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Content Marketing

ROI

Per dollar, content marketing produces

3 times more leads

YEAR 1

BLOG POST

PODCAST

YEAR 2

VIDEO

INTERVIEW

ARTICLE

YEAR 3

ANNOUNCEMENT

INFOGRAPHIC

WHITEPAPER

EBOOK

The soft benefits of content marketing

are obvious: public trust, more engaged

Why content marketing

can become your most
productive channel

prospects, happier clients. But what

about the hard benefits. What about ROI?
Content Marketing ROI is the first study to
address the fundamental questions: How much
does content marketing cost and is it a better
financial investment than other marketing
strategies? The answer is, Yes. The eBook
explains why. continue reading

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The New Rules of Marketing
This Study

Content Marketing Analysis

Content Marketing Operation
Content Plan
Content Organization: Managing Editor, Organizational Listeners, Internal Contributors,
External Contributors, VP, Marketing, Revised Content Plan

Content Marketing Costs

Content Marketing Benefits

Comparison
Content Marketing Summary: 24 Months
Paid Search Summary: 24 Months

Benchmark: Paid Search Marketing

Conclusions
Content Marketing ROI Measures Up
Content Marketing is Not a Campaign
Content Marketing Must Be Managed as a Business Process

Want to get skip ahead to the ROI calculations?

THE ICONOGRAPHY USED IN THIS EBOOK

BLOG POST

PODCAST

MID-SIZED
BUSINESSES

VIDEO

INTERVIEW

LARGER-SIZED
BUSINESSES

ARTICLE

ANNOUNCEMENT INFOGRAPHIC

LEAD

WHITEPAPER

EBOOK

INTRODUCTION

The New Marketing Rulebook

The rules of marketing have changed.

that online display

ads have a click through rate of less than one-tenth of one percent.
Ad Overload:

Real Information is Elsewhere:

The Consumer is in Control:

So what can marketers do?

This Study

Content publishers by industry

Tech

Retail / eCommerce

Financial

Consumer Goods

Manufacturing

Services

Content Publishers by revenue

23
GREATER THAN

12

$100M - $1B
LESS THAN

15

$1B

$100M

CONTENT MARKETING ANALYSIS

Content Marketing Operation

CONTENT PLAN
blog post

podcast

handheld
video

interview

article

media
announcement

per
week

S M T W T F S

1
infographic

professional
video

per
month

whitepaper

ebook

CONTENT ORGANIZATION

Managing Editor

Community Manager

Internal Contributors

External Contributors

REVISED CONTENT PLAN

F
CURATION

CURATION

CURATION

CURATION

MAJOR
PIECE

CURATION
POST

Content Marketing Costs

operation. They are summarized in the following two tables, one for mid-sized businesses and one
for larger organizations.
CONTENT PLAN

Content Marketing Costs: Mid-Sized

PERSONNEL
Managing Editor
CONTENT
Blog Post Costs
Premium Content Costs
TOOLS
Software & Hosting

monthly
$6,667
$1290
$2,500
$1,500

Total Expenses

$11,957

Content Marketing Costs: Larger-Sized

monthly

PERSONNEL
Chief Content Officer
Managing Editor
CONTENT
Blog Post Costs
Premium Content Costs
TOOLS
Software & Hosting
Total Expenses

$16,667
$8,333
$1720
$3,500
$2,500
$32,720

mid-sized
businesses

Fully loaded costs

$80,000/yr

$150/post
$2,500

/premium content

larger-sized
businesses

Fully loaded costs

$100,000/yr

Fully loaded costs

$200,000/yr

$200/post
$3,500

/premium content

Total expenses
for the content marketing operation

Monthly Recurring

mid-sized

$11,957

larger-sized

$32,720

Content Marketing Benefits

quality

SITE VISITS PER MONTH

100,000
larger-sized
75,000
mid-sized
50,000
25,000

Month 1

10 11 12

13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

The chart above shows the traffic calculated for the two classes of operations in this study. Over time,
the greater resources invested in the larger operation yields stronger results.

$25,000
$20,000
larger-sized
$15,000

mid-sized

$10,000
$5,000
Month 1

$500

10 11 12

13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

100,000
larger-sized
75,000
mid-sized
50,000
25,000

Month 1

COST PER LEAD

10 11 12

13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

$25,000
$20,000
larger-sized
$15,000

mid-sized

$10,000
$5,000
Month 1

$500

In first 5 months
costs/lead drop

80%

$375

10 11 12

13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

The long-term yield of content marketing is illustrated in the chart

above, which shows the cumulative cost per lead over the 24
months, or how much has been spent divided by how many leads
have been generated over time.

$250
$125

Month 1

10 11 12

13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

COMPARISON

Content Marketing to Paid Search

CONTENT MARKETING SUMMARY

PAID SEARCH SUMMARY

Cost per lead: 24 months

$125

mid-sized

paid
search

larger-sized

$109/

paid
search

expenses: $437,376
leads: 4,032

$108/

expenses: $1,452,984
leads: 13,488

$100

Content marketing costs

31% less than paid search

Content marketing costs

41% less than paid search

content
marketing
$75

$75/

expenses: $312,560
leads: 4,172

content
marketing

$64/

expenses: $869,060
leads: 13,569

$50

BENCHMARK: PAID SEARCH MARKETING

What is the cost per click?

Cost per click across several segments derived from Googles Traffic Estimator tool
life insurance

$16.59

divorce laywer

diabetes medicine
chicago physical therapy

$10.88

$4.74

$4.17
passport services

dallas real estate

$2.50

$2.69

tax advisors
trucking services

running shoes

$3.58

$2.42
mexico vacation

$1.86

$2.14

dvd player
baseball cards

quilting supplies

$0.82

$1.27
$1.22

$4.22
average cost
per click

an average cost per lead of

$109 / $108.

CONCLUSIONS

Content Marketing ROI

Measures Up
Many Factors:
Content Expense

Conversion Rates
Keyword Prices

Content Marketing is Not a Campaign

becoming

owning

The graph below compares the cumulative number of leads generated per $1000 spent from
the studys content marketing operation (large organization) and its paid search campaign:

36

Once youve built your audience, your ROI goes up

since you no longer have to pay rent to the media

31 leads

/$1,000

30

CONTENT MARKETING

24
18

9 leads
/$1,000

12
6

PAID SEARCH

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Content Marketing Must Be Managed as a

Business Process

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

About Kapost

About Eloqua

About Eloqua & Kapost