Revenue Architects

Written by John Stone

An intelligent and authentic content marketing strategy can realize a substantial ROI.

I have been working with a leading content marketing agency as they enhance their business plans and also helping financial advisors, mutual fund companies, private equity firms and mid-market B2B services companies execute revenue strategies. These intersections had me asking questions about the return on investment (ROI) for content marketing.  I built a spreadsheet to look at the various dimensions of value and the results were promising - well over 100% ROI in most cases.  These kinds of results are most likely to achieve when a company has the right leverage and embraces an authentic content strategy across the sales-marketing-service pipeline.

First, what do we mean by content marketing? Content marketing is a hot topic in digital marketing circles. Companies have been pursuing content strategies focused on driving SEO with inbound links for years. More recently, focus has been on demand and lead generation with permission marketing strategies. Today, marketing and sales leaders are taking a much harder look at the content strategies that engage customers across each stage of the buy-sell-service lifecycle.

• Awareness content and brand communications
• Value proposition information
• Features and functions of products and services
• Value added insights to reinforce brand leadership
• Service content that reinforce core messages

Various content types are being published on websites and syndicated with RSS to be accessed via Search, on YouTube, in blogs and forums and through traditional and online media:

• Articles
• Whitepapers
• Blog Posts
• Fact Sheets
• Research
• Explainer Videos
• Branding Videos
• Webcasts/ Webinars
• Directory Submissions
• eBooks
• Facebook and LinkedIn Content
• Twitter Content
• Website Copy

 

When I looked at the business case, I modeled some of the classic dimensions of revenue performance through the lense of content marketing. You can build a similar model for your business to see how effectively an aligned content strategy can drive your revenue performance. Often, content marketers are primarily focused on the top of the funnel - I am instead suggesting we equally consider the bottom of the funnel - helping ensure customer retention and drive referral advocacy.

Here are the dimensions in the model:

1. Customer Retention: Usually we think of content driving new leads and new customers - which it will do - but every company should be considering retention and existing client expansion as a first priority. So what is the role of content in retention? If you continuously engage your existing clients with meaningful, relevant and personalized content, what impact can that have on retention?  How can communicating the success in one division, help expand the footprint/ share of wallet across the client organization?
2. Customer Advocacy: If you empower your delighted customers with information and content they could share, how might that impact new referrals and new customer acquisition? See Net Promoter scoring for more insight here.
3. Awareness:  Your web presence - across websites, social media outposts and through your PR initiatives - drives the inbound connections that result in deal flow. Digital PR strategies and sharable content and widgets bring the network effect to your lead generation strategy.
4. Lead Capture:  There is a log of focus on lead capture with content marketing efforts. The movement around inbound marketing and marketing automation is centered on this approach of permission marketing whereby companies exchange valuable content and insight in exchange for the "permission" to engage the client in further dialog - usually in the form of email marketing, drip campaigns,  and further nurture programs to engage additional content through the cycle.
5. Lead Nurture:  This is a huge area of focus for the content marketer. We can measure the impact - even a 3-4% increase in the conversion rates at the middle stages of the sales funnel can result in over 50% increases in sold business. This leverage impact is highly dependent on effective content marketing.
6. The Sale: Now that so much time and money has been invested in creating quality content and messaging through the marketing cycle, how well are your sales teams reinforcing these core messages? Are they using effective problem solving and consultative approaches? Are they communicating reinforced messages? Are they using top-down logic and addressing the core needs of the customer? How well enabled is the sales force in delivering content that supports sales conversions?
7. Customer Service:  You thought content marketing ended with the lead? The sale? I think it needs to extend to customer service. How well are we reinforcing value after the sale? Does our content support service and product delivery? What impact will this have on client satisfaction, referals and advocacy?

 

This is a "list" of 7 areas of value, but it is clear that these areas are highly interelated and to get this right, businesses can create a content map that considers each dimension. This can be aligned with the target customer (sector, level, role, bias) and the stage in the customer life-cycle (awareness, considering, evaluating, buying, engaging). Armed with this insight, a business can implement the right media mix (words, video, etc.) and build an intelligent and aligned content strategy that drives ROI.

 

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