Pitch perfect: How to get buy-in for your content marketing strategy

While we wish that everyone saw the value in telling a good story, unfortunately, we know that’s not always the case. If you want to make content a part of your marketing mix (and why wouldn’t you?), or make a case for further investment in your brand’s content marketing strategy, it’s likely you’ll have to convince somebody who’s higher up in the food chain that it’s worth the money—whether that’s your manager, your manager’s manager, or even the CEO themselves.

But that’s not always easy. While there are visionary leaders outside the marketing team who understand the value of content and the role it can play in growing a business, there are others you’ll have to work hard to convince. In most cases, this will come down to the business’s bottom line: how will your content strategy help your business make money? And how will it contribute to its long-term vision?

Here’s our advice on making a case for content in your business.

Demonstrate content ROI

There’s no two ways about it: being able to showcase the value of your content in terms of your business’s bottom line is the number one way to get buy-in for your content marketing strategy. This can be hard for the writers among us who have found ourselves in content careers (🙋🏽‍♀️) to get our heads around, but it’s crucial to understand. Content marketing isn’t just about increasing your brand awareness and website traffic (though it’s that, too!). Fundamentally, it’s about how you convert that increased brand awareness and website traffic into customers – and reduce the business’s marketing spend while you’re at it.

Unfortunately, it’s also notoriously difficult to prove the return on investment (ROI) of content due to the non-linear nature of the purchase process and – oh, the irony! – you’ll likely have to invest in a CMS with a robust analytics system or even secure the help of a data analyst if you want to do it well. But that’s not to say it’s impossible.

Metrics to track

If you’re lucky enough to already be working with a tool that lets you track how your potential customers have interacted with your content on their way to making an inquiry or a purchase, that’s the place to start. Some tools, like Hubspot, will even show you the value attributed to a specific content campaign – say, a particular white paper or your blog. A few metrics you could report on to show the value of your content include new subscribers to your marketing list from content; new leads who interacted with your content before making an inquiry; new customers who did the same; or the value of the deals or purchases that were influenced by content. If you don’t already have a content marketing strategy in place, show how you plan to influence these metrics using content and find relevant examples of other businesses – particularly your competitors – that are using content marketing effectively.

Proving cost effectiveness

Another way you could show the value of content marketing is by demonstrating how much it could potentially save your business. How? One way is working out how much of your marketing budget is being spent on keywords – it’s probably a good chunk. Chances are, with an effective content marketing strategy, you could slash this spend dramatically – or cut it from the budget altogether. Not sure how to calculate this? Tools like SEMRush and Contentful are your friends.

Connect it to the business’s long-term vision

What’s your business’s mission? While ROI should be front and centre when you’re making a case for content, tying your content marketing strategy to your business’s long-term vision is just as important. We’re not talking about financial goals here – we’re talking about their dream state for this business, whether that’s becoming a household name or saving the world. This is particularly true if you’re talking directly to the C-Suite, who are always thinking several years (if not decades) ahead. 

Start by thinking about who your brand aspires to be – the next AirBnB? Ikea? Apple? – then put together a case study showing how they used content to become the brands that they are today and fulfill their own visions. Almost all of the world’s most successful brands use content marketing to tell their stories and connect with their customers on an emotive level – and that’s impossible to achieve without good storytelling. Then show them how you can use the same approach in your business to connect with customers in a way that goes beyond your product.

This is also a good opportunity to paint a picture of the competitive landscape. Who are your business’s biggest rivals and how are they using content marketing to advance their businesses? If they are, that’s a clear indicator that you should be too. If they aren’t, well, it’s an opportunity to swoop in and lay claim to the territory.

Tailor your pitch to your audience

As marketers, we know the importance of delivering the right message, at the right time, in the right place. This is just as true when it comes to pitching your case to your own audience – your stakeholders. When crafting your stakeholder engagement plan, think about what the best way to engage them will be – is it a presentation to everyone, or a few one-to-one sessions? Consider whether they’re data people or story people and lean into one angle or the other depending on who you’re talking to - while the CEO or CMO might be interested in both the data and the vision, your head of finance or analytics – who will have important roles to play in investing in your strategy and getting it off the ground – will probably care more about the data.

What often gets overlooked as part of a stakeholder-engagement plan is the impact that soft-tactics can have on selling your strategy. Drop your ideas into other conversations about business challenges and opportunities and talk about how elements of your content marketing strategy could provide a solution. Try talking about your strategy as if it’s already happening, so it starts to feel like a no-brainer to your audience (“Hang on, weren't we already doing this? We're not? Oh, we must invest!”). Repetition is a powerful tool for getting your point across, whether it’s through formal or informal channels.

Make content visible to everyone

Did your dream customer just download your whitepaper? Did someone fill up their cart with every single product you mentioned in your latest listicle? Did you increase subscribers to your marketing list by 500%? Did your thought-provoking blog get picked up by the Sydney Morning Herald? Find a way to scream it from the rooftops. 

Even if your wins are smaller than that (and, if you’re just starting out, they will be), it’s important to share your successes along the way. Whether it’s a message in Slack, a monthly email update, or even taking a couple of minutes in the company all-hands, find ways to make content visible to everyone. Getting investment in your content is an ongoing process – but if you can tell a good story, you’re onto a winner.

Need help with your content marketing strategy?

At The Content(ed) Copywriter, we craft content marketing strategies that solve challenges and maximise opportunities through content. Always measurable, always impactful. Get in touch to learn more about our content marketing services.