• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 26, 2021

Two-thirds of B2B brands are at least somewhat hobbled when measuring their content-marketing performance -- and it starts with ROI, judging by Measuring Performance: Content Marketing, The B2B Marketer’s Perspective, a study conducted by Ascend2 Research in partnership with KoMarketing. 

Of the marketers polled, 57% face moderate difficulty, and 25% say it’s reasonably easy to measure the impact of their content strategy. The main obstacles are:  

• Determining ROI — 46% 
• Lack of budget resources — 44%
• Insufficient data — 38%
• Lack of a unified strategy — 30% 
• Insufficient attribution model — 28%
• Lack of a unified dashboard inconsistent — 22% 
• KPIs across organization — 20% 
• Ineffective tech stack — 18% 

That’s a key finding, given that over half say measuring ROI is extremely important — only 8% say it’s unimportant. 

But the respondents see process as the most critical strategic element

Establishing a reliable process/strategy — 61%

High-functioning staff/resources — 40%

Defining organizational goals — 38% 

Customer journey mapping — 33% 

Unified data — 32% 

Identifying personas — 30% 

High-functioning tech stack — 28%

The most important metrics? (Email engagement isn’t one of them). 

• Conversion rate — 50%
• Website traffic — 46% 
• Social media engagement — 39% 
• Downloads/form completions — 27% 
• Source/acquisition metrics — 27%
• Email engagement — 27% 
• Search-related metrics — 26% 
• Paid campaign analytics — 23%

When it comes to the important tools, analytics platforms lead the way: 

• Analytics tools — 53%
• Customer relationship management (CRM) — 38%
• System Marketing automation — 34%
• Dashboard & data realization — 29% 
• Social sharing tools — 29% 
• SEO tools — 26%
• Content management system — 23% 
• Email service provider (ESP) — 17% 
• Interactive content tools — 13% 
• ABM tools — 7%

How many tools do B2B marketers use? For 29%, the total is one to two, and for 37% three to five. Another 13% utilize six to nine tools, and 8% deploy 10+. Another 7% use none, and 6% are not sure. 

Ascend2 and KO Marketing surveyed 318 B2B marketers.