{"id":2827,"date":"2022-10-28T10:46:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T14:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2023-04-14T10:50:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T14:50:24","slug":"hot-take-content-marketers-report-on-the-wrong-metrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/blog\/hot-take-content-marketers-report-on-the-wrong-metrics\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Notes #017: Hot Take: Content Marketers Report on the Wrong Metrics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What goes into creating a great content strategy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


We talked about this on a podcast recently (we\u2019ll let you know when it\u2019s published) and arrived at three conclusions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Folks in content marketing need to improve how they communicate their impact on the business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. To be a great content strategist, you need to be familiar with more than just content.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Great content strategy stems from clear business strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s focus on the first point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What do you typically hear about when you hear reporting from paid marketing and demand gen teams? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Leads, MQLs, pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now, contrast that with what you hear from a content team: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Keyword rankings, traffic, backlinks, social shares, bounce rate\u2026 vanity metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t get me wrong. Those are important to understand how a content program is performing\u2026 but business impact?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s objectively true that leads, MQLs, and pipeline are much closer to revenue than keyword rankings or traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So how did content marketing end up reporting on these vanity metrics? Why do we see these type of results<\/a> when you Google \u201ccontent marketing metrics.\u201d (The irony is that content marketers are the ones writing thise articles about \u201ccontent marketing metrics.\u201d<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Look at what content marketing agencies boast about in their case studies. \u201cGrew traffic 300% and increased keyword rankings by 500%.\u201d (By the way, that\u2019s not what we focus on<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But ask any executive what\u2019s important to them and they\u2019ll say something related to money (revenue, pipeline, MQLs, cutting costs, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My best guess is content marketers report on those metrics because they\u2019re easy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Most content marketers don\u2019t have experience in the parts of the business that are closer to the money, like a sales or demand gen role. Whether that\u2019s from lack of training, lack of initiative to learn, or simple ignorance is not my place to judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The takeaway is not that content marketers aren’t doing a great job or aren’t capable. Far from that. It’s that there’s an additional step needed to communicate the business impact of their content programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Communicating the impact of a content program might mean:<\/p>\n\n\n\n