Lead generation is probably one of those marketing tasks that stays in the forefront of your brain constantly. Without leads, you don’t have sales, and without sales, you’re out of business. This is the uncomfortable zone all marketers spend a lot of time in.
In the last few years, content marketing has become one of the avenues to generate more qualified leads to pass to sales. The thinking is that by offering useful, unique, informative content that isn’t sales-centric, interested readers will take that critical next step by entering the pipeline willingly, because they’ve been comparing your information to your competition’s content, and this time, you’ve won the prospect battle. 
It’s been suggested that instead of applying lead generation goals against your content marketing, that you should consider engagement metrics instead. From a search engine optimization (SEO) point of view, that’s true. If a web visitor views more than one page on your site, stays on the site for a certain length of time and possibly completes an action that’s being measured in your analytics, then yes, content marketing can use engagement as a success factor.
Even if you can get away from tying lead generation to your content, don’t lose sight that without the great content your team has created and published that lead probably would not have been created. The problem with engagement metrics is that they usually don’t have an end goal tied to something concrete, like watching a video, downloading a case study, filling out a form or making a phone call. So there could be a big argument when developing your marketing program’s goals and objectives about even measuring engagement for lead generation. So, think about the differences when you’re creating marketing campaigns and understand that content marketing certainly contributes to the leads being generated, but there may be other factors in play that can’t be measured.
For example, suppose some of your leads come because of word of mouth advertising and recommendation from past and current clients. Did your content have anything to do with that particular lead? Maybe not.
If you’re stuck on ways to revitalize your marketing campaigns to increase leads being generated, don’t suffer in silence and continue to do what you’ve always been doing while hoping for different results. That won’t happen. Call Measured Results Marketing at 571-606-3106, and tell us what your biggest marketing challenges are. We’ve solved them by reviewing what you currently have in place for campaigns and resources, and we can help you change up your program to be more successful.
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