketing Effectiveness | Key Performance Indicators
Now that you have a goal, you can measure marketing effectiveness by tracking key marketing metrics that align with your goal. KPIs are quantifiable measures of the performance of a specific goal over a period of time. Measuring KPIs is a useful strategy when you’re looking to measure marketing effectiveness, as they provide a solid indication of a business’s performance, hence the name.
Be sure to take your goals into account when choosing your KPIs, as they will help you to measure the success of your efforts and provide you with real data that can be used to make decisions and track marketing effectiveness through a broad range of KPIs within different subgroups. This can include:
User Behavior on Website
Tracking how users behave on your website provides valuable insight into what is serving customers and what is not. This allows you to make informed decisions that improve the user experience while developing incremental sales, improving retention of qualified leads, and encouraging steady pipeline growth.
Top 5 User Behavior KPIs to Track
Pageviews:
How many views each page of your website has. This is highly indicative of your SERP ranking and allows you to develop a feel for what type of content your audience is most hungry for.Average session duration:
The average length of time a user spends on your website within one session. This demonstrates how effective your site is at engaging the user.Bounce rate:
The percentage of sessions that occurred where a user visited your site, triggered a single request, and then exited (a.k.a. bounced). This shows you potential areas of improvement where the user’s needs aren’t getting met.Pages per session:
How many pages does a user visit during a single session on your website? This allows you to determine what may be motivating users to stay on your site and what is drawing them to your site in the first place.Users:
The total amount of users who have visited your website within a set period of time. This gives you an understanding of your reach and the size of the audience.
Engagement on Content
Engagement KPIs are key metrics that measure how effectively your marketing campaigns are engaging your target audience. These KPIs are important because they provide insights into how your customers interact with your brand and content, particularly on social media, and how you can optimize your marketing methods to increase engagement.
Top 6 Engagement KPIs to Track
Comments:
Comments can be good indicators of relevancy, as topics that are relevant are more likely to receive social engagement.Mentions:
Indicative of value and authority in the desired space. The more mentions (generally) the better.Reposts:
Helps you identify what content is resonating with your audience and which channels are most in line with your content.Likes:
Likes are the easiest way for a brand to know that its content resonates with its target audience. When you’re looking at your performance, it’s important to know how many likes each post is getting and how that compares with your average or previous posts.Saves:
Tracks how many people have saved your post, either for reference or safekeeping. Demonstrates the value and relevancy of your content.Click-through rates (CTR):
Have a link in your content? Click-through rates measure the percentage of people who click on your links, allowing you to determine if your content is sparking interest and therefore increasing the chance of a possible conversion.
SEO Outcome
SEO is crucial for driving organic traffic to your website and increasing your online visibility. Tracking KPIs helps you to understand how your efforts are performing in these areas. While it can be argued that some of these SEO outcomes fall under “Revenue” below, we’ve decided to include these here, as we consider the “why” of SEO.
Top 5 SEO Metrics to Track
Lead generation:
This refers to the number of leads that are generated through your website as a result of your SEO efforts. By tracking lead generation, you can measure the effectiveness of your SEO strategies in driving conversions and growing your business.
Customer acquisition:
The number of new customers that are acquired through your website as a result of your SEO efforts. By tracking customer acquisition, you can measure the success of your SEO strategies in attracting and converting new customers.Organic traffic:
The number of visitors that find and visit your website via organic search results. This can demonstrate the potential sales and worth of your content.Backlinks:
The number of times people link back to your website. Backlinks are a great indicator of positive domain and page authority.SERP ranking:
The SERP ranking of targeted keywords is a key metric in determining how effectively your SEO strategy works. The higher the ranking, the more relevant the algorithm has determined your content to be.
Revenue
Much of the time, when businesses consider the be-all-end-all indicator of growth, it’s financial. The following KPIs are excellent financial markers of your marketing effectiveness.
Top 5 Revenue KPIs to Track
Cost per lead:
The amount of money you spend on generating a single lead. By tracking cost per lead, you can measure the efficiency of your marketing campaigns and identify areas where you can optimize your spending to drive more leads at a lower cost.
Sales revenue:
The total amount of revenue generated by your business over a given period of time. By tracking sales revenue, you can measure the effectiveness of your marketing and sales strategies in generating revenue and driving business growth.Conversion rate:
This refers to the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a lead form. By tracking conversion rate, you can measure the effectiveness of your website design and user experience, as well as the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns in driving conversions.Customer retention rates:
The percentage of customers who continue to do business with your company over time. By tracking customer retention rates, you can measure the effectiveness of your customer service and retention strategies, as well as the overall satisfaction of your customers.ROI:
A return on investment measures the amount of revenue generated compared to the amount of money spent on marketing. By tracking ROI, you can measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies and make informed decisions about where to invest your marketing budget.
There are a host of other metrics that can help you measure marketing performance, so be sure to use this guide as a starting point when researching the best metrics for your business.
Putting It All Together to Measure Marketing Effectiveness
You’ve determined your goals and identified relevant KPIs to track, now all you have to do is establish a plan to track and measure your marketing efforts.
Set a baseline: Before you begin tracking your KPIs, it’s important to establish a baseline to compare your results. This will give you a starting point to measure your progress and determine whether your marketing efforts are having a positive impact on your business.
Implement marketing tools that will collect data: In order to measure effectiveness, you’ll need to collect and view data. Setting up marketing and SEO tracking tools can help you analyze customer data and monitor website analytics to deliver a comprehensive view of your marketing effectiveness.
Analyze the data: Once you have collected your data, you will need to analyze it to gain insights into the effectiveness of your baseline marketing strategies. Look for trends, patterns, and areas of improvement, and identify what’s working well and what needs to be improved.
Make data-driven decisions: Based on your analysis of the data, make data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing strategies and improve your KPIs. This can involve adjusting your campaigns, improving your website design and user experience, and investing in new marketing channels.
Continuously track, analyze, and tweak your content based on the data you receive: Measuring marketing effectiveness is not a one-time deal. It is a continuous cycle of receiving and analyzing new information that informs your campaigns, SEO strategy, and website experience.
Above all else, it’s important to remember that your content marketing strategy is a living and ever-changing thing. As such, an agile approach to measuring content effectiveness is essential. Through this approach, you can track performance metrics and make data-driven changes to create the most effective content for your users while maximizing your ROI and increasing conversions.
Overwhelmed at the prospect? BitterRoot Content can help! We are a boutique content marketing agency that specializes in content strategy and creation, SEO content optimization, and lead generation, which can help you implement and measure a content strategy that brings tangible results. Get started and contact us today for a complimentary mini-content audit.