Measuring the business value of marketing is the top concern for marketers and CMOs. So why do we spend so much of our time and money doing things that don't matter to our customers or drive impact for our business? In this keynote, I walk you through 10 simple approaches any business can take to define the ROI of content marketing that helps your customers and delivers on that elusive ROI.

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What’s The ROI of Content Marketing?
Michael Brenner
CEO, Marketing Insider Group
Co-Author, The Content Formula @BrennerMichael

3. Life is short

4. Life is short
Your business “life” is even shorter

5. Life is short
Your business “life” is even shorter
STOP doing stuff that
doesn’t make an impact!

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ROI is the #1 objective for Marketers in 2016
CMO’s greatest challenge is
showing measurable ROI.
Marketers claim
measuring marketing effectiveness
is their greatest challenge
93%
~AdAge
81%
~CMI / MProfs

8. Marketing Has A
Marketing Problem

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12. What is the ROI?
The First Banner Ad
(1994)

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Less likely
to click on a
banner than…

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The average click-through rate of display ads
(DoubleClick).06%
10% Banner ad clicks by Bots
(comScore)
50% Clicks on mobile ads that are accidental
(GoldSpot)
What Can We Stop? Banner Ads?

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What’s The ROI of
logos on
stadiums?@BrennerMichael
#BMA16

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“CEOs and Boards
will no longer accept marketing
that doesn’t deliver results!”
~Gabe Leydon,
CEO, Machine Zone

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WARNING!
Math ahead!

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Content Marketing programs
are assets with real value that
grows over time.
Need proof . . .

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-
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15
Pageviews
#Articles
COMPOUNDING RETURN OF CONTENT MARKETING
________ Leads

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ROI =
Investment
Return
What is ROI?

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ROI =
Investment
(Revenue – Investment)
What is ROI?

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ROI =
Investment
(Revenue – Investment)
What is ROI?

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ROI =
With Less
Do More
What is ROI?

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ROI =
With Less
Do The Same
What is ROI?

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The explosion of
marketing channels

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We Love To Buy More Tactics
We Run More and More Campaigns

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60-70% of marketing content
goes completely unused.
*Sirius Decisions

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Behind every piece
of bad content
is an executive
who asked for it.

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Content
Used
30%
Content
Not
Used
70%
Content Waste is a
$100 Billion Opportunity*
* Source: Econsultancy
= $

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We need to
push back

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The Art of Pushing Back
Why does this matter?
What is the impact?
How will it be measured?

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Content Marketing Requires Empathy
Content
Marketing
What
Brands
Publish
What
Customers
Want
Business Instinct CharityEmpathy

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How do you explain
the importance of
empathy
to executives who
don’t have any?

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Show me the money!

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The #1 Way To Improve
Marketing ROI . . .

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Run CRM ROI Report. Rank Low toHigh
=$

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Reach early
stage buyers
Engage new buyers
with your brand
Conversions you would
have never reached
= $
Build The Business Case For Change

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Organic Search Traffic
REACH
Unbranded Search Traffic
LEADS
CONVERT
OTHER CONVERSIONS
SUBSCRIBERS
Time on Site
ENGAGE
Social shares
Subscriptions
Bounce rate
Retention Rate
Upsells
RETAIN
Measure The ROI of Content Marketing

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What Do You Spend On Paid Search Because
You Don’t Rank Organically?
=$

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Lyly Lepinay – (Former) Content
Marketing Manager, CapGemini
“We’re Spending $$$ On Paid Search
Because We Don’t Rank Organically!”

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30%70%

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CapGemini: Content-Loop.com
~1M visitors in 1st year
+ 3K new followers / week
+ High Quality Leads
+ Sales = ROI

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Content Marketing ROI – Reach
The Value of Organic Search =
(Paid Search CPC X Organic Search Traffic)

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Content Marketing ROI – Reach
The Value of Organic Search =
($2 CPC X 1,000,000) = $2 Million

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Organic Search Traffic
REACH
Unbranded Search Traffic
LEADS
CONVERT
OTHER CONVERSIONS
SUBSCRIBERS
Time on Site
ENGAGE
Social shares
Subscriptions
Bounce rate
Retention Rate
Upsells
RETAIN
Measure The ROI of Content Marketing

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49. Casper’s Van
Winkles
• Effortlessly combines national
housing news with articles on
inspirational interior design,
celebrity homes and company
updates.
• Up to 6 new posts per day
• Distribution and large
audiences across Facebook,
Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter
and Google+

50. Casper’s Van
Winkles

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Organic Search Traffic
REACH
Unbranded Search Traffic
LEADS
CONVERT
OTHER CONVERSIONS
SUBSCRIBERS
Time on Site
ENGAGE
Social shares
Subscriptions
Bounce rate
Retention Rate
Upsells
RETAIN
Measure The ROI of Content Marketing
Subscribers have value.
And are 9x more likely to convert
than non-subscribers

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Content Marketing ROI – Brand Engagement
The Value of Subscribers=
(Sales from Email Nurture / List Size)

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Content Marketing ROI – Brand Engagement
The Value of Subscribers=
(Sales from Email Nurture / List Size)
$10 Million / 400,000 = $25
10,000 subscribers x 25 = $250,000

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Organic Search Traffic
REACH
Unbranded Search Traffic
LEADS
CONVERT
OTHER CONVERSIONS
SUBSCRIBERS
Time on Site
ENGAGE
Social shares
Subscriptions
Bounce rate
Retention Rate
Upsells
RETAIN
Measure The ROI of Content Marketing

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Product vs. Category Searches
”SAP Cloud” vs. “Cloud Computing”

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SAP Website: Talking To Themselves

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The Math Didn’t Help

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The Power of Fear

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IMAGINE: We show up first in Google

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IMAGINE: We own the category
www.makeup.com -- (owned by L’Oreal)

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IMAGINE: We own the target audience
www.CMO.com -- owned by Adobe

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IMAGINE: Marketing that attracts new buyers
AMEX OPEN Forum is the largest source of new leads for AMEX’s Small Business Division

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BUT: SAP had no budget
Engagement?
99% Bounce Rate
How Much COST?
$200,000
Search Traffic?
0, None, Nada, Zip
Social Shares?
Also ZERO
Conversions?
“This is an awareness
campaign”

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SAP Digitalist Magazine
To help executives understand how technology drives business innovation.
Engagement?
70%
How Much COST?
$100,000
Half the ad budget
Search Traffic?
50%
Social Shares?
10%
Conversions?
~1,000 in year 1

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SAP Digitalist Mag Gets More Engagement Than Fortune,
Fast Company and more…

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Content Marketing ROI - Conversion
The Value of Content Marketing Leads =
(Content Marketing Leads X Conversion Rate X Avg. Sale Price)
1,000 leads x 3% MQL x 50% SAL x 50% SQL x 40% closed x $180,000 = $540,000
($540,000 - $100,000) / $100,000 = 4.4X ROI

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Organic Search Traffic
REACH
Unbranded Search Traffic
LEADS
CONVERT
OTHER CONVERSIONS
SUBSCRIBERS
Time on Site
ENGAGE
Social shares
Subscriptions
Bounce rate
Retention Rate
Upsells
RETAIN
Measure The ROI of Content Marketing

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It’s 6-7X cheaper to keep an existing
customer than to acquire a new one.
A 5% increase in retention
= 95% increase in ROI.

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Content Marketing ROI:
Content consumers
spend 2x more and are 3x
more loyal.
Shane Jordan
Digital Marketing Manager
Blue Cross BlueShield of Alabama

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Content Marketing ROI - Retention
The Value of Retention=
Lifetime Value $$$
Retention Rate $$$
Rev $$$ per Content-consuming Customers
vs. Non-Content-consuming Customers

74. Life is short
Your business “life” is even shorter
STOP doing stuff that
doesn’t make an impact!

75. #forward16 | 76BUILD THE BUSINESS CASE FIND THE BUDGET MEASURE RESULTS
My Free Gift To You: http://bit.ly/content-formula

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What’s The ROI of Content Marketing?
Michael Brenner
CEO, Marketing Insider Group
Co-Author, The Content Formula @BrennerMichael