3 Reasons A Measurement Framework Is Imperative for Content Marketing Success

What is your measurement framework? As a content marketer, if you’re having trouble answering this question, keep reading.

The job of a content marketer is already difficult enough. On a given day, you are focused on creating content, conducting market research to better understand your audiences, and, most importantly, trying to justify the work that you are doing. This final point is usually a black hole for content marketers. And for some, performance is really only measured by page views. However, performance is far more than just visits to a page, and this is why data should be every content marketer’s best friend. Data is going to be your way of justifying content marketing initiatives and removing the burden of not being able to prove the value of your work. As a content marketer, a measurement framework will be your best ally. Simply speaking, a measurement framework is a visual way to break down your business outcomes and content marketing objectives into actionable targets and KPIs. They help remove risk from your day to day activities by giving you the right views into available data. Said in another way, a measurement framework is your way of proving the value of your work so that you can identify opportunities to increase business impact.

3 Reasons to Create a Measurement Framework

As a content marketer, your job is difficult, stressful and constantly being scrutinized. I’m sure over the past couple of years, you’ve had to justify spend, fight for budget and prove why the work that you are doing is helping support your business. However, content marketers shouldn’t have to constantly live in fear, uncertainty and doubt about their position or contributions to the company. Content marketers know that they drive value, but normally struggle to prove that value. The following three reasons will outline why a measurement framework will make you an invaluable asset to your marketing org.

1. Provides a simple and memorable visual into performance measurement: A measurement framework is an easy way to visually map out all of your outcomes and objectives and then align them with KPIs. This will show marketing and executive leadership how you can track the performance of work being done. You can see and download the Knotch measurement framework template here.
2. Identifies blind spots in measurement: Measurement frameworks reveal gaps where you do not have the ability to track one or more of your business objectives. This will act as a lightning rod to close the gap with measurement innovation, with new or redirected investments in data, technology and research, so you can fully track marketing efforts. Remember, if you cannot measure an objective, it’s not really an objective, and begs the question if it’s the right objective.
3. Validates work and allows you to refine your skillset: At some point, you’re going to be asked to prove the results and success of your work. You’re also going to want to see how you can improve your abilities as a content marketer. A measurement framework ensures that you can do this. More importantly, the mere presence of a measurement framework demonstrates to leadership that you are thinking deeply about the performance of your business in a holistic way. That’s a good career move and will allow you to continually improve your performance.

As content marketers, we are constantly fighting for and justifying budgets. Every investment demands an answer about what it is returning back to the business. It’s better to be an investment than an expense, especially in the current environment. A measurement framework is your ticket to ensuring you have a path to report back on investments, and justify the work that you and your content team are doing. The answer to why you need a measurement framework can ultimately be summed up in this one sentence: A measurement framework is a way for content marketers to justify the value of their work, while making sure that they continually produce better results and drive a greater impact for the business.

Why Reporting Cadence for Your Measurement Framework is Important

One of the most important aspects of a measurement framework is your reporting cadence. Your reporting cadence ensures you aren’t missing anything when you’re reporting back on content and marketing performance. It should connect to decision making timelines. If you make decisions on a daily basis, your measurement framework should make data available to you on a daily basis. For example, tracking performance of content from your email and social activities on a weekly basis will make sure that you don’t have any blind spots in your strategies. It will also help you tell a better story about what’s working and what’s not working. The goal of your performance data should be to leverage information from prior weeks to inform future strategies. Reporting cadence will also show how often you need to revise your measurement framework. As mentioned earlier, a measurement framework will help you identify blind spots. As time progresses, your team may add or change content marketing activities or initiatives. You may build a new content campaign that is using different channels or you may have invested in new content software that is providing you with additional metrics. Because of this, you will need to constantly revisit your measurement framework to make sure that blind spots haven’t appeared as efforts have changed. The recommendation from the pros at Knotch is to revisit your measurement framework at the end of every quarter to make sure that you don’t have any gaps.

3 Reasons to Revise Your Measurement Framework

Here are three reasons for why you should continually revise your measurement framework:

1. Provides Guidance to Content Marketing Teams

The data arena is constantly changing and the way data is sourced may change. As your content marketing activities change and evolve, you may need to adjust how you track things. And with the addition of new tools in the marketplace, new metrics may emerge that better align with your business outcomes and objectives. By revisiting your measurement framework on a regular basis, you will be able to provide insights that support other parts of the marketing team, like customer journey, audience engagement, brand perception, conversion rates and retention rates. All of these will ultimately allow you to paint a bigger picture of your content and marketing environments. Over time, you will begin to understand the cause and effect of various metrics to achieve business outcomes. That’s when a metric becomes a key performance indicator.

1. Provides Visibility Into ROI

We all report to someone and the people we report to have expectations. Even more important, the people those people report to, have even higher expectations. This all boils down to making sure a company is making the right investments. The ultimate factor for most business leaders is going to be ROI, but getting to ROI is never a straight line. The way to get there is a measurement framework. Additionally, having a measurement framework will ensure the right investments are being made, will prove the value of software investments, will provide transparency for investors who will be able to better understand the business performance.

1. Adaptation to Market and Audience Dynamics

Market conditions are constantly changing. Your competitive landscape is also shifting at the same rate. As a result, you may find yourself fighting for more budget or justifying marketing spend to ensure you can continue driving success. By regularly reviewing your measurement framework you can adapt your strategies to changing market conditions and justify the spend around those activities. Last but not least, your audience’s needs, wants and desires are not fixed. As consumer and business trends change, so should your marketing strategies. Regularly reviewing your measurement framework helps you stay in tune with your audience's evolving needs and preferences.