MEASURING CONTENT PERFORMANCE: HOW TO PROVE YOUR CONTENT ROI

Content marketing ROI is the revenue your content generates compared to creation and distribution costs.

With more money than ever being funneled into content marketing across the industry - and more pressure than ever to drive revenue through content - understanding your ROI becomes really important. By calculating ROI, you can see which pieces of content are delivering results and which ones aren’t.

This insight allows you to refine your strategy, ensuring that your increased budget is spent wisely and effectively. Knowing your content marketing ROI is key to staying ahead and achieving your business goals.

It’s easy to say content marketing needs to be measured – knowing which metrics to use is challenging. Ultimately, marketing teams have an interest in metrics that directly affect the business, and specifically how they help the business grow.

Content marketing ROI formula

While there are many variables to include when figuring out your ROI, there is a simple formula that can be used to calculate it.

Remember, your investment isn’t just what was spent on a single content piece but includes the advertising, labor, and any other financial expenditure that goes into that content.

Now that we know the formula and basics, we can look at each step in measuring your ROI.

Step 1. Calculate spend

• Identify costs: List all expenses related to content creation, including salaries, freelancer fees, software subscriptions, and other overheads.

• Include advertising: Factor in the costs of promoting your content through paid channels such as social media ads, PPC campaigns, and sponsored content.

• Account for tools and technology: Include costs of content management systems, analytics tools, and any other technology used in content production and distribution.

• Sum up total investment: Add up all the identified costs to get the total investment in your content marketing efforts.

Step 2. Calculate revenue

• Track leads and conversions: Use trackable links, UTMs, and conversion tracking to attribute leads and sales to specific pieces of content.

• Monitor key metrics: Keep an eye on metrics such as MQLs (marketing qualified leads), SQLs (sales qualified leads), and actual sales that can be attributed to your content.

• Communicate with sales: Work closely with your sales team to understand the lead journey and ensure accurate revenue attribution from content marketing efforts.

Step 3. Use the ROI formula

• Calculate ROI: Subtract the total investment from the total revenue generated by your content. Divide the result by the total investment, then multiply by 100 to get the ROI percentage.

Step 4. Compare with industry benchmarks

• Research industry averages: Look up average ROI figures for your industry to benchmark your performance.

• Adjust strategies accordingly: If your ROI is below industry average, identify areas for improvement in your content strategy. If above average, analyze successful tactics to replicate.

Step 5. Ensure your metrics are actionable

• Align with business goals: Choose metrics that align with your business objectives, whether it’s revenue, lead generation, or brand awareness.

• Evaluate metric relevance: Regularly assess whether your chosen metrics provide actionable insights and adjust as necessary.

Step 6. Utilize analytics tools

• Leverage technology: Use analytics platforms like Google Analytics or Turtl Analytics to gather detailed insights on content performance.

• Report findings: Create accessible reports that highlight important metrics such as read time, bounce rate, and individual reader engagement.

Step 7. Continuously optimize

• Iterate based on data: Use the data you’ve collected to make informed decisions about future content production and marketing strategies.

• Stay updated: Keep up with industry trends and continually refine your metrics and measurement techniques.

So, what counts?

In truth, there are hundreds of metrics that you can measure – but just as too many choices can leave consumers confused and deflated, copious amounts of data can hamper even the most enthusiastic marketers.

Focusing your content marketing metrics around more strategic business outcomes – the types that the rest of your business can really understand, get behind, and support, is a proven method. In practice, this can take the form of a two-tiered metric measurement system, where both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ metrics are monitored and reported.

Internal ROI metrics

Shared only among the marketing team, these are regular indicators of audience engagement on which to base valuable iteration.

• Click Through Rates (the ratio of clicks per content viewer)

• Engagement Rate (total interactions per content viewer)

• Session Length (how long content is viewed for)

External ROI metrics

Reported back to all relevant departments besides marketing. Typically, these take longer to develop into metrics that are genuinely fit to report. Ultimately they carry more weight in the context of B2B content marketing ROI and overall strategic business objectives.

• Volume of Leads

• Leads to Revenue

• Cost Per Lead

Take time to consider which metrics are right for your business and whether they help you to achieve your goal as a marketer, and prove your value to the wider business. For many the bottom line is the most important thing, meaning the metrics that demonstrate contributions to increases in revenue and overall ROI receive the most focus.

Increasing lead generation is one of the most popular metrics for demonstrating a marketing strategy’s success. Discover how Turtl helped Redstor boost MQLs by 567% and measure and report on key metrics to prove content ROI.

Proving content ROI isn’t just about crunching numbers - it’s about showing how your content drives growth, fuels pipeline, and impacts the bottom line. When you connect your efforts to revenue, you don’t just justify your budget; you secure your seat at the strategy table.

With Turtl, you can track, measure, and optimize your content ROI effortlessly. See what’s working, refine what isn’t, and deliver results that make an impact.