Are you getting profit for every single penny you invest in content marketing? Have you realized a positive return on investment (ROI) yet? If your answer to any of these pertinent marketing questions is NO, this article is for you!
What is the biggest challenge in content marketing? Well, everyone is doing it!
According to data published by HubSpot, 78% of businesses across the United States and Europe publish at least some form of content on their websites. The data further reveals that only 42% of these companies realize positive content marketing ROI.
With most businesses embracing digital marketing, ranking better on search engines becomes more complex as your competitors produce more optimized content than you. This begs the question, what are you not doing right?
The good news is that we have the right answers for you!
Here are 10 ideas to improve your content marketing ROI as advised by expert digital marketers.
1. Content is king
When asked what he meant by the famous phrase ‘content is king,’ the American philanthropist and Microsoft founder, Bill Gates stated that great content determines the height of its excellence like a king.
Today, the true meaning of this statement is evident in the vast content marketing world. As a content marketer, your content has to be of outstanding quality and originality. Google algorithms can detect and flag down poor quality and even slightly plagiarised (copied) content.
Furthermore, your content should have a high readability score that naturally blends with your writing style and the taste of your target audience. Unnatural and robotic work will be poorly ranked.
2. Create a social media presence
Millions of people interact through social media platforms every day. Social media sites such as Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are the best avenues to build and interact with your audience.
You can also share published content from your website apart from directly interacting with your followers through content posted on your social media marketing pages. Facebook and Instagram for Business have been optimized to fully accommodate the needs of social media marketers with relevant analytic tools.
3. Have SEO in mind
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) aligns your content with the Google algorithm requirements. Hence, SEO integrated content ranks better and stands a higher chance of reaching a wider audience by outranking competitor sites.
According to digital marketing expert and founder of HubSpot, Neil Patel, you can leverage SEO content marketing through the following ways;
- Get backlinks from higher-ranking sites on Google. This entails working hand in hand with successful companies and getting them to add links to your site on their content.
- Crosslink content on your site by linking pages with related content.
- Include outbound links to authoritative sites.
4. Connect to your audience
Content marketing is all about telling a valuable story to your audience. The best way to do that is by being emphatic, understanding their needs, and providing solutions through your content.
It doesn’t end there; your story should invoke emotions by having the correct storytelling setting. It should point out problems your audience faces as the conflict and have a happy ending by providing solutions to these challenges.
5. Advertise your content
SEO and social media promotions will bring in a handful of qualified leads. However, advertising your content through paid and unpaid techniques is a sure way to ramp up visibility.
According to Forbes, an outbound promotion such as e-mail and direct mail is a necessary pain in the neck when working to maximize your content marketing ROI. Other techniques include creating product coupons and discounts for clients who share your content with their networks.
6. Optimize your website design
Some marketers create excellent content only to be dragged down by a poorly designed website. Your website is your business’s online front desk, and its design hugely affects the user’s experience.
The website should be easy to navigate and accessible on mobile, tablet, and desktop browser options. Responsive sites rank better on Google and optimize readability rates.
7. Have reliable and factual content
How factual is your content? Does recent research back up your story?
Most amateur content marketers go overboard with creativity by cooking unrealistic figures, results, and features. Experts advise being as honest as possible when communicating to your audience. If it is a product review, it is wise to avoid exaggeration of the features and capabilities of the subject product.
The best strategy is to conduct in-depth research from reliable sources and provide links to authoritative sites to back up your information. Remember that marketing is all about building trust and creating a connection with your audience.
8. Be consistent
There is no fixed publishing schedule when it comes to content marketing. However, research indicates that publishing more content consistently boosts your ROI, as the Google algorithm notices this.
The demand for information is never-ending, and new and old visitors to your website need to be fed with the latest updates in the industry. Be it a new product, technology, news, or user experience; it is worth sharing.
If your clients find better answers on the website, Google will rank it better and boost future traffic. Creating more content sustains your competitive advantage as more companies seek to leverage digital marketing
9. Have a budget
Content marketing is no longer a low-key marketing strategy and requires a solid budget of its own. The budget varies with the number of pages on your website and the necessary content volume every month.
Having a budget helps you allocate funds to different facets of content marketing, including SEO tools, content creation, social media marketing, and paid advertising. Additionally, you can easily track your ROI if you have a budget at hand.
10. Have an in-house content marketing department
Gone are the days when content marketing was majorly allocated to freelance teams. It is wise to have a dedicated in-house content manager who can track and manage the quality of the entire process. The manager creates a link between social media marketers, content creators, and SEO managers. They can also analyze returns, schedule publications, and provide consistency in the brand’s content style.
Parting shot
Improving your content marketing ROI requires patience and consistency. Remember that each content piece is interconnected, and you should take a holistic view when scaling your content marketing ROI.