It’s all too common to worry about engagement rates, profile visits, clicks, hashtags, bounce rates, shares, etc. Numbers numbers numbers. This is how you know it’s working. Where to spend your money. Proof that you’re doing something right.

Analytics can prove content is getting traction. The problem however is lack of clarity. Were you lucky with that one channel on the right day/time/moment? If measuring conversions, had your competitors already been priming the audience weeks before? Maybe. You just never know what is an impulse trigger or an ongoing relationship. You cannot climb into the consumer’s head to find out if it’s you they care about or is it the product. [btw, Net Promoter Score seems a shaky, ego-centric means of measurement IMO although I do salute the intention]

What is at the heart of it all is and always will be what you are saying. Content marketing vs. digital marketing. What you say vs. how you are saying it. Recently, I’ve needed to rely on supportive skills (graphic design) to make headway with a client. Useful, practical, tangible deliverable that can be judged, molded, finessed. Clients love the fun-ness of design work and makes their baby come to life. I get it, support it, make it. For a deeper connection though, a business needs to talk to its customer. A quick tile on Instagram or a 4-minute-read on Medium is a good way to measure interest, but you need to follow up. Talk your way into their heart once you’ve gotten their attention. Be a friend, not an acquaintance. Give guidance, leadership, hand holding when needed. An overused term, but still needed to differentiate focus, content marketing is a real value. Hard to follow up with numbers, but long term projects rarely are. Think of parenting…you invest money, time, knowledge and the payoff is neither guaranteed nor quick. Years to pay off and with so many variables contributing to the outcome, you’ll never be able to measure your personal ROI.

4 steps to put content marketing in its place

1. EXPOSE THE PROBLEM AND SOLVE FOR THAT.

   There’s no way to sell a story “because it’s fun”. Understand your purpose for telling the story and that purpose needs to be to solve a problem. What has happened thus far and why is it falling short?
   

2. UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS.

   Not just what you sell or how it is made. Not even the target audience. You need to understand where the company is going. Typically for B2B, content marketing is to improve sales enablement—to educate, help someone with their job, lead the conversation to become the trusted authority. And for B2C, it is about building trust and authority. Beauty brands love Instagram and display advertising. Makes sense given so visual, beautified, colorful. You can put a ton of money getting that image to the right eyeballs. Score 1 conversion or 1M. What happens after 60 more competitors’ ads before the order has been shipped? They get the product, it may be low quality (you ARE just starting out) and you are forgettable. Your quickie stats look good, but brand longevity is wha? Know the business before talking about it.
   

3. GET EXAMPLES OF WHAT’S WORKED AND WHAT HASN’T.

   No, not Glossier or anything Kardashian, but sturdy, foundational brands who were the original information marketers (because content used to be a feeling, not a digital marketing strategy). I’ve been inspired from Content.ly who brought up the example of John Deere. A steadfast brand to be respected as you ask yourself why do I even know their name considering I have no interest or need in farming equipment. How is it possible they’ve been a household name and only a sliver of the country is their target audience? 124 years ago, someone at the company was able to sell the idea of content marketing. They developed a print magazine, The Furrow, educating the farmer so that his/her business might grow. Indirectly and without selfish or outlandish claims, John Deere became a company who genuinely cared about the future of their customer. Not a catalog of products to sell sell sell—they believed in the farmer for the long haul. Content.ly also gave an example about a negative outcome using content marketing, which was Verizon’s SugarString. This was a failed media outlet in which Verizon hired writers to write on anything except two controversial topics oh which the business didn’t want to be connected with. Not a good idea to claim impartiality if you are unwilling to even broach the topic.
   

4. BE UP FRONT ABOUT RISK.

   A good salesman, you cannot ignore the potentially ugly outcomes or obstacles you’ll face. Your job is to be the solution to those problems, not to hide them. It’s not easy, but you’ll need to be transparent, confident, and compassionate to get through this last bit.
   

   Examples of risks to be considered are:

   • Slow growth
     (slow and steady wins the race—NOT a spike in clicks)

   • Limited resources
     (Writers, designers, thought leaders are expensive. Quality not quantity is key here. The internet is filled with garbage so publish less if necessary.)

   • Competition from established companies
     (A worthy client should have a large library of industry research, sales materials, history, investments in innovation—all of which is easily accessible. Sift through if necessary to unearth that valuable content to inspire new conversations on the fast and relatively cheap. The message is valuable, not the shine coming from the digital flash (in the pan).