Smart marketers know they can achieve a positive ROI from investing in quality content. The problem is that content production can get expensive (copywriting, videos, editing, etc.) and it’s not always possible to predict which content will give you the best returns, especially for marketers who are just beginning new campaigns or are new to content marketing in general.

These seven tips will help you maximize the return on your investment in content marketing.

7 Ways to Maximize the ROI of Content Marketing

1. Stack content to save money. Recycling your existing content can help you squeeze more profits out of your investment. For example, you can combine a handful of similar blog posts into an eBook and use that as an offer or call-to-action. Conversely, you can take sections of a previously written white paper and create individual posts or graphics as well as create calls-to-action for visitors to exchange their email address to receive the complete white paper.
2. Use analytics to learn what works. The more you know, the better you’ll do. Use tools like Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to learn what content is performing the best (clicks, page views, etc.) and create more of that.
3. “News-Jacking.”Some businesses can hitch a ride on trending news articles and popular content to gain more exposure with search engines and on their social media sites. For example, a lawyer might discuss a trending personal injury topic on his or her blog and talk about it in their social media feeds. An SEO company can provide insights into a recent algorithm change that is causing search rankings for businesses to change. Trendsmap is a useful tool that can help you find popular Twitter hashtags by location.  Also, Google Trends is a good source to see what is catching the public’s attention.
4. Publish a survey to gain feedback and find topics for future content. Surveys are great tools for a lot of reasons. They make getting feedback easy so marketers can serve their customers better. They also provide great information to base your future content creation on. PC Magazine published a recent review of the best online survey tools that make this two-way communication easy.
5. Test different types of content to learn what works best. Each type of content you create (articles, videos, and graphics) will all appeal to different kinds of people.  Different content work best for different topics, and each will open up different distribution channels for you. You can stack your content to produce a variety of content types and then watch what mix works best for your type of customers.
6. Test distribution channels to learn where your potential customers hang out. One of the most challenging parts of inbound marketing is finding the right places to distribute content. If you have gone through the process of creating “personas” for your best prospects, you probably have a general idea of where your customers and prospects are going to check out new ideas or new products and services. Some examples may be blogs, video sites, social networking websites (LinkedIn, etc.) video sites, and so on. See our previous article on Content Mapping for some additional tips on where to post your content.
7. Stay the course to enjoy the best results. It’s intuitively obvious that a consistent stream of content will perform better than irregular and infrequent content. This is also backed up by statistics, such as a Hubspot report that bloggers that post frequently tend to see much more site traffic than infrequent bloggers do. Of course, with the avalanche of low-quality content being published daily, customers and prospects only pay attention to content they find valuable.  In the long run, it’s better to take your time to build high-quality content rather than post mediocre content more often.

Our Clients Love Content Marketing

When it’s done right, content marketing becomes the type of marketing that both customers and marketers love. At DBC Digital, we begin with a proprietary assessment and plan to help our clients build a more successful strategy in the marketing and digital worlds. Let us help you enjoy a better inbound marketing ROI by contacting us today.