Use these three steps to calculate content marketing ROI to show the value of your investment.
As supply chain and logistics businesses are finally recognizing the merits of content marketing, many are looking into it. But it doesn’t take much research to realize what an enormous investment it is. And how difficult it can be to calculate content marketing ROI.
[bctt tweet=”A data-driven approach to calculating Content Marketing ROI lets you continually adapt to the needs of your audience, ensuring an ongoing, robust ROI.” username=”Fronetics”]
Many companies we talk to need help convincing management that it’s a worthwhile investment. To that we say, use data!
But what data should you use? How do you quantify certain benefits, like growth in brand awareness? And do you really have to keep track of all the hours you spend writing blog posts, managing social media, etc.?
Here arethree basic steps for how to calculate content marketing ROI.
3 steps to calculate content marketing ROI
1) Set up your ROI measurement.
It’s important that you measure content marketing ROI at the initiative level. This means calculating the ROI of your blog, your webinar series, your Facebook marketing, etc. individually.
After calculating the ROI of each initiative, you can aggregate that data to determine your overall content marketing ROI for your business.
2) Know as much detail as possible.
“To measure ROI, you have to know, in as much detail as possible, the R (return) and the I (investment) of your content initiative,” says Jay Baer, president of Convince & Convert. Baer walks his readers through the example of figuring out ROI for a podcast, including calculating total investment in the project (including preparation and execution), and calculating total return.
Content marketing is about creativity. By the same token, think creatively about every measurable avenue of return in each of your initiatives.
3) Calculate your ROI.
The formula for ROI is universal: return minus investment, divided by investment, expressed as a percentage.
And there’s some good news for supply chain and logistics content marketing: “Content marketing ROI calculations are indeed easier for B2B companies because they almost always have visibility at the transaction layer,” writes Baer.
Once you’ve calculated ROI for each of your major initiatives, it’s time to think strategically about optimizing your content marketing resources, in terms of allocation and timing. Having hard data helps you answer questions about which initiatives are most fruitful, what language engages your audience best, when your efforts are most likely to pay off.
Ultimately, this data-driven approach lets you continually adapt to the needs of your audience, ensuring an ongoing, robust ROI.
With the rising demand for professionals in Supply Chain Management and Procurement, there’s a lot of employment activity, especially in short-term contracts.
This guest post comes to us from Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting, a boutique recruitment firm specializing in Supply Chain Management and Procurement.
As a boutique recruitment agency, we at Argentus are on the front-lines of the churn in the job market. We speak with potential job candidates every day. Some of them are passive, interested in moving into new opportunities when we reach out to them. Some of them are active, reaching out to us because they want to make a move. With the economy experiencing a prolonged growth spurt, and demand for professionals in Supply Chain Management and Procurement – our area of specialty – going up, there’s a lot of activity, especially in short-term contracts where companies are onboarding talent for their change management and business transformation expertise.
There are so many reasons why people seek out a new job. Sometimes it’s based on major life changes: a geographical move, say, or someone getting back into the workforce after a maternity leave. But why do passive candidates seek out new jobs, particularly in Supply Chain and Procurement?
We speak to a lot of candidates, so we have our ears to the ground in terms of the subtler reasons that star performers in these functions get the desire to make a move. It’s not out of a desire for more money as often as you might think. More often than not, it’s the more intangible factors.
Because employee retention is so important from a cost-saving and culture standpoint, we thought it would be useful to lay out some of the most common reasons why Supply Chain and Procurement professionals become passive candidates:
1. They’re siloed
We hear this reason a lot from candidates, but it still isn’t considered by companies as much as it should be. We know that one of the best ways to grow your Supply Chain career is to gain exposure to diverse parts of the function – from Logistics and Distribution, to Procurement, to Inventory Management, to Planning.
In too many organizations, these functions are siloed off from each-other, and that stops candidates from getting the experience they want to move up into more senior roles. It also stops the Supply Chain from being as effective as it would be if it was fully integrated. Next thing you know, your top performers are taking calls because they don’t want to be pigeonholed.
2. They’re tired of working with outdated technology
Supply Chain and Procurement technology is becoming more digital, just like the rest of the economy. And updating your technological profile can be a massive undertaking, with lots of risks. But the most forward-looking and high-potential candidates want to be working with the latest Supply Chain technology, keeping their skills relevant for the future. If you’re still working only with Excel, you might risk losing candidates to companies that have taken the plunge and invested in continuing technological improvement.
3. They’re not getting support from senior leadership
As we wrote about recently – and we received a ton of feedback on that piece – ineffective leadership in Procurement and Supply Chain can have huge ramifications all the way down a business. If leadership doesn’t have the people skills to help build buy-in for the function across the business, if they micromanage instead of letting managers and sole contributors shine, those people are going to start picking up the phone when a recruiter calls. But it goes upward too: effective leaders in Procurement and Supply Chain will get the itch to move if they don’t have support from C-level executives in a business.
4. Work/life balance isn’t up to snuff
Work/life balance is a hot topic in the talent world, to the point of being a cliché, but it’s worth mentioning: people who don’t have support from a work/life balance perspective will start to seek companies that have work from home policies, flexible schedules, educational opportunities, and other benefits. In 2018, companies can no longer see these programs as “perks” or “throw-ins.” Having solid, articulated work/life balance policies is vital to winning the war for talent.
5. They’re uninspired in the workplace
While Supply Chain and Procurement have historically been seen as “dry” functions, this reputation is changing fast. With the rise of digitization and globalization, they’re becoming more fast-paced, with more strategic potential and impact on a business’ long-term structure and profitability. But some companies still treat their Supply Chain and Procurement employees as purely transactional workers whose jobs are only to fill out orders and put out day-to-day fires. If you’re not being strategic, or not offering opportunities for advancement into more strategic positions, your best Supply Chain employees will, quite frankly, get bored and leave.
6. They’re realizing how indemand they are
As we’ve written about a lot, the retirement of the baby boomer generation as well as greater expectations placed on Procurement and Supply Chain are creating a deficit of talent in the marketplace. With the economy approaching full employment in 2018, this is even truer than it was before. But many companies still aren’t realizing the huge demand for Supply Chain and Procurement talent in this marketplace. Too many companies still have assume their employees are “just happy to have a job,” but take it from us as a company that speaks with dozens of candidates in the field every day: they’re realizing their worth, and fielding opportunities to meet their full potential. If your company isn’t providing those opportunities, they’ll go somewhere that does.
Sometimes it’s a combination of the above factors that causes a top performer to want to leave, and sometimes it’s even other factors we haven’t mentioned. So what does your organization do to retain star performers? As a candidate, have you ever left a role for one of the above reasons, or another that we missed? Let us know in the comments!
Supply chain leaders should use these 5 social media tips to grow brand awareness and increase your company’s profile as an employer.
Like most busy executives, it’s hard to find time for your daily tasks and projects without adding social media into the mix. But having a presence on social media is no longer optional for leaders. It’s a necessity.
Though branding might not come easily for some supply chain management executives, it is key in today’s digital world for positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry, as well as gaining positive traction as an employer.
We’ve talked a lot about the supply chain talent gap. Here’s where a consistent, informative social media presence could help you and your company.
Millennials in the workforce are more likely to apply for jobs with companies that have a strong social media presence. They want to work for leaders that are openly posting about industry trends, collaborating with competitors, and working toward innovative products and services. What better way to highlight your role as an industry leader than through social media?
Getting started can be intimidating. There are lots of different social media channels. And even more options regarding content within those channels. Do you start a blog? Post on Twitter? Upload videos to YouTube? It’s not as easy as just writing a few blog posts and throwing them up on Facebook.
So how do you get started cultivating a social media presence? Here are 5 tips to help any supply chain leader.
Infographic: 5 social media tips for supply chain leaders
Don’t let the hype of social media deter you. A strong personal brand is a major asset to any executive or aspiring executive. It doesn’t have to be a chore. It can become a fun and fulfilling part of your work routine, and it pays off. We hope these tips are useful even if you’ve been active on social media in a professional capacity before!
While automation technology can streamline many processes and functions, customer-service automation can sometimes backfire and lose you business.
We’ve talked a lot recently about implementing automation technology into your sales and marketing operations. It can be a great tool for saving time and money while increasing your communication and customization with prospects and leads.
But a recent Harvard Business Review article by Ryan W. Buell, Professor at Harvard Business School, reminds us that the benefits of automation “aren’t universally rosy,” particularly when it comes to customer service. Here’s why customer-service automation isn’t always the best answer.
Your brand is at stake
People like technology when it works. But they can be unforgiving when it doesn’t. Customer service is the part of your business that is most likely to cause lasting damage to your reputation when automation fails.
Any point of contact between your company and your customers is part of customer service. Outbound emails, chatbots, automatic order confirmations, and interactive voice response (call trees) are all part of the customer experience. If any one of them disappoints, you’ve given customers a reason to think twice before doing business with you again.
Solving problems is more important than saving time
People want technology to make life easier and ordinary tasks faster. That’s why digital boarding passes, on-demand ride services like Uber and Lyft, and electronic payment systems like Venmo are “good” technology. With simple interfaces and a specific purpose, they make it easier to accomplish something that would take longer to do without them. People perceive companies that offer these services as innovative, helpful, and even indispensable.
If, on the other hand, “an action would be seen as annoying when performed by a person, chances are it will be annoying when performed by technology,” according to Buell.
Call trees are the most egregious example of bad automation, especially when callers are forced to listen to product pitches or survey requests before they can talk to someone who can solve their problem. “The best uses of technology are likely to make customers and employees feel more, rather than less, valuable to your organization,” says Buell.
No one wants to talk to a machine
Humans are emotional and social beings. Buell suggests “an instantaneous connection to a gracious and well-informed human should be a short stroll, click, or tap away.”
Machines are information deliverers, not problem solvers. They can’t deal with ambiguity or non-conforming situations. As they get smarter and more connected, they can fool you into believing they’re thinking when, really, they’re just processing inputs and responding based on rules. That’s not the same as hearing, caring and reacting with empathy. And that’s why great customer service should always include easy access to a human being.
When electronic service isn’t responsive, it can make your customers’ problems worse, not better. Tasks that require creativity or are unique to individual circumstances don’t lend themselves to automation.
Don’t let technology take center stage
Technology should be invisible to as great an extent as possible. When servers and cashiers are slaves to tablets and POS systems, they’re not making eye contact and talking to customers. When callers are asked to repeat the same account information while navigating from one department to another, they get justifiably irritated, which puts your call center agents on the defensive before they’ve even said a word. Automated services that are difficult to use or don’t lead to the right outcomes are more annoying than satisfying.
Experts at TechTarget offer the following advice to keep service technology in the background where it belongs:
Unify management of different customer service channels whenever possible to provide consistent service.
Integrate customer data so callers don’t have to repeat the same information over and over.
Integrate business processes across departments to create logical hand-offs and a path to solving customer problems.
Make it easy to reach a human at any time!
Make sure humans test and update automated services on a regular basis.
If you’re looking at customer-service automation as a way to improve productivity, don’t make the mistake of prioritizing cost savings over customer satisfaction. Never underestimate the value of human connections for both employees and customers.
Google implemented a supplier diversity program to drive economic growth for small businesses and help boost Google’s innovative culture.
In 2014, Google launched a supplier diversity program to ensure that its staff had the ability to search large and small vendors when purchasing products or services. The tool it developed has helped Google employees create relationships with small businesses, defined as U.S.-based companies with $15 million or less in annual revenue and 50 or fewer employees. Google felt these companies often have a specialized and innovative product or service but might never be discovered simply because of their size.
Getting started
The supplier diversity program was developed out of a company-wide “business inclusion” initiative, in which Google wanted to level the playing field for its current customers and decided to use the same principles for their suppliers. “We realized that if we want small and diverse businesses as customers, we should also want them as suppliers. We wanted to be open for business and have economic impact,” says Adrianna Samaniego, senior global program manager of Google’s Small Business Supplier Diversity program.
Chris Genteel, head of Business Inclusion at Google, attended the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) conference in 2012, and quickly understood the monumental impact Google could have on small businesses. The company had the opportunity to influence economic growth for suppliers that were under-represented online, while also gaining access to inventive products that Google users had yet to discover.
Supplier diversity at work.
Samaniego, Genteel, and Adam Gardner, a site program manager at Google, began devoting 20% of their week to developing a supplier diversity program. Genteel says their objective from the very beginning was “to build out a program that was meaningful and not just symbolic.”
The key objectives of the supplier diversity program are defined as:
Create a program and technology tool that is easy to use by suppliers and Googlers alike.
Communication is critical: Google commits to responding to suppliers within two weeks.
Provide benefits for participation: discount on sites, faster payment options for suppliers, and training programs.
Create an advisory board to add in guiding suppliers.
After laying out the foundational elements of the program, Genteel got to work on developing an internal technology tool for Google staff to search small and diverse suppliers with specialized and innovative products or services.
The result
In 2014, Google officially launched the Small Business Supplier Diversity program. The program focuses on two key components: supplier diversity and innovative skills development.
In collaboration with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Google continues to discover, rank, and utilize small suppliers, helping them to successfully compete with larger corporations and increase product and service awareness.
“We now want to invest more in education. We’re digging into our data to understand where we are compared to our metrics of success. And we’re drilling down by community into the community of diverse suppliers to uncover the areas where we can improve,” Samaniego says.
With Facebook’s latest Cambridge Analytica scandal, you may be reevaluating if it makes sense to dedicate time and resources to your company’s Page. Can users trust Facebook?
Facebook has been in the spotlight quite a bit lately. And we’re not sure the saying “all publicity is good publicity” is holding true for the ‘Book.
From a user perspective, Facebook has faced widespread criticism in recent months for its role in spreading sensationalist, often inaccurate news stories. And from a corporate standpoint, a number of changes to News Feed deprioritize content from business Pages, making organic reach less attainable.
Next, a scandal.
Then the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. The New York Times reported that UK-based data firm Cambridge Analytica had obtained personal information without user’s knowledge, or more importantly, their consent. Since the report was published, Zuckerberg has profusely apologized for Facebook’s involvement in the data breach scandal, even placing a full-page apology ad in three American newspapers.
The fallout.
More and more big-name companies are removing their Facebook Pages — including Sonos, SpaceX and Tesla — as a result of the data breach. The hashtag #deletefacebook has been trending as more and more users remove their personal Facebook pages.
And then there’s Facebook’s stock. It fell more than 13 percent in the five days of trading following the initial reports. And at the end of March, the stock fell more than 20% off its 52-week high.
What does this mean for your business?
Kettie Laky, director of social media at Fronetics, has been closely following all the latest developments, as well as monitoring our clients’ Facebook analytics data. In this video, she’ll let you know whether you can trust Facebook and what you need to do next.
