Are your clients getting the best content marketing outcomes? Developing great content takes significant resources. Businesses should develop a philosophy about what their goals are and how content will help them reach those goals before they start posting blogs and social media messages.

The new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, produced in partnership with Rock Content, entitled “Turning a Creative Eye on Content ROI,” reveals how 195 marketing leaders handle content creation. Researchers found that the following factors drive the decisions that businesses make on this effort:

• Budget (49%)
• Time (44%)
• Executive request (32%)

Content Development Challenges

How is that strategy working out for them? Only about half of marketers in this study say content helps them achieve their goals. So how should they change their approach?

First, they need a clear definition of what they are trying to accomplish. Business leaders believe content marketing can be the best tool for communicating brand value (61%), showing thought leadership (51%) and helping them acquire ‘power leads’ (42%).

The ability to translate goals into effective action is a challenge for most businesses. While we know lack of budget is an issue, a bigger problem centers on target audiences. Do your clients know if the content will interest or appeal to the audience they want to engage? 43% of content marketers don’t know for sure. And 36% of businesses don’t have data points on ROI for targeting specific audiences.

Better Content Marketing Outcomes

Your clients can start to improve their content marketing outcomes by using customer intelligence. Just over half (53%) acknowledge the need for this information. Sure, they can acknowledge the C‑suite member who wants to see newsletters go out to a specific audience. But the content crew should develop a plan about who to target and how frequently. They should agree on how to measure the results of their investments and make sure the senior executive agrees with the plan.

And when it comes to audiences, your clients must determine who is more likely to be swayed by a white paper versus a newsletter. You can gain this insight by reviewing the profiles available on AudienceSCAN from AdMall by SalesFuel and then help your clients achieve better content marketing outcomes.