Evaluating Content Marketing Success with Analytics

Leads and revenue are lagging indicators. If you’re waiting for them to measure your content’s success, you’ve already lost. Here’s the reality: Content marketing is a long term game but waiting months for results without knowing if you’re on the right track isn’t just frustrating — it’s dangerous. Budgets get cut over that crap. That’s why I track leading indicators with my clients every month. These metrics are the early signals that content is compounding into long-term ROI. Here’s how we do it: 🔗 Domain Authority & Links: How many links did we confirm this month? Are we building the authority Google rewards? 📝 Content Production: How many articles or LinkedIn posts did we publish? You can’t compound what you don’t create. 📈 SEO Signals: - Is Google discovering and indexing our content? - Are keywords climbing into the top 3, top 10, or top 100? - Are impressions and clicks improving in Google Search Console? 💬 Social Media Engagement: - Did LinkedIn impressions, profile views, and engagements grow? - Are people watching the videos we post? 🎯 Performance Metrics: Leads, revenue, and ROI — these come later. But without tracking the steps above, you’re flying blind. Here’s my point: Content marketing isn’t an instant win. It’s like growing a tree — water it regularly, and over time, you build an asset that drives exponential growth. What leading indicators do you track to know your content is working? Let’s compare notes 👇

What would you do if you knew exactly how effective your content marketing was? Measuring ROI on content marketing is crucial, and it doesn't have to be complex. Here’s how I ensure every content piece pulls its weight: 1. Set clear goals: Start with a clear definition of success, whether it's lead generation, brand awareness, or direct sales. 2. Leverage HubSpot analytics: I use HubSpot to track how content influences engagement and drives sales conversions, providing a clear picture of performance. 3. Monitor engagement metrics: Understanding interactions such as page views and shares helps refine future content strategies. 4. Assess lead quality: It's vital to identify which content attracts high-quality leads that are more likely to convert into sales. 5. Analyze cost vs. profit: Always balance what you spend on creating content against the revenue it generates. The beauty of content marketing lies in obtaining actionable insights that guide better business decisions. By aligning content with strategic goals and continuously measuring outcomes, you can maximize both impact and ROI. How do you track the ROI of your content marketing efforts? What tools and metrics do you find most useful? Share your insights below! #marketing #roi #hubspot

In July, Champify launched its biggest asset to date and we didn’t generate one MQL. Why? Our content is not gated. Here’s how we think about measuring success in our content marketing without measuring MQLs: BACKGROUND: Our content strategy is built to deliver value to people at different stages of the “buying funnel,” starting with the biggest challenge for a start-up awareness. We launched our Guide to Building an Outbound Culture in July (check it out in the comments). Our goal? To gain brand awareness by providing tactical advice to a common pain point we hear from our customers. Delivering value via content is blocked by gating. No gating means no MQLs from content downloads. HERE’S HOW WE MEASURE INSTEAD 1. Changes in volume of inbound demo requests Even though this guide was aimed at awareness, we expect inbound volume to increase. With wider reach, the odds increase we reach someone who is considering solutions who has not heard of Champify before. 2. Nurture opps re-engaged Each marketing moment can be used to re-start conversations. We produce a targeted list of previously engaged contacts and a messaging guide, then measure how many nurture conversations turn into opportunities (stay tuned for our nurture playbook). 3. Mentions/Engagement on social We look at engagement with our social post to answer questions like are the people engaging with the posts in our ICP? (this is very manual today). 4. Companies in our ICP who have viewed the content Using Clearbit and Koala we review all companies in our ICP who have viewed/interacted with our content to answer two questions: Are we delivering value to accounts with active opportunities? Are we reaching ICP companies we have never engaged with before?   TAKEAWAY MQLs are the easiest way to measure content success. But are they measuring the right thing? Gating content limits reach and can hurt brand perception. We know MQLs from ebook downloads don’t convert efficiently to closed won revenue. We, as buyers, often avoid content that requires an email address to view (we all know what happens when we give a company our emails). It’s time to get creative on how we measure content programs.