How do you measure content strategy? Mike talked about how to think about content strategy, setting the stage for this conversation. So do you want to build trust, or are transactions more important now? Let's talk about the different ways to measure those two ways of thinking about content strategy.


Can They Trust You? Let Them Know.
People want to trust you. They want to say "yes" to you. But they're also going to be paying you, so they don't want a bunch of reservations either. Branding is probably the most important factor in whether people buy from you when reliability or collaboration matters, which makes it huge in B2B. In fact, the more important and consequential the purchase, the more important your brand will be.

Not sure if that's true? Do a thought experiment: if you're buying gasoline, you're not usually as worried about the quality. If your car starts sputtering, maybe you won't be buying gas from them again. But if you're hiring someone to paint your house, you want to know if they have references. Are they gonna spill things? Will they leave drips? Will they take my money and leave the job half-done?

And what do you look at to see if you want to work with them? Their reputation, their record of past performance, how they present themselves or how organized they appear...you look at their brand.

So reputation is important, but how do you measure all those things you do that build your reputation? How do you measure the monetary benefit of your values?
Measurement Can Be Tough
Because brand marketing teaches people how to feel about you, it's hard to detect and hard to attribute. You can't always tell how someone feels, and even if you could, you can't always know what made them feel that way. But these people pay full price. They see you as "premium." They trust you to be organized. They're likely to be happy with what you're offering because they already know you and trust that you do what's right. Because they're happy, they'll tell others about you. And it's hard to measure any of that.

If someone likes you:

They might tell someone else in a way that you can't measure, such as a conversation.
They might decide the next time they want to buy a product that they buy yours, and they may never tell you that.

But they also may do some things that are measurable:

They may continue to receive your newsletter, even if they don't get a chance to read it all the time.
They may open it even if they don't get a chance to click on any of the links at this particular time.
And they may read your blog posts because they want to know how to think well.

They want your way of thinking so they can develop their own philosophy around the work that involves your product or service.
Transactional Measurements
It's easiest if you sell a product or service online. If you sell it directly online, almost everything is measurable. You're able to measure the entire funnel.

But what about those things that are a little more consulting-heavy. Resound works with a lot of clients who consult, even if they sell a product or a service. Often, they're big-ticket items that require some explanation or require some interaction, customer-to-salesperson, to provide value beyond just the product or service itself.

This is where you can choose two different paths. Or both. You can choose to go after your existing clients and continue to build those relationships and pull them deeper into your thinking, or you can go after new customers.

Let's talk about both.
Existing Customers: Building Value
With existing customers, you can and should use a newsletter to teach them how to think. They need to think about your stuff the way you think about it.

If you are a fleet automotive maintenance company, you might have a philosophy about maintenance that encourages people to run it on a 3-month schedule instead of a 4-month schedule. You may even be able to save them money that way.

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