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These 3 Metrics Tell You If Your B2B Content Marketing Is A Success
DynamicWeb
Right off the bat, we will tell you that website traffic isn’t one of the three most important metrics for successful content marketing.
For 2016, however, the CMI asked B2B marketers to rank metrics by importance, not by how much each metric was used. Understandably, this yielded some different results.
The most important metrics to determine B2B content marketing success are:
- Sales lead quality (87%)
- Sales (84%)
- Higher Conversion Rates (82%)
Notice a trend?
If you run a company that deals in B2B sales, you’re not just looking for eyeballs. You’re looking for that weird eyeball-in-a-pyramid that appears on dollar bills. Content marketing isn’t only meant to get you more views. It’s meant to ultimately get you more sales.
B2B content marketers listed their two most important goals for the next year as:
- Lead generation (85%)
- Sales (84%)
So even though traffic isn’t a key performance indicator, don’t pull up the drawbridge quite yet. More website visitors is still a positive result for B2B content marketing, but you want these visitors to become highly-qualified leads that result in sales. The way you do this is with engaging and relevant content.
Content marketing that attracts prospects with relevant keywords yields a higher level of engagement because these visitors have already shown an interest in keywords related to your business. That’s why SEO is a crucial element to increase your lead quality with content.
Once you bring in better leads with better content, you then offer these potential customers personalized suggestions of product recommendations and persuasive content that results in higher conversion rates. Top B2B marketers do realize this. The CMI report reveals that marketers cite “creating engaging content” as a top priority.
Gated content, such as whitepapers, webinars, and other downloadables, also entices visitors when this content is relevant to their pain points. Website guests that trade information for gated content begin a process of communication that shares not only contact information but also specific areas of interest. You just have to make them an offer they can’t refuse.
When looking at the goals for B2B content marketing success, it’s clear that engaging and relevant content is still a critical component for increasing B2B sales. Just make sure you also track your improving lead quality, conversion rates, and sales. Traffic isn’t the only metric to keep an eyeball on.