How to Conquer the Content ROI Conundrum

December 2015

Heidi BullockVP, Demand GenerationMarketo

Content Marketing is a Big Deal

Source: CAM foundation

Content fuels your marketing programs

Good contentGood performance

Sub-optimal contentPoor performance

Content is used across channels and programs to drive initiatives

Demand Generation

Brand Awareness

Customer Retention Sales

Content is not free

1. Protect your budget for content initiatives2. Create the case for more budget for new content

projects3. Keep or bring on additional resources

Why should you care?

You need to understand content ROI

It shouldn’t be a mystery…

But, measurement is hard

Overview• 8 Success Secrets

• Setting Goals

• ROI

• Real-life examples

• Q&A

8 Success Secrets

Success Secret #1: Agree on Metrics

Example – What Metric Matters?

Social Referrals Increased time spent on-site Pipeline

Scenario

We created a snazzy new blog!

Awesome marketers CEO

The blog has 1000 views!

So what?

When Metrics Take Away CredibilityVanity MetricsSound good and impress people, but don’t measure impact on revenue or profitability.

Activity MetricsMeasure what you do instead of what results and impact you have.

When Metrics Take Away Credibility

Cost MetricsFrame marketing in terms of cost and spending instead of results and outcomes.

The best event programs incorporate intentional measurement strategies in advance.

Success Secret #2: Set Goals Upfront

eBook is launched

Measure Initial Program Successes:

Blog social sharesWatching video

Download of eBook

Google Analytics Analysis

First and Multi-Touch Pipeline associated with content asset Revenue Won

Jan Feb Apr May June

Success Secret #3: Terminology

1.Do not use cost metrics2.Be consistent3.Remember who you are talking to

Wow, our engagement,

likes, and Klout have never

looked better!

What are they ##$%^ talking

about?

sales marketing team

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Success Secret #4: Design Programs to be Measurable

955 shares (blog)10.8K downloads440 new names$35.7K MT pipeline

1. Collect the right data to answer your question

2. Add tags to measure

3. Think about setting goals in GA

4. Consider content grouping to see what topics perform the best

5. Look at the landing pages report

6. Look at page views

7. Consider attribution modeling to see where content plays a role

If you don’t have MA, you better have GA!

Source: http://www.jeffalytics.com/google-analytics-tips-measuring-content/

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Success Secret #5: Have defined metrics for clearly evaluating content Early

1 •Lift in website traffic, new visitors, social shares, referring domains, form fill outs, comments and site interactions

2 •Subscription to email or RSS, new names, % new names per program

3 •# Leads (right demographics, desired behavior), investment per lead

4 •Engagement score for set of programs per month

1 • # of opportunities

2 • First Touch Ratio

3 • Multi Touch Ratio

4• Pipeline

Late

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Success Secret #6: Build data into your review process

Which content offer performs the best for this email program?

Success Secret #7: Keep it simple

vs.

Success Secret 8: Measure, but focus on decisions to improve ROI

Source: Infogineering Model

Setting Your Content Goals

Do not just jump to content tactics…

ebooks

blogwebinars

SlideSharewhite papers

infographics

I just love infographics!

Goals for Content Marketing

Content Marketing Goal Related Metrics

Drive thought leadership Ex: Klout, pr mentions, increase in social (Linkedin, Twitter, FB), web traffic spikes post initiative

Increase brand awareness Ex: share of voice (can measure share of traffic), increase in social (Twitter, FB)

Lead generation Ex: Increase in key metrics (tofu, mofu, bofu) -> # downloads, # leads, # opps

Customer acquisition Ex: # new customers, time to acquire

Customer retention / loyalty Ex: NPS, #existing customers, renewals, turnover

Set and prioritize your goals

Asset Stage Programs Measurement

1 month 3 months 6 months

Top 10 Reasons to Consider MA Asset

Mid - Stage Nurturing – mid stage track

Engagement Score >90

6 MT opps 18K MT pipeline

Website Form fill outson website - 1000

10 FT opps, 14 MT opps

30K FT pipeline, 42K MT pipeline

PPC Form fill outs - 1500 4 FT opps, 10 MT opps

12K FT pipeline, 30K MT pipeline

Retargeting campaigns – lead score >50

Form fill outs - 300 5 MT opps 15K in MT pipeline

Enterprise field event follow up

Email ctr 2% - 100 form fill outs

4 MT opps 100K in MT pipeline

Demand Gen Example Detailed

Setting Benchmarks

Example

Downloads Week 1 Month 1

Low *4050 *7290

Medium (10%) 4560 8028

High (15%) 4765 8340

Very early indicator

Program ROI

• Which content assets work best for you at TOFU, MOFU, BOFU

• What blog post topics have the best engagement?• Which content assets are best performing for a particular

vendor (ex: paid email, paid webinar)?• Which assets are good for bringing in qualified leads?• Which assets are good for opportunity creation?• What content works best in nurturing?

Example Questions

Track All Touches Across People

Screenshot: Marketo Revenue Cycle Analytics

Downloaded eBook on Analytics

Downloaded Analytics Survey

ResultsEngaged with us at

Big Tradeshow

First Touch

3 months

$100K

$100K

Downloaded eBook on Analytics

Downloaded Analytics Survey

ResultsEngaged with us at

Big Tradeshow

Multi Touch

3 months

$25K

$0

$25K

$25K $100K

$25K

(FT or MT) Ratio = Pipeline / Investment

For Marketo:>10 is Great and <5 is Not so good

Know what is effective at TOFU vs. MOFU

Page FT Revenue MT Revenue

Asset A $100,000 $525,000

Asset B $320,000 $903,000

Asset C $425,000 $117,000

More efficient at pushing leads

through funnel

More efficient at acquiring the right

leads

Example

Website – 23K views, 10,283 downloadsEmail – 2,730 clickedSlideshare – 7,693 viewsSocial impressions – 1,149New Names - 517

Early Stage Later StageFT opps – 5FT pipeline – $130KMT opps – 25MT pipeline - $1.06M

Real Life Examples

Example #1: Blog

Your Blog

Blog - Results

From average 14 a week to 145/week - 10X growth!

Blog Piece

Goals: Brand awareness, lead generationMetric: blog share index and MT pipelineTiming: blog shares (month), MT pipeline (3 months)Questions:

• Which post has the highest engagement for the month?• How did it compare on the Index?• How many new names did a particular post bring in?• Did this content help create pipeline?• Which post had the best ROI?

Blog Posts

1. Create an index 2. Compare to posts from

previous year (same month)3. Compare with posts in

current month

One Method – Early Measurement 80 = great

70

60

50 = average

40

30

20 = not so great

Early Stage Assessment How are we doing compared to last year at this time?

How are we doing compared to other posts this month?

Later Stage AssessmentShares Index New

NamesPipeline

1.3K shares

60 – for this month

100 50K MT pipeline

time

How was engagement? 1.3K shares

How did it compare to other posts (using the Index)?

60 – above average for month 42 – not above average compared to last year

How many new names did a particular post bring in?

100

Did this content help create pipeline? 50K MT pipeline

Performance

Comparison Shares Index New Names

Pipeline

1K shares

60 24 27K MT

408 shares

40 60 10K MT

806shares

50 15 80K MT

time

Which post has the highest engagement for the month?

Personalized Web Engagement

How did it compare to other posts (using the Index)?

60 – highest for the month

How many total new names were generated? 400

How much total pipeline? $120K- MT

Which post had the best ROI? How Marketing Automation Powers Small Teams - $80K MT

Performance

Example #2: Large Content Initiative

Thought Leadership Piece

• Goal: Brand awareness and lead generation• Metric: engagement with C- level, new names, pipeline• Timing: month one, three months out, 1 year• Questions:

• Did we create C-level engagement?• Did this topic resonate with our target audience?• Did this post bring in any news names?• Did this content help create pipeline?• What were the top performing channels?• How did the program do overall wrt to pipeline?

Large Content Initiative

Google Analytics

Early Stage AssessmentEarly Indicators Metric Comments Rating

Engagement 1.3K shares Above our standard index of

50

New Names 2309 $17 / new name – this is reasonable

Did it resonate with our target audience (C-level marketers)?

% of names – C level

50% were VP or above, good

Later Stage AssessmentLate Indicators Metric Comments Rating

FT Pipeline $1.04M 26 FT ratio – good ROI

MT Pipeline $2.34M 59 FT ratio – good ROI

Closed Won $ (FT) $455K 10x - positive

Top Performing Channels Revenue Won

Webinar - sponsored $350K

Email - Marketo database $25K

Email - sponsored $22K

Social - paid $15K

All others $43K

Top Performing Channels

Did we create C-level engagement? Yes – 50% of new names were VP and above

Did this topic resonate with our target audience? Yes – 1.3K shares, above our index for the month

Did this post bring in any news names? Yes -2,309

Did this content help create pipeline? Yes - $1.04M -FT, $2.34M- MT

What were the top performing channels? Webinar

How did the program do overall wrt to pipeline? 10x ROI

Performance

Content ROI: The Magic 3

1. Establish Goals and ROI Estimates Up-Front

2. Design Programs to Be Measurable

3. Focus on the Decisions that Improve ROI

Questions?