Nearly half (47%) of the content created by B2B marketers in 2018 was created for the early stage of the buyer’s journey, according to a study [PDF] from the Content Marketing Institute.
Creating content targeted at the top of the funnel aligns with the reasons given by survey respondents as to why they use content marketing. Generating leads or potential customers was the most commonly cited reason (87%) among respondents. By contrast, a significantly lower proportion (60%) use content to persuade leads or potential customers at the bottom of the funnel.
Findings from this recent survey indicate that the most common metric used to measure content marketing impact is website traffic (67%), followed by audience engagement (58%) and quantity of leads (57%).
Financial performance metrics, however, are less likely to be cited. In fact, metrics such as cost per lead (39%), revenue growth (38%) and pipeline growth (37%) were used considerably less.
The fact that fewer marketers focus on these bottom-line metrics aligns with previous studies showing that marketers are struggling to measure ROI. The reasons given range from lack of formal justification required to needing an easier way to do it and not knowing how to measure it. Read the rest at Marketing Charts.
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