Almost no marketing meeting can end without the unwelcomed discussion that usually starts with ‘How will this bring in ROI?’. Needless to say, it is not a great way to end an exciting and fruitful marketing discussion if you don’t have your ROI plans clear in your head. Many marketers are often under this misconception that it takes a single golden idea to hit your company’s goals. However, that is not how it usually is.

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There are various reasons why many companies fail to witness any measurable results from content marketing. Often, it is because they do not fully understand how to measure content marketing ROI. Trying too much can go in vain if you don’t know the right strategies. But you don’t need to worry since we have decoded the basics for you. Read on to find the essentials to build ROI-driven marketing for your brand.

•  Lay down your strategies

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You need to have a thorough, clear vision to be able to make effective strategies for content marketing. One thing that comes in the way of getting measurable results is that many teams try to discover a one size fits all solution. For example, raising brand awareness, increasing search traffic, generating more leads, and improving search rankings, form the basis of a good marketing strategy. And there is nothing wrong with it, till the time you don’t restrict yourself by these. Such intentions usually lead to demotivation and lack of zeal by the end of the brainstorming process, because honestly put there is rarely any one-size-fits-all solution to content marketing.

The point of laying down strategies is not to accomplish everything in one smooth swing. Instead lay down shorter, highly directional strategies that ultimately help you to achieve your goals. Think around the following aspects:

– Lead generating content: smaller services or downloadable content that can be accessed in exchange for email addresses.

-Evergreen content: content that thrives on popular keywords and performs victoriously in searches.

-Link generating content: content that generates links from fellow websites and pages.

• Tap on high Search Traffic

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Evergreen content is not your golden breakthrough. Simple articles like “how to tie a bow-tie” might not go viral, but it will consistently bring a ton of relevant traffic to your website. This way, evergreen content pieces become crucial to generate high traffic on your website through searches. The golden rule is to find content themes that are evergreen and align well with your services. This way, you will have all the right audiences frequently tapping on your website. In terms of e-commerce websites, the categories and products section also serves as evergreen content as it is the perfect place to be for people to find your products. But a lot of this has to align with your online presence and the ease with which people can find your website. Thus, it is imperative that your content on-site is buttoned up for SEO. Your product descriptions, headings, page titles, etc. should be optimized for your top keywords. Along with this, some amount of explanatory text makes Google make more sense of your content and hence make your website more discoverable.

• Create Brand Awareness

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It is no mystery why everyone knows about Buzzfeed. They are masters of publishing viral content. Surely, their content is not the search traffic magnet, but it still manages to generate humongous traffic through its sharable content. This is what has driven their content to epic levels of recognition and hence an incomprehensible brand awareness. This is a path that you can opt too. Create relatable content that sells like hotcakes and reaches a wide audience. With Brand Awareness, you can establish a relationship with your audience over time. This makes sure that when you launch your products or campaigns, they recognize you instantly and know your credibility. The pivotal steps towards creating awareness for your brand are:

-Know your target audience well. Do intensive research.

– Emphasize on attracting your audience more than selling your products.

-Use elements that serve as social triggers, like participative content, curiosity gaps, etc. to improve performance.

• Produce valuable leads

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To be honest, high amounts of traffic and clicks on your site means little if it is not translating into direct sales. Many marketing firms create content specifically to tempt visitors into potential sale opportunities.  Leads generators can be a variety of things – newsletters, white papers, online courses, etc. But these will be offered in exchange for personal information or email ids. In terms of strategic marketing, it brings your content to a full circle, tying your campaign back to tangible sales.

Some things to keep in mind while creating lead-generating content are:

-Create content that offers value, which is worthy for your target user to exchange for his email id.

– Focus your content around your audience, to keep a track of what kind of emails you are collecting (personal, work, company emails, etc.).

– Do not confuse your user. Publish content that mentions a clear call of action.