
Most content marketers are measuring the wrong things. Here’s how to tell the difference.
By Linda Pophal, MA, SPHR · Strategic Communications, LLC
Content marketing metrics are the quantitative and qualitative measures used to evaluate whether a content program is achieving its intended business objectives. They include audience growth, lead generation, search visibility, and revenue attribution. The distinction between meaningful metrics and vanity metrics is critical: vanity metrics (page views, social media likes, follower counts) may look impressive but reveal little about business impact, while meaningful metrics connect content activity directly to outcomes that matter to the organization.
Every content marketer I’ve worked with has felt the pull of the vanity metric. The blog post that got 2,000 views. The LinkedIn post with 150 likes. The social media following that crossed a round number.
These numbers feel like progress. They’re easy to report. But they’re often meaningless.
Continue reading “The Content Marketing Metrics That Actually Matter (And the Ones to Ignore)”

Chris is in the market for a new car. Chris, like most consumers, is broadly aware of the many types of cars on the market and can see them on the road, on car lots, in advertisements, and online. While deciding which car to buy, Chris not only draws on his own awareness that has been created through these channels, he is also likely to become much more proactive in seeking information—asking family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues for their advice; perusing review sites; following hashtags on social media channels; gathering information through Google searches; and, eventually, visiting car manufacturer or dealer websites to help narrow the choices. Then Chris is likely to visit a local car dealership to take a test drive and talk pricing. 
A few years ago I was at a craft show—an annual outing where I sell beaded jewelry that I design and “dabble in” throughout the year. Unlike previous shows, that year I sold hardly any earrings, usually a high demand item both because of their uniqueness and low price, I think (I have to be honest with myself!). Instead, that year I sold 
Market research is definitely something that even very small businesses can do on their own but there are a lot of myths and misconceptions related to research that can cause them to make decisions based on incomplete or inaccurate information. While it’s impossible to cover everything related to doing research well, here are some general strategies and best practices that businesses of any size can put to use to leverage the value of gathering market research to improve their business offerings and marketing effectiveness.
We’ve written before about the
Businesses spend a lot of time and money trying to gain insights into how customers perceive their product or service offerings. This might involve conducting surveys and focus groups to hear directly from customers. Or, it might involve efforts to ascertain customer preferences based on online behavior and purchase decisions. And yet, despite the general accessibility of this type of information, so many businesses still misread customers. That lack of awareness limits their ability to improve the customer experience.
One of the persistent challenges for marketing departments is the ability to determine a reliable and justifiable return on investment for their marketing spend. One common reason given for this challenge is the difficulty in attributing revenue to specific marketing activities. But in an