A case study and examples of reviewing content marketing effectiveness in Google Analytics

In our 2 previous posts on selecting the best KPIs for reviewing content marketing effectiveness we looked at the best types of measures to use. In this post, I get into the details of how to check some of these KPIs in Google Analytics and in particular to show your efforts in creating content impact leads or sales. Remember that we need to isolate the effect of particular content you have invested in in creating incremental leads or sales. To help do this, it's best if your site structure is setup right to measure effectively - I use the engineering term DFA "Design for Analysis" to prompt site designers think about this. I'll take some examples from ClickThrough Marketing who I have helped provide content for - around a year ago we created a series of printed 101…

A genuine framework to operationalise your inbound (or content) marketing We're big fans of the marketing that Eloqua do, much of it with designers JESS3, they do inbound/content marketing so well - it's gold standard stuff in terms of best practise. Check out their Revenue Blog, Revenue SlideShare and their Revenue Stream. One of their most popular, highly effective, awareness generating pieces of content (this blog being a case in point) is their Content Grid, which has just had a refresh, see below. This v2 builds upon the original (see right at the bottom) - illustrating the connection between content type and distribution channel. It now adds on the perspective of the buyer, the concept of a multi-stage conversion funnel, and a comprehensive collection of KPIs, we blogged something related to those KPI's earlier this week for content marketing. As Eloqua remind,…

How do we establish the Return on Investment from content marketing?

This is a pretty big question we're keen to explore with you since although much is written about why we must put more effort into content marketing, there's relatively little about how you make the business case and then review content ROI and effectiveness. Important commercial questions! But, what's the best way to frame the question "What is our ROI from content marketing"? With content being everything contained on your site and then shared and syndicated to other sites and networks, it's similar to asking "How do I measure my digital marketing success outside of the paid media channels"? With that in mind, let's break it down in how you might approach it within your business or organisation. I've been discussing this with Dave and there's a lot to look at, so we'll have two posts, in the first we'll look…

The only marketing left

"Content is the only marketing left", suggests Seth Godin. I think that statement has never been truer, if marketing is about respecting and teaching your customers to believe in you over other brands. I'd say it is, these days. Seth has argued for years that this is the basis of new marketing, a wave of other thought leaders have backed this too - David Meerman-Scott and Gary Vaynerchuck being just two of them. Someone becomes a fan, follower, lead or customer because you help them feel better about their world, it makes more sense and they are able to make decisions about something.

So, where are the marketers?

Thinking how we can apply this to our businesses, I wonder where exactly have the marketers gone, then! All we hear these days is how to leverage communications channels like email or social media, or exploit SEO… as if there's a…

Frustrated that your content isn't getting the reach? You've done the hard work, developed some great content but it's just not happening in the results stakes?

1. Objectives and purpose

What is the point of the content and what do you want it to achieve? Define this clearly, are you using it the right way? This can be complex with multiple objectives or it can be as simple as getting readers to visit a web page with a request form on it. Either way, know what you're aiming for and the related KPI's and objectives you're going to use to prove impact.

2. Relevant communications

Do the research to ensure relevance and customer centricity when talking about or sharing the content. Use any existing customer personas to guide editorial, also delve in to some basic keyword research within search engines and social - why is this good? It's the language that you're market is…

You cannot hope for a successful content outcome in content marketing without a clear sense of intended outcome, and a strategy to support it. We"€™re a fan of Joe Pulizzi"€™s B.E.S.T Formula to help with this. The purpose of BEST is simply don't start executing on your content marketing until you have a sound content strategy. And, we…

5 Reasons You Need a Content Marketing Strategy

So, social media is the current big thing taking a lot of our time, attention and emotional effort. But is it working for you, is your social media cart cart stuck in the mud regarding results? Are you struggling to figure out how to make it work for you? If yes, why is that the case "€“ after all you have a Facebook Page, you"€™re probably tweeting and running a company blog, of sorts. Have you considered that the social media cart is missing the content strategy horse? Here are five reasons why a content strategy needs to be considered before figuring out how social media integrates into your marketing plans.

Reason 1. Little content = little conversation

Developing a content marketing strategy is about understanding your audience"€™s unmet needs. Whether customers, potential customers or influencers. Only then are…

Content Marketing for Natural Search

You will have no doubt read many times that 'Content is King'. Few blog posts however do a good job at explaining why, especially from an SEO perspective. I love the potential of content marketing, the key reason for me is its ability to help link build in a creative, engaging and fun way. Using content in this way obviously has a lot of compounded benefits such as creating new referring domains and increasing brand awareness to name but two. From an SEO purist mindset it is all about generating inbound links. Key benefits to using content to help link build: You have something to talk about on forums / blog comments - it's therefore more natural You have something to gift to people / businesses - so they want you to participate You have something to bookmark (and for others to do the same) - you further increase reach Unlike media…

Our review of a recent Logitech content strategist job description illustrating 8 requirements for a solid content strategy

Value: [rating=3] Our commentary: Developing and refining content strategy will be an important part of improving digital marketing strategy for many organisations in 2011. This job description for a content strategist in a large company helps show us the key aspects of content strategy. Marketing implications: The requirements for this job summarises the essence of a sound content strategy: 1. Senior management must understand the importance of content strategy to invest in good quality resources with high-profile roles 2. Content must be of exceptional quality to be most effective - the job descriptions says: "useful, compelling and meaningful" 3. Involves a strategy for syndication - not limited to companies own site 4. Blends improving customer experience, customer engagement and SEO 5. Requires an editorial calendar to manage creation of content 6. Content quality improved through a continuous process applying analytics and customer…

Sharing a usability technique for reviewing content effectiveness

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary: This is a great illustration of a standard usability technique applied to measure the effectiveness of a Content Strategy. (Sorry about the low fidelity - I was limited by the resolution within the Slideshare deck - see Slide 28 below). This usability technique is often used as part of a focus group, but can be administered remotely by survey also. Marketing implications: As well as reviewing copy or content quality, this is good technique to use for different page template designs, competitor benchmarking - I've seen cScape use this for comparing a site to out-of-sector companies too. View on Slideshare: Measuring the effectiveness of content strategy…