Appointment-setting isn’t about reciting scripts but orchestrating connections. How can SDRs build trust and momentum from the very first touchpoint?

The law of averages is often used as a driving force behind appointment setting, especially when the focus leans towards volume rather than value.

On the surface, it makes sense- more volume means more opportunities. By booking more appointments, SDRs create a pipeline of prospective leads for their AEs. And amidst this pool of qualified leads, some will eventually convert.

This has been the norm for several businesses. The logic is simple: SDR numbers influence revenue forecasting and business growth; they are the pipeline builders.

But there’s a catch.

The law of averages can prove to be a double-edged sword.

More appointments may indeed lead to higher conversions. But this approach creates a false sense of confidence. Merely focusing on volume can produce complacency within sales teams. In a rush to hit the numbers, the quality of meetings is forsaken.

This is where outsourcing appointment setting services becomes crucial. You aren’t offloading tasks but gaining a strategic edge.

The right appointment-setting service providers aren’t merely filling your calendars; they integrate into your sales strategy.

What Do We Mean by Appointment-Setting Companies?

Appointment-setting companies function as your sales team’s extension; it doesn’t replace them. With their expertise and knowledge base, they help polish your sales pipeline and build direct access to the right decision-makers.

But on the off-chance, choosing the incorrect appointment-setting company can also pad your pipeline with noise: volume that holds no quality.

There’s a drastic lack of strategic alignment with your in-house SDRs and marketing teams.

So, outsourcing them and how they influence your pipeline depends on two factors: how you leverage them and how they align with your GTM strategies.

Top Risks of Choosing the Wrong Appointment Setting Company

1. The primary and most significant one is the illusion of progress.

In 2024, 84% of SDRs didn’t meet their appointment quotas, while 67% weren’t expecting it to happen the following year.

What does this say?

SDRs missing their quotas might not always be detrimental. It’s crucial to meet their set targets, but it’s better than presenting inflated appointment metrics.

Booking numerous appointments isn’t synonymous with momentum, nor does it demonstrate a healthy pipeline. SDRs meeting their appointment quotas could easily elevate the possibility that the majority of meetings turn out to be ill-fitting prospects.

In reality, the dissonance becomes quite evident. Even though SDRs meet their appointment quotas, AEs later on notice high no-show rates, deal stalling, and weak engagement from these accounts.

What’s the point of it all?

SDRs waste their time, slowing down pipeline velocity. Meanwhile, when the burden of closing shifts to AEs, they burn their time in unproductive meetings.

Your AEs end up over-casting on these inflated numbers.

So, missed targets don’t always equate to poor closing skills, but poor lead quality, eroding trust in your lead-gen strategy.

2. Think of the B2B landscape: the total addressable market is finite.

It’s the underlying logic that not all set appointments will translate into closed deals and contribute to the revenue stream. Owing to this, organizations begin to notice diminishing returns on volume-centric appointment settings after a point.

You can’t use brute force or invasive outreach tactics to set appointments. Rather than contributing to your pipeline’s health, it could easily saturate your buyers and damage your brand reputation.

This is the second pain point.

3. Poor outsourcing appointment setting services drains budget and value.

Not only does a lack of strategic outsourcing efforts detrimentally affect your market positioning, but it also empties your pockets, with no value created.

One incorrect tactic can also fabricate a hole in your brand narrative, the third and quite significant pain point.

Most appointment setting services are assessed on a single metric: the total number of appointments booked. The entire focus is attributed to this one aspect.

What about the rest of the factors that truly drive conversion?

The understanding of the brand or customer pain points that the internal team is educated on isn’t delivered to the outsourced team. They are distanced and disconnected from the brand’s messaging and USP, resulting in a lack of personalized efforts.

They can’t qualify leads based on practical cases that mirror the brand voice. It becomes challenging for marketing to position its demand-gen strategies with outsourced efforts. All of which results in wasted budget and fragmented messaging.

There’s one thing to understand here:

Appointment setting isn’t about the short-term incentives, such as getting accounts on the calendars. When focused primarily on this, the long-term nurturing opportunities are overlooked.

Some term campaign targets can offer you momentary wins, but they also drive away a majority of your market who aren’t ready to purchase just yet.

How to Choose the Right Outsourced Appointment Setting Service

Most appointment-setting service providers sell “appointment volume” as the end goal. But that’s not the end requirement; a healthy pipeline is.

The best appointment-setting companies recognize this need. They aren’t just providers, they are outcome-oriented partners:

1. They understand your ICP beyond obvious firmographics.
2. Study and leverage your brand’s voice to function with value.
3. Align efforts with marketing and sales to create feedback loops.

If your vendor doesn’t help you understand why the lead booked a meeting or which pain point to solve, they’re here for a very different purpose than yours.

You want your appointment setters to drive the sales pipeline, not fill calendars. They must nurture intent and create the right opportunities.

This is what you should prioritize while choosing the right appointment-setting services. You must differentiate the best appointment setting services from the mediocre ones.

5 fundamental factors to single out the best appointment setting services provider for your business.

1. Hyper-personalization through advanced data intelligence.

The best appointment setting services vendors don’t just make calls and hope for the best. They take a more granular approach – reading the room by leveraging deep insights.

They wish to enhance the quality of the meeting itself.

Hence, the primary aspect is customizing their outreach and communications process. Providers must address specific lead challenges and needs within their industry. Insights drawn from surface-level criteria, such as job titles and industrial domain, prove ineffective.

It’s the actual buying signals that matter. And this is only possible through advanced analytics, past engagement patterns, and intent signals gauged by the tech infrastructure they leverage.

A provider cannot expect you to believe that generalized scripts and ICP-based commonplace insights are the essence of their “unique” strategies.

The quality of the approach must transform for the meeting.

2. Integrating seamlessly with your CRM and overall sales cycle.

Your appointment provider cannot operate siloes. They must integrate into your sales ecosystem, one that deeply integrates with your CRM systems, sales enablement tools, and marketing automation.

This way, there’s synergy between the internal departments and the outsourced team. It’s vital because, without any alignment, you’re just outsourcing a task, not building a trustworthy relationship. At its nucleus, the chosen appointment setting services provider must develop a professional and value-driven relationship with your brand.

With this, AEs and marketing teams can offer feedback to the external vendor, helping them adjust their strategies even in mid-campaign.

It fosters smooth handoffs between SDRs and AEs while tracking how leads proceed through the final stages in real time. This plays an integral role in optimizing the pipeline. And the possibility of closing more deals.

3. Agile and adaptive strategies that scale with the business.

Appointment-setting is more than the traditional “making a call” and blocking calendar dates.

With the transformations taking root in marketing and sales, SDRs must revamp their strategies. The best providers already understand that what worked in the past might not work today. There’s a vital disconnect in how sales were operated in the past.

To give your business the best of what they offer, appointment-setting providers must do things differently now. They must engineer strategies that are agile enough and adaptable, especially for the ever-shifting industry trends and buyer behavior.

These vendors should also be well-versed in executing strategies with advanced technology. And help you update the existing infrastructure, especially if it lacks significance in the current landscape.

4. Transparent reports with actionable and meaningful insights.

There are numerous providers out there that, in the name of transparent reporting, offer data dumps. These numbers are significant, but they are passive. They leave the entire interpretative work to the AEs in your team.

This illustrates the wrong dynamic in this partnership.

Transparency in reporting isn’t highlighting what is happening but why it is happening and what the next steps are.

For this, the appointment-setting providers must offer reports that don’t just mimic your existing dashboards. It must be a strategic conversation that spotlights the main friction points:

1. Why are the conversion rates dipping?
2. Why are the appointments in EMEA falling through compared to North America?

The questions that the reports urge should spark decisions, not merely represent what’s already happening. Truly insightful reports can elevate the alignment between the vendor and your internal teams, fostering consistent optimization.

Without making continuous tweaks, it’s tasking to gauge the long-term feasibility of your existing strategies. Your vendor should help map a solution – highlight the cracks and how to cement them.

The appointment setting services they offer shouldn’t mimic a call center. Their insights must be descriptive and interpretative. This signifies that the appointment-setting company has attention to detail, expertise, and infrastructure to go beyond just booking appointments.

5. Customer-first communications strategy.

Delivering customer-first communication isn’t just about elevating politeness or avoiding spammy tactics.

It means meeting the buyer halfway, especially when the power in this conversation has shifted to them. Leveraging meaningless persuasion techniques is ineffective on its own; you must establish relevance. That’s what truly matters to potential clients.

The best in the game know that it’s not really about numbers. It’s about resonance and relevancy, which is built gradually through tone and personalized communication delivered at the right time. Templated conversations are disconnected from the brand narrative.

And this isn’t the kind of impression you’re looking to make in the first place. Those who fall into this falsity often follow a single agenda. These appointment-setting companies overlook how they can leverage their domain knowledge and circle it around the prospects’ context.

Most often, companies are inclined toward a single agenda: booking appointments. But acting like cold callers doesn’t do the job today. They must pose as early consultants and:

1. Understand the prospect’s challenges
2. Ask the appropriate questions
3. Know when to move further or back off

In the initial stages, appointment volume might make your SDRs better aware of the possibility of conversions. But in the long run, fit and intent secure the driving wheel of your sales pipeline.

Remember, every outreach is a touchpoint; whether it’s accepted or ignored isn’t the primary issue. But if the communication is off from the nib, the damage is done even before the lead talks to your SDRs.

These facets aren’t best practices in choosing the right appointment-setting services, but filters. The right ones not only make a difference in lead quality but also in how the market perceives your brand.

Ciente’s Solutions: Designing Better Buyer Interactions

At Ciente, these aren’t just strategies for us. They are our operating principles.

Our appointment setting services don’t merely include blocking dates but building a positive brand perception.

To build a sustainable appointment-setting engine, we recognize that a one-size-fits-all script isn’t the gleaming solution that sales reps have thought it to be. So, we work closely with our clients to curate outreach that feels personal, not automated.

We abandon all templated playbooks to build insightful reports on accurate and actionable data, helping you ascertain when to double down and when to pivot.

At Ciente, we book appointments but also orchestrate conversations that help you guide your leads through the pipeline with confidence and purpose.

If you’re rethinking your cookie-clutter approach, reach out to our experts to vamp up your existing comms strategy.

The first impression sets the tone, and it should feel like you.

Content marketing is transforming; it has more depth and uniqueness. To demonstrate, we have handpicked four brands that reflect and represent this change.

Reports suggest that leads generated from inbound marketing channels, particularly content marketing, have high conversion rates.

While this might be true, let’s not forget the patience and consistency content marketing truly requires. It could have ample benefits for your business and still demand needle-like focus and all hands on deck.

Each nitty-gritty in content marketing must be paid attention to. Without correct ingredients and much-needed cohesion between them, your efforts will likely pack no punch. Whether it’s content development, distribution, or performance reviews.

Where do most marketers miss the mark? Each piece must have intent, purpose, resonance, and relevance to perform its best.

Most marketers overlook these factors because they believe marketing content is merely about content production and publishing it. The intricacies are either unaddressed or barely touched upon.

This minimizes your content’s performance from the get-go. Of course, it fails.

Marketers must move from the bottom up –

What is Content Marketing?

“Content marketing is a marketing channel through which businesses create and distribute valuable and engaging content, articles, social media posts, videos, podcasts, or other types.”

But its true essence? Building a connection with your target audience and offering them value in a way that doesn’t encroach on their space.

There’s no rulebook for content marketing, just morsels that marketers often brush off. All because it isn’t included in their traditional content playbooks.

The truth is that you recognize unique and engaging content when you see it. It’s all in how the piece speaks to its audience – entertaining, engaging, and inspiring to take action.

Your content doesn’t have to make sense to everyone, but it must prove impactful for the right bunch. Through this, you’re building your credibility and elevating visibility.

It’s the key to effective and strong content marketing: focusing on what your audience would want to see and hear, and making them feel heard indirectly. You’re acknowledging basic pain points even before potential customers have entered the funnel.

And in the long term, this establishes your brand as the thought leader and subject matter expert.

This leaves a silent trail of breadcrumbs. When prospects feel seen, they are highly likely to come knocking at your door, seeking answers and solutions.

A win-win situation.

Given the successes that consistent content marketing can afford, businesses have left several stones unturned in curating the right content strategy.

Most often, it works. But sometimes, there’s a missing piece in the puzzle.

We bring you four B2B content marketing case studies. Brands that don’t just follow trends. But have crafted content into their unique personality.

They aren’t just doing content right. But have mastered it by taking a step outside the box, which most marketers are still hesitant to do.

4 Best B2B Content Marketing Case Studies

Example #1 – Figma’s Creative-first Content

Source: Figma

Figma didn’t just market content. It redefined the medium.

With marketing losing its storytelling edge, Figma decided to do content differently. They didn’t broadcast it like other brands do – from production to distribution. But it is a medium to amplify the creative prowess of creators.

It’s safe to say that Figma doesn’t do blog posts in the traditional sense. They treat creators and designers as people who don’t want to be taught but participate in the creative process.

It’s a subtle way to mirror back the creator’s capabilities at them.

So, the design company has moved from treating content like a megaphone for various talking points. They do what their audience (again, the designers) wants from them.

Talking about products is an age-old sales tactic that isn’t fooling anyone. It’s too on the nose and takes away the interest as soon as it builds it.

But Figma does it differently. Their content doesn’t talk about the products. But establish the product as a canvas for content.

It’s a participatory medium, a tool for inspiration and building community.

Their “content” can be prototyped, experimented with, and is open-source. It’s how designers look at their designs.

Figma isn’t trying to control the narrative. It’s setting the stage and moving out of the way – putting up a mirror for the designers to glimpse into. By doing so, the audience gets a chance to step into its files, templates, and plugins and use them to tell stories by themselves.

Most B2B brands would shy away from this.

But in this landscape of stale strategies and templated content, Figma is reimaging marketing from a creator-first perspective.

It has spotlighted one facet that most creatives themselves have lost focus on – Content is an ecosystem that promotes collaboration.

Example #2 – Slack’s Resource Library

Source: Slack.com

Slack has become a leader in ensuring communication and collaboration between teams. Instead of offering space for long email threads, it focuses on real-time chatting.

With different groups and channels for distinct projects and teams. It has revolutionized workflows and cross-departmental functioning.

But there’s another add-on. Slack also has communication channels for external partners and clients.

And their capabilities sweep into the content they muster.

Slack’s content merges impressively with the workflow – it’s deliberate. Their brilliance hides in how they deliver their content. It doesn’t scream out to the users but whispers to them.

Their content is about making you the hero, not standing out as the hero amidst other B2B brands.

Slack’s user-first approach has made waves across the marketplace.

Even the content marketing route they take increases efficiency for the consumer, not dazzles them with flashy content. Added to their already robust content marketing is the resource library. From eGuides to eBooks to helpful tips, Slack has a digital library for all its keepsakes.

It helps users from different industries use and implement Slack effectively by not centering its content on itself but spotlighting the human experience – how teams work on Slack, not how Slack works.

In short, it’s informative, diverse, and consultative. And at the center of this is the human experience – workers are people, not leads.

For example, take its 2023 State of Work report. The no-nonsense report flags everything that’s wrong with the workplace. And highlights the challenges employees often face. And from this content report, it was evident that Slack doesn’t play around.

It facilitates a healthier work culture, avoiding the practice of shoving products down your throat – you happen to need them.

Slack is one such B2B brand that practices what it preaches. Its content isn’t here to bedazzle you with shiny promises. But it is effective.

In a landscape where B2B content often leans into dullness and monotony, Slack successfully stands out. Its storytelling has positioned it as the future of work, not as a messaging brand.

Example #3 – Salesforce’s Learning Hub for Sales Basics

Source: Salesforce

Content is at the heart of customers’ experiences with brands. And with the ever-evolving buying trajectory of each consumer, marketing and sales are noticing every slight change.

And parallel to this observation, they are pivoting towards what works best.

Salesforce is doing the same. They have realized that diminishing returns and flatlining traffic aren’t undone by merely buying more traffic.

There’s only a singular effective solution: a sound content strategy.

So, Salesforce has found unique ways to leverage content while also revolutionizing the landscape. At the crux is the digital customer experience, motivated by content. This is the sales giant’s underlying belief – integrating CX and content.

Their content marketing model isn’t just good. It’s something that other companies can’t easily replicate.

Salesforce’s structurally robust content strategy doesn’t take content for granted.

It means that where most businesses consider thought leadership content as ad hoc, the sales organization knows how to institutionalize it. They turn C-suite insights into recurring products, such as annual reports and Salesforce+, among others.

For them, thought leadership isn’t just about hot takes or staying up with the market gossip.

Additionally, Salesforce’s most underrated but authentic content strategy is the narrative IP. For example, its “State of” reports are built on memorability, given how the tone repeats across different reports but familiar stories. They have transformed dull market research into media assets with such powerful emotional language that establishes their authority in this area, even though competitors might come up with similar content.

Salesforce follows an annual rhythm in creating and distributing this content. It’s cross-functional and includes an executive standpoint (at least a summary).

They aren’t living up to industry standards but establishing them themselves.

Through their authentic content strategies, Salesforce doesn’t just inform but drives the narrative. And every content piece they create is part of a bigger why – something that transcends the mere selling of products.

Salesforce’s content strives to offer a comprehensive and expert POV on the future of the business landscape. That’s the underlying objective they hope to accomplish with every piece they create.

Moreover, Salesforce knows that B2B operations and decisions aren’t made on spreadsheets. Customers want to be seen and be a part of something. And their content heavily propagates this – who the customers will become, not what the product is.

Example #4 – HubSpot’s Library for Everything Marketing

Source: HubSpot Academy

HubSpot is another powerful name among the brands that are doing content marketing right.

Their platform shapes people’s opinions on modern business problems and how HubSpot’s solutions can solve them. It’s direct but sophisticated.

HubSpot’s design isn’t salesy; it’s methodological and intentional.

Their content has one central purpose: teaching how to do marketing right, by defining what “right” really is. Often, this aligns with the product’s strengths.

HubSpot’s content marketing approach establishes it as a teacher and a guide. It educates and directs customers toward the subsequent steps, blending fluidly into product descriptions and placements.

The software company understands that a customer’s buying journey doesn’t begin with pricing charts and demo requests. The first is always the mental exercise – there’s a psychological model that prospective buyers follow, one that should lead to the funnel.

HubSpot leverages this model. Through their learning academy, they build a foundation in the practitioners’ minds, even if they aren’t in the market.

This content marketing model’s design is purposeful – it aligns belief with the product. So, HubSpot’s straightforward marketing efforts are a marketplace favorite. Similar features might be offered industry-wide, but only HubSpot can connect the story they started.

Marketers build a story, but they often forget it in the sales stage. They are too busy closing the deal. HubSpot, through its Academy, births and instills an inbound philosophy that seems like the logical extension later on. It connects the gap.

Their focus is on a more strategic, long-term, and in-depth play.

What most B2B businesses do is try to sell way too quickly. But your pitch is only effective when you know it’s the right time. By building its educational content into the product ecosystem, HubSpot resists this impulse.

It sweeps in as the savior when a solution becomes inevitable.

HubSpot isn’t selling a worldview but engineering and helping customers adapt to it.

And how does it seamlessly do this? Content marketing efforts are directed to the right people at the right time. It’s about pushing out ideas and teaching a system – what you could do if you could do it like us.

From messaging to becoming a manual, HubSpot has flipped the script.

Content marketing is no longer treated as a marketing channel; it’s an operating model.

Weaved into the strategic layers with other business functions, content’s role in marketing has changed. It builds a market, establishes a system, and influences behavior.

It is not about what the product can do for you anymore. Content isn’t isolated from the broader business challenges companies face. Now, content marketing is more about changing how customers perceive products and services – what would the future look like for you if you adopted this solution?

These brands aren’t thinking of content in terms of blogging or SEO. It’s about creating an impact, integrating it into the business culture, and establishing an infrastructure.

One that helps you think in content.

While the old marketing KPIs give way, a new way is emerging in the AI-age. And here’s all you need to catch up.

Content marketing is an ever-shifting maze. A labyrinth of people’s sentiments, business goals, and creativity. Some navigate this maze almost without effort, and many fall short. They create pieces with their heart, soul, and logic, only for them to underperform and not affect the business in any meaningful way.

It’s crushing, to say the least.

But teams can navigate the maze to the best of their capabilities using a simple solution: content marketing KPIs.

While marketing KPIs are often frowned upon for not providing a clear picture, the fault is not with the metrics or how they’re tracked. It’s how they are used in the context of your campaigns- whether these metrics align with your campaigns or are used because they are a market standard is the crux of the matter here.

Let’s start with the basics and move down to the nitty-gritty of the KPIs.

What are Content Marketing KPIs?

Content is abstract. Without directly looking at the person or their behavior after interacting with the content, teams cannot gauge what the audience feels. Marketing teams and designers need to understand what’s working and what isn’t. To capture this feedback, the teams had to create milestones, metrics, and “flags” based on user behavior data and business needs.

In short, content marketing KPIs are quantifiable metrics that measure how effectively your content drives business objectives and audience engagement.

Business Impact of Tracking the Content Marketing KPIs

KPIs provide clarity to teams, especially if the impact they want to track is intangible. This could range from customer satisfaction to brand messaging, with various means of tracing them.

A simple example would be YouTube’s comment and like functions, which provide a clear indicator of audience sentiment and behavior. However, many businesses don’t rely on YouTube for their content.

They use various touchpoints and channels to reach their desired buyer. To meet them where they want to be met and influence them on their terms. To gauge if your buyers are influenced, content marketing KPIs are employed and used to nurture relationships and close deals.

Businesses do this by:

1. Gathering relevant data on the buyers.
2. Allocating budgets and resources towards channels with better performance
3. Justifying cost and proving ROI.

But, honestly, this is easier said than done. Many organizations track the same KPIs as their competition and use them the exact way with little to no variations.

And that’s because they miss the larger context to view the KPIs with. If businesses really want to drive businesses with content, it’s about time they stop using these metrics like it’s 2020.

The complex buyers’ journey demands something more from you- the context in which they are buying and your intended message towards them.

Following hype and trends will only have you chasing vanity metrics- not business deals.

The Framework for Content Marketing KPIs

Caption: Content Marketing KPIs: Fighting for Relevancy

A framework is often considered a plan. A series of steps to reach where you want to go. That’s a very one-dimensional way of looking at it.

A framework is a reference point for you to create a strategy. As Michael C Porter, the father of strategy, says, “Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities.”

And any framework should empower you to do just that.

While the KPIs you track won’t change much, let’s think of new ways of questioning them.

Awareness-Stage KPIs (TOFU)

In the TOFU stage, the KPIs can seem very surface-level. They are: –

Impressions and CTR

• We’ve decided to club impressions and CTR together for a few reasons.
• While many impressions are good for reach, are they translating to clicks?
• Of the clicks you are receiving, are they from your intended demographic?
• Based on your campaign, where are these impressions and clicks coming from? E.g., organic or referrals or paid
• In terms of email marketing, instead of impressions, you should track open rates and the CTR for the intended action they’re taking.
• Did the numbers reach your campaign goal? If not, what should have worked and what did not?
• Can you identify the missing piece of the puzzle and retry it?

Share of Voice

• Have conversations around your brand increased?
• Did the impressions, open rates, and CTRs affect the conversations you want to have with your leads/buyers?
• Do you see a positive growth in engagement and perceptions, even by 5-6%?
• Have these positive interactions increased activity on your website and other content formats?

Branded Searches
a) Have your branded searches increased?
b) What percent of those is your intended audience?

Engagement-Stage KPIs (TOFU+MOFU)

While the above KPIs have some semblance of engagement, it’s at this stage that a brand truly starts coming into its own.

Here are a few: –

1. Time on page/Avg Duration or Dwell Time

• Whether your content makes sense or not to the reader depends on the average time.
• However, if you want your page to rank for snippets or AI snippets, users may not read everything but only the answer to their query.
• But if your content wants to educate, inform, and entertain, having a longer dwell time is crucial.
• If not, is it the content that is losing them, or is it not reaching your leads through the correct channels?
• What can you optimize here?

2. Pages per Session

• Internal linking is fascinating. It connects your pages together but also gives your audience more content to consume related to their query. The opportunity is to push them inward.
• It shows if your audience is engaging with multiple pages at once.
• Pages per session let you observe this engagement- is your audience interested in more?
• Based on their searches and navigation, what can you make of their behavior and intent?
• If your average page per session is not satisfactory, can you identify the drop-off point?
• Are the sessions desktop or mobile-based?

3. Social Media Engagement

• Has your engagement in the SERPs affected your social media presence?
• Is your campaign goal to increase social media engagement, or is it a by-product of your positive interactions?
• Conversely, have your social media efforts boosted engagement to your website and other offers?
• Have conversations around your brand increased? And what content has facilitated it?
• A bonus point- can your sales team identify if there are any warm leads in your social engagement? (There should be)

Conversion-Stage KPIS (MOFU+BOFU)

For content marketers eager to prove ROI, this stage has to be the most exciting one. It shows the direct impact of content on sales.

1. Lead Generation

• Lead gen is one of the best KPIs in content marketing– it proves direct ROI.
• However, has your content converted your intended audience, and have they been deemed as leads?
• Are they ready to have conversations with sales, or do they need nurturing?
• What type of content is bringing the most amount of leads, and what is the relevancy of both the content and the leads it’s bringing in?
• What is the ratio of relevant vs irrelevant leads?
• What channel did they come from?

2. Sales and Cost

• Are the sales teams having satisfactory conversations with the leads that are coming in?
• Which channel is proving its ROI, and are there channels whose CAC: ROI ratio is disharmonious?
• Are there sales objections that directly stem from your content? (An excellent sign of engagement. And an opportunity to stand out)
• What percent of leads are coming from the content, and how many of them are converting into paying customers?
• What is the opinion of your sales teams on the lead quality?

3. Advocacy and Propagation

• Is your content creating a community around it, no matter how small?
• Is your audience sharing the content around, and which ones gain traction more than the others?
• Are they referring you and sharing particular content pieces with others?
• Are your pieces where they’re having personal conversations?

Advanced Content Marketing KPIs

Caption: Prometheus Gifts Fire

Content marketing is nothing short of magic- words and visuals on paper that affect readers’ emotions and logic. And these KPIs give you a glimpse into the inner world of the people consuming the content. However, the AI game is changing what content is. If people can have conversations with an encyclopedia that is personalized for them, they will prefer it.

But, human beings are notorious for our ability to do unexpected things- and many have turned to only human written content and information.

Why is that?

It’s our love for exploration.

And future content and its KPIs must account for this innate desire. It’s a desire that compels people to buy- B2B or otherwise.

The good news is you can track these innate desires. There are KPIs that have started to account for this behavioral change in buyers. Here are a few you can build on.

1. User Journey Flow Analysis

• Mapping the macro journey of the user is the easier part. But almost always, a lot of nuance is lost in this view.
• The user journey flow analysis KPI lets you break down the journey and identify molecular changes in the buyers’ journey with your products and offers.
• From identifying drop-off points to discovering common points of interest, this KPI is a mix of many small identification factors.
• With this, you can track whether your buyers are taking the intended action you want at every touchpoint and change your strategy if they aren’t.
• Free analytics tools like GA and Clarity offer exceptional functionality in this case. Similarly, Hotjar is one of the best tools to view and optimize user interactions and flow analysis.

2. User Engagement Pathways

• Similar to journey flow analysis, this KPI tracks and measures a granular approach to engagement
• They track pathways like – discovery, conversion, onboarding, exploration, etc.
• It answers questions like: what users are engaging in and why are they doing it?
• Are there any pathways that need optimization?
• What conversations are your users having about your tools/services while interacting with them? (These conversations can also be behavioral instead of verbal)

3. Content Discovery

• This deals with the question of AI and search.
• Are your content pieces visible to the users where they are searching? E.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s snippets.
• Is your content being discovered in the first place?
• Is your organic traffic sufficient for your specific campaign needs?
• Is outreach helping content discovery and business needs, and can you use it to boost discovery?

3. Intent Drift Tracking

• Intent drift tracking is a cornerstone of modern content marketing. It isn’t an ordinary KPI but a marker of interest.
• Intent tracking observes changes in buying behavior, whether their intent is changing while they are interacting with content online.
• Are they becoming more or less interested in the solutions you offer, and how can you track this change?
• What do you think they have become aware of between now and then?
• What does this mean for your service- is it positive or negative?
• What are the opportunities for you to influence this intent?
• Can you segment a chunk of this audience?

These advanced KPIs are designed to uncover behaviors of your buyers that you can leverage, and they can be tracked in real time.

However, don’t jump in to change your strategy. There are a lot of moving parts that require you to be patient. As important as data is, it is there to validate your intuition, not overhaul it. To track the behavioral change you knew was coming.

Zero-click searches are perhaps the most crucial content KPIs of the AI age.

Content marketing teams have seen a drop in organic traffic.

The reason for this is simple: SERPs and social media websites want users to be on their services for longer durations. And that AI is answering their questions- satisfying a need and providing a relevant answer.

And the statistics are staggering. Let’s look at two stats from SparkToro:
1. In the US, 58.5% of people don’t click on their query. Out of those, 37.1 click on nothing, and 21.4% move on to another query.
2. For the EU, 59.7% end in no clicks. Of which 37.4% do nothing and 22.3% move on to another search.
This shows an important factor- zero-clicks must be accounted for. They will be vital to track and complex to identify.

While tools play catch-up, you will need to actively optimize for AI and search and check whether you’re appearing for queries on these LLMs. On the other hand, LinkedIn, X, and other socials are also trying new things, and that’s killing reach for linked content and company pages.

They want people to stay on the website longer and gain knowledge from native players or thought leaders- individual contributors seem to be lucrative to platforms for some reason.

What are Zero-Clicks and AI searches saying- how do you track them?

People want quick answers in a crowded space. People are really good at one thing- pattern recognition.

And the crowded space has jaded them quickly. Many users are tired of looking at similar content that barely solves their pain points- AI is a quick fix here.

But human beings take time to articulate an idea and come to a conclusion. Let’s look at an example and then break it down to explore how we can track these searches and optimize them.

To research this blog, we did a few things:

• Gain resources by reading blogs and Google Scholar.
• Searching on AI for available data to back things up and summarizing scholarly findings.
• Asking AI for similar sources, which gave us a few links to blogs, websites, and data-study papers.
• However, some of those searches ended as dead links and low-quality content on referenced websites.
• Took a specific approach and used queries like SparkToro research for zero-clicks in LLMs- got results as well as a summary of what it means. Clicked on the article to gain a comprehensive understanding and view.
• Depth created more avenues for creation: asked LLM to pull up a report on how brands rank on LLMs to strengthen understanding and thesis.

This method shows a clear loop for brands. If they want to survive in the zero-click-AI era- they need to provide value for their audience, and this value must be tangible.

To track this, you will need to: –

• Create value-based content
• Check whether you’re ranking for that query, which has to be niche or solve the problem quickly.
• Check various AI search engines and see what you’re ranking for.
• Through GSC, understand if some queries are getting more impressions than clicks yet driving conversations. High impressions and low clicks might not be bad here, especially if you see an increase in abstract concepts like mindshare.

While many organizations observe a dip in traffic, they must understand that value is the driving force behind content marketing and that it is also a KPI.

Valueless and generic content, while effective at ranking in traditional ways, is losing relevancy. AI systems pull value- although some reference to outdated data is still the norm for LLMs- they will be weeded out by audiences who are inquisitive and want hard proof.

The KPIs work only when content provides value.

Without a value-based strategy, the KPIs above will not work. They might drive business on the surface, but sales objections will quickly thwart any hopes of making a business.

Content Marketing and its metrics exist to track if your customer finds you effective and what they want. Those businesses- especially ones in tech and marketing– who don’t want to be replaced by AI have to learn to provide what the user wants in a very unique way.

Fortunately, buyers are more self-aware, and they can be influenced to experiment.

What you need to do is create content that empowers them to do more with less.

Traditional marketing is persistent and off-putting. To improvise, savvy marketers have devised an approach that informs and entertains- branded content.

Storytelling anchors marketing campaigns, strategically influencing a behavioral change.

This theory has been the magnum opus behind using stories at the heart of marketing communications. From traditional playbooks to the latest drivers, its innate ability to influence behavior continues to help marketers attract and engage their target audience.

Beyond aggressive marketing and incessant selling tactics, storytelling puts consumer pain points into context, making it digestible and relatable. And there’s minimal space to counterargue when your business’s success stories or value proposition is delivered through stories.

Because consumers don’t see a narrative in segments but as a whole- they want minimal distractions and immersive experiences.

This underlines why modern marketers have actively gravitated towards branded content.

Branded content makes up the majority of where marketing is headed. To illustrate this, we have some of the best branded content examples in our pockets.

But before diving into it, let’s start with outlining the basics.

Branded Content: What It’s Not

Traditional advertisements haven’t been successful in moving the needle anymore. With increasing ad saturation, consumers have adapted by tuning out unnecessary ads.

This isn’t the case with branded content, given how it takes a more nuanced approach to marketing.

So, the commercials, pop-up ads, and clickable banner ads you observe on diverse platforms aren’t branded content. The fundamental differentiator: this content isn’t focused on products and services.

Then, what is Branded Content?

To ensure the impact is tenfold, marketers have added an edge to their storytelling techniques – the use of branded content. Branded content is content pieces created in partnership with advertisers or publishers to highlight an organization’s mission and values.

It’s used to deliver ideas that help establish a strong connection with the audience. As stated before, it’s not supposed to sell a product or service but to enable them to think and inspire empathetic emotions.  

It doesn’t expose viewers to pushy sales content, encouraging them to buy so-and-so products.

Branded content is a very subtle way of elevating brand awareness, i.e., introducing who you are underneath the colored graphics and catchy taglines. This way, intrigued viewers are more likely to pay attention to the entire content and even interact with it.

So, what branded content does is:

• Spotlight that a company is more than its corporate entity
• Appeal to the consumers by connecting on an emotional level
• Facilitate conversation by weaving a narrative

Branded content is, in itself, really a narrative. It leverages Bandura’s social cognitive theory:

By seeing role models whether real or fictional perform a behavior with positive consequences, viewers are more likely to learn and engage in the behavior themselves.

And branded content uses realistic and relatable characters and plotlines.

Given that it’s curated in collaboration with celebrities, individual creators, and other professionals, Bandura’s theory functions in full force here. It triggers empathy and social learning, elevating the possibility that the viewer is willing to undertake an action.

Is Branded Content Effective?

When interacting with branded content, consumers receive something in return – value in the form of entertainment.

It’s the significant driver behind why branded content works effectively. Technology has caught a considerable portion of viewers’ attention- branded content leverages this vulnerability.

Too much of the produced content reeks of recycling. With the same messages published incessantly, there’s a dullness shrouding the marketing-scape.

And with saturation in tow, the stakes are higher than ever. How do businesses move their fatigued consumers?

Marketers are aware of the impact of stories on people, especially those that make us acknowledge our humanness. So, they leverage storytelling to their advantage.

Modern content marketing has realized that content doesn’t always need to veer in a single direction. Sometimes, it requires derailing – something that offers an immersive experience.

Branded content does just this.

It penetrates through the cacophony of this baseless noise and delivers uniqueness (not just promises). And spotlights your brand as it is, seeking to transform the public perception of your company.

This content form can be developed in any format – from sponsored Instagram posts and social activations to YouTube videos and influencer-driven campaigns.

In the long run, branded content is a strategic investment in your brand’s future. With a strong market reputation, your business is sure to build customer loyalty and generate high-quality leads.

Although branded content is fundamentally different from traditional advertising methodologies, it requires a strategy.

How else do you know where to begin creating your branded content?

As a solution, we offer you a framework. And branded content examples that fortify why some brands were successful while others weren’t.

A Strategic Framework for Creating Branded Content with Examples

Example 1: Tell a story and commit to it.

Weaving a story isn’t the first obstacle to creating branded content. It’s about converting it into a reality.

Buyers have outlined the real reason for their pivot towards self-directed buying– most businesses don’t live up to the promises they initially make. And their offerings are lackluster.

Telling a story isn’t enough anymore. What value does it deliver beyond entertainment? The branded content should spotlight your brand’s genuine beliefs. It must be built into the content you’re creating.

For example, if a tech company ascertains sustainable practices, what exactly are they doing to live up to the same? It shouldn’t be a charade to garner leads and be truthful.

Promises and values, when not reflected truly, can only end up harming your brand’s reputation.

So, the solution is to create branded content that illustrates the organization’s commitment to these values. Make it sensory and immersive. Or your stories ring hollow.

Consider, for example, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. It created an enormous frenzy like never witnessed before. For most, it wasn’t merely a feature film.

The emotional resonance, messages empowering women, and high-profile partnerships relaunched a whole new generation of potential customers for the toy brand. One of the most commercially successful films in history, the film’s success spotlighted the brand’s core value.

And the brand’s worth rose to $720 million.

The branded content film redirected everyone’s attention to a brand often seen as too “girly” or “feminine.” And reiterated the global public perception. Now, Barbie is associated with owning your feminine side and being confident in who you are.

Barbie proves it.

Storytelling in your branded content isn’t just a “what we can offer you” narrative. The story here does not equate a sales pitch but delivers a powerful message. Instead, it should entertain, educate, and instill curiosity, ensuring your brand stays at the top of the mind.

This is why Barbie’s (the film) marketing campaign affected the toy brand to such an extent. By working as an asset of its own, the movie significantly reshaped the perception of dolls and the color pink.

Barbie (the toy brand) came to resonate with its own story and embody the message of women’s empowerment, owing to the movie’s virality.

Example 2: Build characters that personify your brand.

The relationship between businesses and consumers has drastically shifted. Buyers want interpersonal relationships with brands that demonstrate how much they really matter. This has changed the entire face of customer relationships.

Consumers need brands they can relate to and build an emotional connection with, i.e., something they identify with. Most of this relatability factor is regarding the characters in your branded content – the role models Bandura’s been emphasizing.

Marketing has realized the need to deliver relevant content. This applies to every content type, even branded content. When buyers see people who are just like them, real and mundane, they create a stronger bond.

Your branded content, in short, should be a mirror through which consumers see themselves reflected truly. This means using real stories surrounding real people.

But there’s always a downside, so offer genuine content.

Most digital content is built on false stories and insincere reviews. And consumers have become adept at pinpointing. Given how far modern tech has advanced, it’s easy to gauge when businesses are biting off more than they can chew. And this only topples your brand reputation, scattering away any potential customers.

Remember Burger King’s Women’s Day tweet?

Burger King was attempting to capitalize on one of the most celebrated holidays – Mother’s Day. But in a very short period, the company’s expectations took an unexpected turn.

666k likes as opposed to 171k quote tweets: A Twitter novice will tell you that while this highlights engagement, it has proved detrimental to the food chain. The users quoted-tweeted it, didn’t realize the post was clickbait. The team responsible couldn’t nail its execution.

And that’s where the disconnect was.

The image on the right highlights Burger King’s actual intentions behind the tweet. The food chain’s tweet was to raise awareness regarding the lack of gender diversity in the restaurant industry, promoting a scholarship program for female employees.

However, only their initial message stood out, causing widespread backlash for Burger King. This was because it was posted on International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate women.  The strategy was cheeky but highly insensitive as a standalone tweet, leading to its virality for all the negative reasons.

And the result? Burger King apologized and deleted the original tweet.

Example 3: Inspire the right emotions.

BK hit a nerve, but not in the way branded content is supposed to.

There’s one takeaway from this incident: audience connections can only be built through shared vision and values, not sales objectives. Your branded efforts should be perceived as worthy of attention and trust – quite distinct from what digital ads seek to do.

So, branded content must balance between offering informational and entertainment value. Only then can it help establish your brand’s thought leadership and market perception.

But all of this can be executed effectively once you understand who your target audience is:

• What do they care about: values, beliefs, and ideals
• Audience preferences and interests
• What entertains them
• What is their preferred channel and content types
• Which role models do they identify with?

Take, for example, HP’s Generation Impact, one of the best examples of branded content.

Source: YouTube

It targets the tech giant’s audience base of tech enthusiasts, young professionals, and students. Each video content or episode highlighted how young innovators leverage tech to create an impact, also learning to make the world a better place.

Every episode follows a single theme of “Their brilliance will change the world,” i.e., how young minds have used technology to reshape their community.

In their content, none of their products are highlighted or focused on. The creators had only one objective: to illustrate technology’s positive impact on the world. And HP has carried this out through robust storytelling techniques. It has developed a single theme across all its branded video content in this series – young minds’ innovative solutions to global challenges.

This aligns with HP’s broader mission to elevate sustainability and also their brand value – “to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.”

The strategy is quite impactful. And proved quite adept at creating ripples across their audiences, mainly comprised of young professionals, students, and tech enthusiasts.

At large, HP’s branded content was quite exemplary. Not only did it acknowledge the fundamental issues entrenched in the minute crevices of society, such as poverty and inequality. But it also highlights HP’s commitment to environmental responsibility, reinforcing its vision.

This branded content resonates with their demographics and is authentic.

It spotlights how committed HP is toward sustainable principles and the extent to which it’s intertwined in its products. For example, the Pavilion Laptop, which uses ocean-bound plastic, and the Smart Tank, made from recycled plastic.

Example 4: Establish meaningful collaborations.

There’s one aspect to highlight in this discussion – branded content has a core message. It might not always be the same, but it continues to align with a company’s values. Imagine it as an overarching umbrella that allows you to take leaps creatively.

This creative prowess is only amplified through the correct collaboration. It spans multiple platforms and offers an immersive experience, elevating visibility across numerous touchpoints.

As in the case of HP’s partnership with Ocean Impact Organization, the HP Generation Impact Incubator.

At the heart of this collaboration, we circle back to HP’s mission statement: “to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.” HP is committed to environmental responsibility. And most of their branded content embodies this.

HP and OIO partnered up to find the next young Australian innovator. Each year, they announce the grand prize winner and runners-up for innovative solutions that can help transform ocean health.

The tech giant’s collaboration with OIO is not merely a marketing charade. It’s centered around empowering young innovators to demonstrate authenticity, value, and innovation – components that every branded content must embody.

And just like HP, several brands have gotten branded content right. It’s time to glance at some of the noteworthy examples.

Example 5: Take a stand.

Branded content is all about creativity. And it’s vital to deliver a unique narrative that takes a stand. How else do you outline what your brand has to offer differently?

Without a distinct perspective, your branded content could end up blending with the repetitive marketing clamor.

So, take a stand on a subject you wish to cover. Every marketing piece addresses a common pain point, but you need a compelling angle – one that earns your audience’s attention.

This, in turn, helps elevate you as a subject matter expert and establishes your credibility. A general perspective is commonplace, but a fresher viewpoint highlights the knowledge you hold.

And Lenovo’s Late Night IT is a brilliant example of this.

Thought leadership around technology is often jargon-heavy and complicated to grasp. From blockchain and data management to cybersecurity and IT – subjects remain the same.

The approach is the real differentiator. And that’s what Lenovo leveraged in its branded content. It covered similar topics to its competitors, but the ‘how’ differed.

Lenovo created a comedy news series titled ‘Lenovo Late Night IT.’ Available on CIO.com and YouTube, this program stood out owing to its unfiltered host and guests. This attributed an entertaining spin to tech discussions, making it more relatable for tech decision-makers.

This series offered a fresh take on technology and how tech brands operate. The conversations were brutally honest and authentic.

The episode “Mental Health: Generation Burnt-the-F-Out” spotlights mental health in the workplace. Here, the host and guests tune in to a genuine discussion on what tech brands are doing to help their employees tackle mental health.

A single question delivered the final blow, a reality curtained by humor: “Is wellness woven into your digital transformation strategy? Or did you deploy a self-help app and call it a day?”

Branded Content: Ideas that Drive Action.

These examples of what worked and what didn’t are to direct your brand in the right direction and inspire new ideas. But this isn’t all we hope to incite.

Branded content isn’t a piece put together to incite your targeted audience. They are stories told through illustrative media that are supposed to deliver the right message.

Whether branded video content or an Instagram collaboration, it’s more than a traditional marketing gimmick. Branded content, although entertaining, is also a versatile medium to showcase brand values.

And it embodies a single marketing motto – practice what you preach.

In the race to boost sales revenue, businesses have forgotten their mission of change. And that’s why their promises end up vacant. They have messages diluted across multiple channels, but the impact isn’t evident at all.

Where are they missing the mark?

Not converting their words into actions. Not sticking to their promises. Barely skimming through customers. Branded content becomes an effortless way of building content that delivers meaning. And peels the facade to reveal the layer that drives businesses – audience connections.

Content marketing fuses art and business, a herculean task. But its impact is still measured against old standards. It’s not a plateau— it’s neglect.

Day in and day out, content marketing teams— the writers, designers, strategists, and managers sit down together and create.

These are curated experiences designed to evoke an emotional response in the audience and inspire them to take action. However, this endeavor is nothing short of exhausting. That’s why marketing folks are addicted to caffeine— we need that boost to survive and thrive.

But content marketing is not easy. Who can guess what a human being wants to see and experience? The constant consumption culture makes it difficult for any guesswork.

Bandwagons and trends make it easier for brands to capitalize on content, but that fades away once the trend dies. Brands, especially the ones that thrive on content marketing, cannot afford to make such flippant decisions.

They need to be original enough to stand out and measure the impact a creative has had on their goals and objectives. And this is the trickiest of all plays in marketing: understanding the effect.

But lucky enough, teams can track Content marketing Metrics to understand if these goals are being met. But unfortunately, most content marketing KPIs are fragmented.

KPIs in content marketing are vital. But why are they so rigid?

Before we dive into the heat of the battle, let’s take an overview to understand the basics.

What are content marketing metrics?

Content marketing metrics in content marketing are metrics or milestones that provide a clear and tangible way of measuring impact.

Usually, in the context of content marketing, these KPIs are: –

1. Brand awareness
2. Click-through rates
3. Open rates
4. Bounce Rate
5. Dwell time/Scroll time
6. SEO ranking
7. Impressions
8. ROAS
9. ROI (lead gen)
10. Engagement (Likes, Clicks, Shares, Comments, and your subscribers)

Well, you may think this is such a comprehensive list. And by no doubt, it is exhaustive and has depth. But it lacks something crucial— there is a missing piece that hasn’t yet connected and makes this list of KPIs close to irrelevant.

The Rigid Structure

While these Content marketing metrics are effective on paper- they are often rigid and don’t paint the whole picture. Think of it this way, it’s like watching a 3-D movie without the glasses— you know you’re watching a cohesive whole, but it’s still not the exact picture.

These metrics, while terrific at what they do, are incomplete without their 3-D glasses. Without them, these KPIs are rigid, regulatory, and messy.

They become the end rather than a means to the larger objective.

But ask yourself

1. When has a creative moved you?
2. Did it always make you click on it?
3. Did you see it on the internet? Or maybe it was an OOH?
4. Did you revisit it?

These questions, by virtue of the KPIs’ rigidity, are always left unanswered, and the main point is lost in the noise of data.

And yet here we are, talking about the KPIs and what they’re missing without addressing it.

The answer is quite simple, really.

What the KPIs lack is their relation to the market. While that is a simple answer, it is nothing short of revelatory.

The KPIs are devoid of the market they are serving and bear almost no relation to it.

They miss the main KPI: market share.

None of the metrics and indicators describe if you’re influencing behaviors in your favor or looking at data that is wildly disconnected from each other.

Let’s take a simple example, imagine you were running email campaigns. The open rates and clicks were impressive across the board.

But in the European region, you find the CTR is way too high- 100%. Anyone running an email marketing campaign knows that 100% is a bit fishy, and this excludes Apple MPP opens.

At first, the excitement of this successful campaigns must be palatable. But, after the third sequence, you realize that these European opens are dubious— maybe not all of them, but for sure most of them.

The solution is to have conversations rather than drive opens and CTRs.

The response to it will be wildly different— change the copy to reflect your commitment to understanding their problem rather than just solving it. The result? Organic inquires to solve very market-specific queries. (Based on an actual email campaign)

This is what we mean when we say that KPIs don’t reflect market share.

Because they lack the dimensions to uncover your market’s needs. There’s a reason why tech tools track these KPIs. But overreliance on them is why your campaigns are disconnected.

Let’s get something out of the way. All the metrics the industry is using right now aren’t useless. But the habit of looking at it in isolation has lessened its impact.

These metrics have disconnected the campaigns. And, of course, they provide indicators and help marketers make sense of uncertainty.

But, if the pandemic has taught everyone something, it is that uncertainty will plague market conditions, and no amount of KPIs can reflect that.

Or wait, can it? Is there any content marketing metrics out there that can make sense of uncertainty?

Spoilers: There is, and your teams use it quite often. Actually, everyone uses this KPI on a daily basis.

It’s called a conversation.

All these metrics that the tech tools use are to measure conversations in their various forms.

Why do tech stacks track these metrics?

Google Analytics is one of the best marketing tools ever created. The molecular approach it takes is unparalleled.

And that’s not where it stops; anyone proficient with GA will tell you they don’t know enough about it. There’s always more to explore and do.

But they’ll also tell you that the tool is limited. It will give you a full-funnel view of your audience, but it will never tell you the why— that’s something for you to uncover.

So why do these KPIs and metrics exist in the first place?

Because they make tracking the customer easy and are mathematically sound, they fit into relational databases and give you tangibility in lieu of ambiguity. They give you metrics that you can show in meetings with the CFO and CEO.

Now, let’s get into the meat of things.

If you’re paying attention, the content marketing metrics are right there for your taking.

Creative work is difficult, especially when you want it to hit specific beats and drive campaign-specific goals.

So why shouldn’t the KPIs reflect that? We’ve uncovered two crucial ones that influence each other:

1. Market Share
2. Conversations

Though this is not a rule of thumb, market share is proportional to the conversations your prospects are having about you. Anyone buying from you is going to talk to people in the market.

There are going to be many more Content marketing metrics, especially those that are specific to the campaign goal. The questions are: How do we find and track them?

The Content-Marketing KPI Framework

In 1984, Apple released the infamous ad for the Macintosh. It aired in the Super Bowl and never again did it air.

But it was such a historic marketing piece, directed by Ridley Scott, no less. People were abuzz with conversations— it made Apple a global face if it hadn’t been before.

And the end result? The Macintosh was a commercial failure, and Steve Jobs quit (fired?) Apple.

In this case, the content did everything right. It ran conversations and got millions in free press. But that did not translate to market share. What did Jobs miss?

This visionary of art and technology did not see one thing: the product.

It was too expensive for the market and, while revolutionary, underperformed for the cost it was going for. Well, it’s easy to pass judgment in hindsight and dissect his decisions— but it’s difficult to learn from them.

And that’s why it’s necessary. As you can see, each industry has unique content-marketing KPIs, and you can uncover them, hopefully, to drive actual value— not just buzz.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Can your actual problems be solved by the preset KPIs, and are they meeting your needs for the campaign you’re running?
2. What specific action do you want your buyers to take at this moment? And what can you do to make that happen?
3. In terms of tangibility, what do your industry and its buyers find valuable? What is the way to leverage this in your content?
4. What conversations have your pieces generated, or have they gone unnoticed?
5. What is the common point that comes up on your sales calls? Does your content meet it?
6. What are you saying through the creative, and does it relate to the market? In simpler terms, what is the purpose of the creative piece?
7. What gaps has your research identified, and has your audience caught up to it? — This one comes directly from Paul Graham’s essay on great work.

Here’s a codified version: The Market-Conscious Content Framework (MCCF)

Where impact = Creative Resonance × Market Alignment

And KPIs are derived from:

1. Observed Conversations (qualitative)
2. Market Movement (quantitative, e.g., share of voice, market share)
3. Strategic Fit (how well the content hits market truths).

It matters more if your buyers are actually talking about you. Not just visiting your digital footprint and forgetting you exist.

The KPIs you’re tracking are by no means wrong or bad— they are there for a reason. But understand that this is to track your audience, not understand them.

As long as the industry continues with this trend of not evolving with buyer sentimentalities, it’s going to be crushed and downsized.

Marketing is a science and an art, yes? Then, it would be a crime to stop interrogating and looking for better ways to do things.

And as people in charge of the art that drives value and sales, content marketing metrics should reflect that— not get bogged down by it.

It’s easy to drown in a sea of measurable metrics. So, this piece helps highlight how choosing the right ones ultimately depends on the campaign goals.

HubSpot defines content performance metrics as –

“Numbers that can help you determine if what you’re doing is making an impact as is, if you’ll need to tweak your approach, or if you’ll need to abandon it altogether in exchange for something else.”

Across the crowded digital space, content has continued to be marketing’s magnum opus – but the game is changing.

Modern buyers are skeptical of recycled messages that stem from traditional playbooks. And are actively tuning them out.

Amid these shifts in consumption patterns, content marketing has become the only way out. Especially when it helps deliver unique, targeted, and valuable content in an age where the power has tilted back toward buyers.

But, it’s easier said than done.

Content marketing demands patience, consistency, and a copious investment in resources. How do marketers know their efforts are bearing fruit?

This is where content performance metrics come in.

What Are Content Performance Metrics?

Content performance metrics are simply numbers or data illustrating your content’s impact and performance. The answer to: Is your content influencing the bottom line?

However, not all metrics are equal or used for the same purpose.

Cue: vanity metrics. They used to play an integral role in the old content playbooks. But marketing realized these could be directional indicators of brand visibility and reach. Otherwise, the vanity metrics didn’t capture demand or indicate a shift in market perception.

So, in a landscape where CMOs are held accountable for revenue, impactful marketing demands actionable metrics that demonstrate tangible business outcomes.

Why should you measure content marketing metrics?

Measuring the performance of your content isn’t only beneficial for the bottom line. It ensures that your strategies are updated and aligned with the broader business goals.

1. Visibility

Without any optimization, it’s possible that your content won’t be visible to the right audience. And just gathering digital cobwebs. So, tracking content performance metrics allows marketing to ensure that the right content is reaching the ICPs at the right time.

Search engines only rank relevant, high-quality content for users searching for solutions similar to your brand offerings. But if your content strategy is loose at the ends, your content doesn’t even appear to prospects.

2. Strategy

Content marketing metrics illustrate the effectiveness of your content strategy from the bottom up, tying directly to your brand visibility and its overall growth.

Through a robust content strategy, it becomes easier for potential buyers to find your brand amidst the competition and elevate conversion possibilities.

3. Quality

But this is significantly dependent on whether you’re creating the right content in the first place.

Measuring content marketing metrics ensures this is the actual case. It allows you to assess the content quality and change the content or its type to what drives impact.

4. Impact

Content performance metrics also help gauge audience behavior: Are they really hooked or leaving a page too quickly? Does it fit your audience’s preferences?

You can optimize your channels and segment audiences by understanding who is interacting with your content and how. Both help underscore whether your content reaches your ICP and drives them to action.

And if it doesn’t, the metrics outline where your strategy is lacking.

Overall, measuring content performance metrics is a key driver of your brand’s growth and expansion. And offers a comprehensive understanding of your content marketing ROI.

So, the primary step for tracking these is to ensure the chosen metrics align with your business goals. And in turn, the goal you’re attempting to achieve underlines the content marketing metrics you should track.

How Do Your Business Goals Define Your Content Metrics

Not all content is curated for the same reason, which means not every metric is measured the same way.

From attempting to fill your sales pipeline, elevate brand awareness, or retain customers, your performance metrics should align with the goal your business hopes to achieve.

1. If your priority is lead generation:

One of the commonplace goals of marketers is generating quality leads through their content marketing KPIs efforts. After all, the leads that convert into customers are the honest indicators of your business’s success.

So, it’s not just about traffic but about qualified traffic because you’re capturing demand that transforms into action.

The warmer your leads are, the higher the chances that your content marketing strategies are set in the right direction. So, it is significant to underline the number of leads your content has generated.

The key metrics to calculate –

• Lead quality
• Lead volume,
• Cost-per-lead (CPL)
• Traffic-to-lead ratio
• Conversion rates

What not to focus on –

Think: A lead downloads a whitepaper, which marketing forwards to sales. When contacted, the lead illustrates no interest in the brand, resulting in a waste of time and resources.

Just because a lead downloaded a whitepaper, it doesn’t mean they are always a potential buyer. Most often, third parties who hold no interest in your solutions also undertake specific actions for their research.

This missing piece here is intent.

So, page views, impressions, or shares without content don’t carry weight here. High engagement doesn’t equate to high intent. And often signals marketing towards low-quality, irrelevant leads.

2. If your priority is brand awareness:

Brand recognition is one of the most crucial indicators of growth – How well does your ICP really know your brand?

And content that provides real value can help build your brand awareness. A crucial aspect of this is thought leadership content that leverages your brand’s top voice to establish credibility across the industry.

Here, the focus isn’t on driving immediate action but on building trust and visibility. The final goal is to stay on top of the buyer’s mind – as the best possible solution to their pain points.

The key performance metrics to improve this –

• Social media metrics: Engagement, mentions, and shares
• Brand search volume
• Unique page views
• Backlinks
• Time on page
• Scroll depth
• Impressions

What not to focus on –

Conversion rates.

This particular metric has a lot to offer. But this isn’t always a business’s objective, especially when it comes to elevating brand recognition and awareness.

Imagine a company planning to introduce new services or even itself in an already crowded and unfamiliar market. And its sole priority is to get on the radar.

How else will they engage leads if the market doesn’t know the company exists in the first place while building trust?

Brand awareness here becomes the company’s strategic moat.

It might be too early to sell, so driving action isn’t even the first step. And lead generation doesn’t add much value here, not before the company has penetrated the new territory and established itself as a credible source.

3. If your priority is customer retention:

Content marketing efforts aren’t merely meant to capture prospects. As much as it’s crucial to engage new customers, it’s also vital to nurture existing ones.

Marketers seamlessly forget that it’s not the first buy that matters. It’s truly the second one. A customer who buys from your brand again means taking a step forward to become a brand advocate.

It should also be your content marketing’s focus.

Imagine a customer making purchases from you repeatedly over the years and also referring you to their peers. This customer has a high CLTV compared to a one-time buyer.

That’s why your efforts should also prioritize nurturing and retaining these customers.

Retaining an existing customer is far simpler than converting a new one – valuable, relevant, and unique content can ascertain this.

Your marketing team can ensure that there’s specific content that elevates the CLTV of these customers while simultaneously boosting your bottom line. The only concern here: Do you know if it’s working?

Track the relevant metrics –

• Repeat purchase rate (RPR)
• Customer churn rate
• Customer lifetime value (CLTV)
• Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Upsell conversion rate
• Repeat logins

What not to focus on –

Traffic volume.

Customer retention means nurturing existing customers with high LTV. This means you aren’t marketing to the broader public.

Your audience for all your content marketing efforts is directed towards a concise, familiar, and segmented pool. For SaaS companies, the bottom line is dependent on churn rates. Once a customer signs up, one of the priorities is to keep them engaged and upgraded.

So, content marketing metrics, from pageviews to the number of users, don’t offer depth. To elevate customer retention, you don’t need eyes on irrelevant bots or new leads.

But focus on the specific and finite existing customer base.

Accurately tracking and analyzing content performance metrics.

We’ve briefly established the content performance metrics you should track in line with different business goals.

Do you measure these manually? No.

Leverage marketing tools and software for accurate data. There are a vast number of content reporting tools available to help businesses collect and track website data.

These help marketers collate and analyze user behavior, make sense of insights, and track conversions – most often, across a single dashboard.

Some of the known effective and robust tools that offer integrated content measurement along with seamless user experience are:

1. Google Analytics 4
2. HubSpot
3. SEMrush/Ahrefs
4. Attribution tools, such as Dreamdata and HockeyStack

These tools are significant for tracking, measuring, and analyzing your chosen content performance metrics.

But not all data sets are the goldmines, you’re searching for. With a data-driven approach at the base of most of their tactics, marketers should realize that more data isn’t synonymous with more insight.

Especially when it concerns measuring the performance of your content.

What Can Marketers Get Wrong About Content Metrics: The Common Pitfalls

Without a clear strategic roadmap, the numbers rarely mean anything:

1. What do the metrics on your dashboards mean?
2. Why are you particularly tracking these?
3. How do they influence the bottom line?
4. Do they align with your broader business goals?
5. Do these metrics demonstrate content’s impact for the long term?

But without an answer to any of these questions, your marketing team is moving in the dark. And your plans lack any scope.

Without the basic know-how, i.e., the why, which, and how of your performance metrics, it’s easy to face a setback. Some of which could stem specifically from:

• A knowledge gap regarding which metrics to measure at each funnel stage – This is particularly demonstrated by non-marketing leadership. Not all stakeholders entirely gauge the importance of content across the funnel, resulting in a constricted understanding that success looks different at each stage of the funnel.
• Pressure to prove the marketing ROI – Stakeholders want proof of their investment – they want content to work within a short period. To prove its worth, marketers chase measurable metrics that are easy to gauge.

So, they end up over-indexing short-term metrics such as impressions and visitors and skip long-term investments, like SEO and thought leadership – ones that build brand equity.

But what they forget is that vanity metrics are ineffective. They offer a false sense of success but rarely translate into active customers.

• Attribution gaps – Even with the relevant attribution tools, it’s hard to assess if the insights are down to the number. There are so many intangible channels through which leads interact with content – not all of it’s graspable through quantitative data.

Many visitors read blogs anonymously or are engaged through podcasts. There’s a lack of clarity in attribution.

So, marketers dive into the extremes with less to see and more to prove. They either overvalue what is measurable (traffic and impressions) or don’t end up measuring at all.

Additionally, marketers could fall into blind spots, miss insights, prioritize the last touch, rely only on attribution tools, focus only on numbers, or expect content to work within a short period (say, 2 weeks).

It’s simple – any of these pitfalls could prove detrimental to your content marketing efforts.

Keeping a to-the-point track of your content performance metrics isn’t straightforward even with the right tools and software. Marketers bend backward with the most limited resources while attempting to prove the content marketing ROI.

This feeds into the existing rupture between stakeholder expectations and actual outcomes, widening the gap.

But it’s not the end of your content marketing journey. Although each business might choose to measure a different set of metrics, the underlying basis should remain the same.

There are particular strategies, the fundamental building blocks, that can help improve your content marketing metrics and refine the overall measuring process.

Improving Content Performance Metrics: Optimize Based on Data

A/B test for headlines and CTAs

Churning out content pieces constantly is a waste of both time and resources, especially if you don’t know whether it’ll move customers. For your content to translate into tangible outcomes, you need to assess what works and what doesn’t.

The best path to do this is A/B testing.

Not only will it highlight the headline that engages your audiences the most, but also the placement of the CTAs. It shouldn’t overwhelm visitors but also be compelling enough to drive immediate action.

So, test using alternatives.

There are multiple variations of a single content that can appeal to different customers. But your priority should be to drive the maximum number of leads to action. And headlines that instill curiosity within them to know more and read through the content.

So, experimenting with different CTAs – the subject and placement – will outline an idea that aligns with the brand requirements and ICP.

Update underperforming content

Most content is published and then forgotten. But a potential client browsing through your website is looking only for solutions. And often, they merely skim through the written content for the relevant bits.

What if the information they’re looking for doesn’t align with the latest market conditions? It can harm your brand’s reputation.

So, update your content periodically, especially statistics and market problems at the crux of your piece. This little piece of advice isn’t limited to blogs – it’s for infographics, content carousels, and whitepapers.

Your potential buyers depend on you to act as a guide, helping make informed decisions.

So, it’s paramount to update the information you’re offering – at least the irrelevant statistics.

Repurpose the content that’s working.

At the heart of content marketing is quality, not quantity. And one of the most effective channels to gauge the most out of your pieces and elevate their quality is repurposing them.

Content repurposing boosts impact without multiplying the effort. Now, instead of waiting for your audience to visit your website, your content reaches them through infographics, LinkedIn carousels, newsletters, podcast snippets, etc.

This methodology will elevate your reach and impression while improving SEO and organic traffic.

It’s a harsh reality that most content expires. However, by keeping the core message alive through short-form formats, you’re increasing its lifecycle.

And keeping your brand’s core message alive.

Set content strategy goals

What is it that you’re aiming for with your content?

From driving conversion to instilling awareness – your content should entail an intention, i.e., a purpose. Once the goals are set, it becomes easier to gauge the direction you’re moving in.

A directionless strategy might catch a few stray prospects here and there in the long term. It’s ineffective. So, build a roadmap and outline what you want your content to do – close sales or inform?

Accordingly, your own goals can help underscore the kind of content you should focus on.

Consider different channels and formats.

Marketing has had one motto, and in all these years, it has remained constant – experimentation. It’s applicable to content formats and your campaign channels.

It might be perceived as a ‘let’s see what sticks’ formula, but it isn’t.

Experimentation is about diving into innovation without the fear of failure. Not all channels you first camp on will offer the same outcomes – some might work, while others mightn’t. The same applies to various content formats.

Your ICP might interact highly with some, while others may fall flat. But you wouldn’t know this unless you experiment. Think out of the box.

Customers want unique content and to be caught off-guard – how can your marketing team offer this to them? Deliver your story (content) in the relevant box (format) through the right medium (channel) to maximize its impact.

Even if you fail, remember you can rethink your strategies and trace your initial steps. Your content marketing metrics will spotlight your missteps from the get-go, a crucial advantage.

Content Performance Metrics: The Goldmine Beyond Datasets

Measuring the performance of your content marketing efforts can be daunting. It’s like opening a can of worms or being uncertain about the number of potholes you’ll encounter.

But marketing offers you the space to learn and grow.

It’s limiting to underscore marketing as a chore. Instead, it should function as your business’s extension in overcoming its pain points – whether it’s lead generation or building brand equity.

By tracking and analyzing content performance metrics, you’re allowing your team to pinpoint its gaps – why is your marketing campaign not generating the expected results? And how to overcome similar dilemmas.

The right content performance metrics open up a treasure box – a roadmap for how your campaigns generate better results without the need to multiply efforts.