Is Your Content Strategy Working?

This is a tough question, and it’s one that every content marketer should constantly be asking. Whether your strategy is “working” is not always a clear “yes” or “no.” So while I can’t tell you without taking a close look at your work and analytics, I can give you a few things to think about.

BUT FIRST, do you actually have a content strategy? I mean, do you have a documented plan that outlines what you’ll work on and what goals you’ll work towards for the next 3-6 months?

If not, you don’t really have a content strategy. Most of the companies I’ve ever worked with don’t have anything documented. I understand why. When there’s no documented strategy, you have flexibility. You aren’t really committed to any single thing. If something better comes up, you can pursue that instead. As you have cool ideas, you can pursue them.

Because I like running analogies, think about the difference between exercise and training. It’s possible to exercise a lot but never lose weight or get in better shape. For example, it’s really common that folks will work out too hard on a regular basis, rather than going hard on hard days and easy on easy days. This constant exertion and lack of focus means that athletes work hard but don’t progress.

A few years ago, when I got a running coach, he actually scaled back the hours per week that I ran. But he also brought structure and focus to my training. Hard days were hard, easy days were easy. We set A, B and C goals. We built an aerobic base, then layered on speed work as races got closer. Not surprisingly, it worked really well. I made progress in leaps and bounds, even though I wasn't working any harder than before. I had a goal and a plan to get where I wanted to go.

This is why you need a content strategy. It might feel uncomfortable to commit to a clear goal, but it will add shape and meaning to all the work that you do. You’ll have a way to say “no” to projects that would interrupt your progress and you’ll be able to build a narrative around the work you’re doing. (See Marketing to the organization)

Once you have a content strategy, there are a few ways to assess whether or not it’s working.

• Are you trending towards success? In other words, if your goal is to hit 100 MQLs/week within six months, have you gotten to 16 MQLs/week by one month? This may seem really obvious, but many teams set stretch goals, then fall behind quickly. This kills morale and sends a team scrambling for ways to hit a goal that should never have been set in the first place. As HBR says, “The consequences of setting and then missing stretch goals can be profound. Failures can foster employee fear and helplessness, kill motivation, and ultimately damage performance.” (I highly recommend this article.)
• Is the business growing? A business can grow without any content marketing at all. A business can also fail with great content marketing in place. But, in general, a good content strategy and a steadily growing business go hand-in-hand. The relevant content metrics (traffic, organic visits, MQLs, etc.) should grow in parallel to revenue. Revenue may grow faster than traffic (as a percentage) or traffic may far outpace revenue growth. Either way, both numbers should be trending up. If the business is not growing, you need to take a cold, hard look at your content strategy. It’s possible that a long-term organic play (a great strategy in the right circumstances) will take way too long to bear fruit if revenue is stagnant. The content strategy should meet the demands of the business today.
• Is it supposed to work yet? I’ll add one caveat to the above point. If, for example, the business grows on the heels of word-of-mouth and/or paid acquisition, you might have a longer runway to execute your content strategy. Let’s say you work for a marketing technology company in a crowded market. Paid acquisition works but keeps getting more expensive. You can wean off paid acquisition by investing in organic growth. Although it will take time, you must constantly check your progress against the cost of paid acquisition. You need to know how much time you have. You can’t build a strong organic presence in two months, but you likely could in 12 months. If you can confidently say you have 12 months of runway, use that long-term thinking to your advantage. Build a strong organic foundation first, and worry about conversion-specific metrics later.
• What percentage of posts fall flat? Every content strategy needs to leave some room for content that just doesn’t work. If you work for a big company and your strategy includes 20 new posts/month, you can afford to have some duds in there. At least 50% of the new content should “work”—generate new traffic, attract links, support sales, etc. If you work at a lean startup and publish 2-4 times/month, you absolutely cannot waste time/money on content that doesn’t work. Shoot for 80% of new content to “work”—and shoot for content that can serve double-duty (i.e. rank for a keyword and be included in a lifecycle email).

Content strategy is often deeply intertwined with product marketing, sales, go-to-market, demand gen, etc. It can be hard to even see what exactly is content vs. what is text that supports some other part of marketing. In general, look for progress. If you’re not improving at least every quarter, it’s time to re-evaluate.

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