As a marketing agency, we are often asked, “How will I know if it’s working?”
When you invest in marketing, you rightly should expect to get more customers. Otherwise, what’s the point? Knowing the return on your investment, or ROI, shows that marketing isn’t just an expense but is a revenue-generating engine. And while it is easier to measure ROI on some strategies, it can be challenging to discern what’s working when it comes to content marketing, specifically blogs.
The true impact of your content marketing strategy lies in its ability to engage your audience, educate them on your value, empower them to make informed decisions, and ensure they can find you when they’re ready to buy or make an appointment. These four pillars provide a robust framework for understanding and measuring the real success of your content efforts. This blog outlines the four pillars in more depth so you can determine if your content marketing efforts are paying off.
Engagement: This is the first touchpoint, the spark of interest. Are you creating content that resonates? Understanding your audience’s demographics, interests, and online behavior is critical to any marketing strategy. A 60-year-old’s information consumption differs vastly from a 25-year-old’s; your content strategy must reflect this. Ensure the content you create is relevant to the people you best serve and delivered in a format they use.
Education: Content that educates positions your brand as a knowledgeable authority. By providing valuable insights into your products, services, or industry, you’re not just informing; you’re building trust. You’re helping potential customers understand their options and at the same time, the value you bring to the table. This groundwork is essential for establishing your expertise long before a purchase decision is made. As an added benefit, well-structured and informative content is more likely to rank well in search results, expanding its reach to those actively seeking solutions.
Empowerment: Gone are the days of researching information in the Encyclopedia. We are fortunate to live in a world where abundant content is quite literally at our fingertips. Just ask Siri and Alexa if you don’t believe us. But with so much content at our disposal, it can be hard to know what is real versus what isn’t. By providing trustworthy, comprehensive information, you equip consumers to make confident choices. This is particularly important in industries like healthcare, where misinformation can have serious consequences. When your content empowers, you become a trusted resource, increasing the likelihood that customers will turn to you when they are ready to buy. And when this empowering content is optimized for search engines, you ensure that those who need this information can find it.
Discoverability: Having a pretty website is one thing. Having a website that can be easily found on search engines is another. While Google’s algorithms may seem like a moving target, consistently creating relevant, high-quality content that aligns with what your audience is searching for is a tried-and-true strategy you should employ. Ranking well increases your visibility, bringing in more potential customers who are actively looking for the services you offer. Because of this, integrating SEO best practices into your content creation is the crucial foundation upon which engagement, education, and empowerment can truly flourish.
Focusing on these four pillars shifts your measurement of content marketing success from immediate sales to long-term value creation and audience growth. Track engagement metrics, assess educational reach, monitor empowerment indicators, and consistently analyze your website’s search engine rankings and organic traffic. This holistic approach provides a clearer, more meaningful picture of your content marketing strategy.