Measuring and clarifying content performance
On the face of it, life for the content marketer should be getting easier.
Apps and tools are increasing in number as fast as they are evolving in sophistication and capability according to the Chiefmartech.com, which reports more than 40% annual growth in the number of marketing
technology solutions. Yet almost 40% of UK marketers don't feel they have clarity over what content marketing success looks like.
Such new and increasing capability could be serving to obscure from view what is essentially a simple remit: tell stories that inspire and excite, resulting in new growth for the business.
The first part of the remit is the thing we, as marketers, find relatively easy. Marketing has always attracted the sort of people who can turn business insights into great ideas for compelling stories and campaigns.
The second part of the job is the area for which marketing - and especially content marketing - tends to come under fire.
The roles of content creation and performance marketing can no longer be two roles performed by two separate people with little care for how the other might fare.
Instead, content marketing should be seen as the creation and performance measurement of the stories a business tells.
In this ‘age of data,’ it is ironic that many marketing departments pretty much choose to ‘fly blind’ - to publish marketing content and opt not to track it in any way. It’s hard to think of another business function that would be so willing to operate with such high stakes while wearing a blindfold.
The good news is that the tide is turning within marketing as realization spreads: “We need to prove the value we bring to the business through clear KPIs and demonstrable ROI and day-to-day performance is critical to any marketer gaining credibility,” wrote Director of Marketing for the Tui Group, Jeremy Ellis, in Campaign magazine recently.
The bad news is that it is perhaps not turning quickly enough. You only know how talented you are as a content marketer - and your value to your organization - if you’re tracking the success of your content.
