TMI #61 - Content has come a long way, baby! 👶🏼

We’ve come a long way, baby.

That is, in illustrating the ROI behind content creation.

When I was a young content marketer (read: "freelance writer," circa 2004) and business owners asked for proof that our content was effective, vague sentiments like: "Your target market will see how you can help them if you share these best practices in print," were all we had to offer.

As marketers, we knew it to be true. But for the skeptical business owner writing the check, there were no bar graphs and pie charts on branding — yet!

Until, that is, the day my client John Song, an MEP engineer, called me up with what is still the best content ROI story I’ve ever heard.

His team walked into a meeting with a prospect to discuss working on a large building project. Here’s John’s accounting of his big content ROI moment:

"When I shook the project manager’s hand and introduced myself, his eyes lit up and he said: ‘Are you the John Song, author of the article I just read in Consulting, Specifying Engineer Magazine?’"

Indeed, he was.

Think John’s firm got the job? 😉

John’s story can be summed up in two words: Brandy Equity (def): What people say about you/your business when you’re not in the room.

Enter: 2024 metrics

Thanks to modern marketing analytics like the back-end of your website, email clickthrough rates and good old fashioned marketing studies, we have a few more indicators on the value of content creation in 2024.

For those of you looking to convince your C-suite to invest in your content program, here are some of the latest — and most reputable — stats on the benefits of creating original thought leadership, from the 2024 Edelman/LinkedIn Thought Leadership Report:

¾ of decision makers say an organization’s thought leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competencies than its marketing materials and product sheets.

The same 75% say a piece of thought leadership led them to research a product/service they weren’t previously considering.

86% of decision makers invite those that consistently create thought leadership into their RFP process.

It works in the converse as well:

25% said they severed/reduced a relationship because of a competitor’s thought leadership.

But one hidden benefit may just be THE MOST valuable. And we have no numbers for that — yet!

EVERY client work with to create executive thought leadership on LinkedIn reports greater ability to hire and retain teammates — arguably a significant win for an industry facing a 400,000 worker shortage by 2026.

While a lot has changed since I started Zissman Media in 2004, we’ve still got a long way to go, baby.

Hold on tight, marketers. We’ve seen this before. The metrics will continue to crystalize as long as we keep creating great content worth reading! ✍️

All the best, Mindi :)

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