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Why reporting is crucial for your content marketing success 

Catherine Storey on 2nd August 2024

Last updated on 17th January 2025.

Are you fed up of not knowing exactly what’s going on with your marketing and struggling to work out what to do next to create content that converts? Then you might have a reporting problem… 

Measuring content marketing success is key to making sure you’re doing effective marketing. If you’re not doing this, then chances are you’re not going to see the content marketing success you’re looking for.  

When we start working with consultancies, the vast majority of them don’t have any formal marketing reporting in place, and they don’t even know where to start when it comes to diving into their analytics and objectively assessing what’s working and what isn’t. 

In this article, we’re going to explore some of the main benefits of reporting, including how reporting can help you overcome some common marketing challenges within your organisation; how to customise your reports for different audiences; and some of the tools available on the market right now to help you report on the right content marketing metrics. 

Key benefits of reporting for content marketing success 

Let’s start with some of the key benefits of reporting (in case you need persuading, although seeing as you clicked on this article, you’re probably already aware that this is important stuff). 

1. Identifying high-performing content  

Regular reporting helps you understand which types of content resonate best with your audience. By analysing performance metrics, you can identify trends and focus on implementing a content marketing strategy that delivers the best results.   

This helps you cater to your audience’s preferences and needs based on cold, hard facts rather than gut feeling, ensuring that you’re providing value with your content every single time.  

2. Tracking progress towards goals  

Reporting also allows you to track your progress towards achieving specific content marketing goals. By defining clear content marketing metrics and regularly monitoring them, you can see how close (or far) you are from reaching your targets.  

This information is crucial in making adjustments to your content strategy and optimising it for success. 

Obviously, this relies on you having already established marketing objectives and KPIs. If you don’t already have those set up, find out more about marketing strategies here. 

3. Identifying areas for improvement  

Through reporting, you can identify areas where your content marketing efforts may be falling short. For example, if certain types of content consistently underperform, it may indicate a need for improvement in those areas. 

Basically, we like to follow the simple principle of: If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, stop it. 

4. Gaining insights into your target audience  

Reports provide valuable insights into your target audience’s behaviour, preferences, and engagement patterns. You can then tailor your content marketing strategies to better meet their needs and improve overall effectiveness.  

It’s a great way to move away from making assumptions. It’s easy for all of us to fall into the trap of assuming we know exactly how our ideal clients behave… but the reality is that people are unpredictable, so we always need to check our assumptions against the data. 

5. Eliminating unnecessary tasks  

By tracking and analysing your activities, you can determine which tasks are contributing to your goals and which are not. This helps streamline your efforts, ensuring you focus on high-impact activities and avoid wasting time on less productive tasks.  

Like we said earlier, if it doesn’t work, don’t do it. For example, in 2024 we saw a big drop in performance on X (formerly Twitter), so we adapted our clients’ strategies and refocused on higher performing channels, such as LinkedIn and email marketing to ensure continued results. 

6. Testing and assessing content marketing efforts 

Reporting enables you to test various strategies and measure their impact. By comparing different approaches, you can refine your tactics, optimise your campaigns, and ultimately achieve better results.  

Ultimately, marketing is all one big test, and having a regular reporting structure gives you the freedom and confidence to run more tests that are more creative and daring, without the fear that you’re wasting time and money: You know that you’ll get valuable insights and be able to draw some kind of meaningful conclusion from any new marketing initiatives you’ve tried. 

Overcoming challenges in the marketing department  

If you work in the marketing department of a larger organisation, you may find that marketing initiatives to create content are sometimes deprioritised, making it harder to do your job effectively. Kind of depressing, we know, but that’s just business for you! 

Here’s how reporting can help you overcome this challenge:  

Gaining higher management support  

Creating a monthly content marketing report and sharing it with higher management allows them to see the tangible impact of your marketing efforts. This visibility can lead to increased prioritisation and investment in marketing.  

For instance, if management sees positive content marketing ROI, they are almost certainly more likely to allocate additional resources for training or new tools to help you take your content marketing to the next level. So you can continue to demonstrate how your content marketing strategy is directly contributing to the bottom line. 

Encouraging employee contributions  

Sharing a content marketing report with all employees can highlight the importance and impact of marketing across the organisation. Acknowledging contributions from other departments can foster a collaborative environment.  

For example, if Claire from accounting provided content for some new web pages, highlight this in the report and acknowledge her efforts. This not only makes content creation easier but also encourages others to contribute, broadening the range of topics and perspectives in your marketing content.  

There are no downsides to celebrating the great work of people across the business when you’re trying to embed a marketing-first culture and ensure consistent content contributions. 

Ensuring alignment with business objectives  

Regular reporting helps align marketing activities with overall business objectives. By clearly demonstrating the impact of your efforts on key performance indicators, you can show how content marketing is contributing to the company’s goals and success.  

This strengthens the case for continued investment in marketing initiatives and keeps your stakeholders happy, which is what we like to see. 

Customising your reports to different audiences  

When preparing your reports, it’s essential to consider the audience you are presenting to, exactly like you’d do with any other piece of content you’re creating.  

Here’s how you can tailor your reports to different groups for the best outcomes:  

Tailoring reports for the marketing team  

When preparing reports for the marketing team, focus on providing actionable insights that can guide their efforts and decision-making when it comes to implementing the content strategy.  

Include detailed performance metrics, such as engagement rates, conversion rates, and traffic sources, along with an analysis of what these numbers mean for ongoing and future content marketing campaigns. Highlight specific areas that need improvement and suggest possible strategies or adjustments they can implement.  

Additionally, offer insights into successful campaigns or content types to encourage replicating these efforts. Clear, concise, and actionable reporting ensures that the marketing team has the information they need to effectively execute strategies and drive results. 

For employees and colleagues  

Keep the information light and engaging. Highlight key successes and interesting insights without overwhelming them with too many stats. This approach keeps them informed and motivated without burdening them with excessive details.   

Use visuals such as charts or graphs to present data in an easy-to-digest format, and include quotes from satisfied customers or positive feedback on content marketing efforts. 

For senior management  

Your reports for senior management should focus on the big picture. While it’s important to include relevant content marketing metrics and performance data, also highlight the overall impact of content marketing on business goals and objectives.  

Present clear and concise summaries that demonstrate how content marketing is contributing to revenue growth, customer acquisition, brand awareness, and other key areas.  

This information will help them make informed decisions about resource allocation and future strategies. 

What platforms are available for reporting?  

The value of platforms and integration in content marketing reporting  

Using dedicated platforms and integration tools for content marketing reporting can save time, reduce errors, and provide deeper insights compared to manual reporting methods.  

These platforms automate data collection and analysis, ensuring that information is accurate and up-to-date. They allow marketers to centralise data from multiple channels, such as social media, email campaigns, and web analytics, into one cohesive dashboard.  

This integrated approach not only streamlines workflows but also provides a comprehensive view of performance, enabling content marketers to make more informed decisions for their content strategy.  

Manual reporting, on the other hand, is labour-intensive and prone to errors. Extracting data from various sources, organising it, and creating reports can be time-consuming and inefficient.  

Mistakes in calculations or data formatting can lead to misguided strategies, affecting overall performance.  

By leveraging reporting platforms and integrated tools, marketers can avoid these pitfalls, maintain consistency, and focus on refining strategies rather than managing data.  

Harnessing the power of technology makes content marketing reporting more efficient, actionable, and impactful. 

Make the most of scheduling platforms  

Social media scheduling tools like Loomly and Hootsuite don’t just help you organise your content calendar and get your posts out on time; they can also simplify the reporting process by collating data from your social posts in real-time. These platforms make it easy to extract relevant social media analytics information whenever you need to and compile it into a comprehensive report.  

You can also find lots of free templates online to help structure your reports effectively.  

Taking advantage of the reporting features within these tools can streamline your workflow and free up more of your time to focus on creating valuable content. 

Integrate analytics tools  

Analytics tools like Google Analytics or Kissmetrics can provide in-depth insights into website traffic and visitor behaviour. These tools allow you to track conversions, engagements, demographics, and more.  

With integration capabilities, you can automatically pull data from these tools into your reports, making it easier to monitor the impact of marketing efforts on website performance.  

For example, Google Analytics offers lots of different views of your data, depending on what content marketing metrics you’re most interested in. It’s worth spending some time to set up custom dashboards within Google Analytics so you have your most important performance data accessible at a glance, including blog post performance. 

This enables you to identify trends and patterns in user behaviour that can guide future strategies. 

Leverage advanced AI tools  

If you’re overwhelmed with tasks, consider using advanced AI-supported tools such as Semrush, Lately, Socialbakers, and Sprinklr.  

These tools provide automated reporting, generating detailed and accurate reports with minimal manual input. This not only saves time but also ensures precision in your data analysis.  

Find out more about how AI can fit into your marketing strategy. 

Utilising third-party reporting tools  

For content marketers working in consultancies or agencies, using third-party reporting tools can provide additional benefits.  

These platforms offer advanced reporting features and customisable dashboards that cater to the unique needs of consultancies and agencies.  

They also allow for collaboration between team members and clients, making it easier to gather feedback and make adjustments in real-time.  

Some popular options include Agency Analytics, ReportGarden, and DashThis. 

Benefits of using Agency Analytics for reporting on content marketing success 

Agency Analytics is one example of a great all-in-one reporting tool that can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. It offers a range of features tailored specifically for consultancies and agencies.  

The intuitive interface allows marketers to easily create customised reports with data from various sources such as social media, SEO, PPC, and more. Collaboration tools make it easy to share reports with clients and gather feedback, streamlining the communication process.  

Agency Analytics also offers white-label options, allowing you to brand reports with your company’s logo and colours. This not only adds a professional touch but also reinforces your agency’s branding. 

In conclusion  

Reporting is an essential part of any marketing strategy. It provides valuable insights for decision-making and helps track progress towards goals. By using dedicated reporting platforms and integration tools, marketers can streamline their workflows, maintain accuracy in data analysis, and provide clear and actionable information to various stakeholders.  

Additionally, leveraging advanced AI tools or third-party reporting platforms can offer additional benefits when it comes to measuring content performance. These tools automate the reporting process, saving time and improving precision, while also providing collaboration features for effective communication with clients.  

Overall, embracing these technologies can enhance content marketing reporting and drive successful outcomes for businesses. So, it is crucial for marketers to invest in these platforms and make full use of their capabilities to maximise the value of reporting in their content marketing strategies.  

The ever-evolving landscape of technology offers endless possibilities for improving and enhancing reporting processes, so staying updated on new tools and integrating them into your workflow is essential for ongoing success.  

With the right combination of platforms and integration techniques, content marketing reporting can become more efficient, accurate, and impactful than ever before. 

Why Personalised Social Media Content Wins

Catherine Storey on 27th February 2023

As you may already know, social media has become an essential part of many small business’ marketing strategy. With around 4.76 billion people around the world now using social media , it’s certainly not something that should be overlooked. However, the social media space is becoming more and more saturated with businesses marketing their product or service. Therefore, it’s not enough anymore to just create a social media account and post random content. So, how can you cut through the noise? To truly stand out and engage your audience, it’s essential to create personalised social media marketing content. In this post, we’re exploring the importance of personalised content and how to create it effectively. 

Understanding Personalised Social Media Marketing Content

Personalised social media marketing content is tailored to a specific audience or individual, taking into account their preferences, interests, and behaviours. For example, if you know most of you target audience own a dog, you can then create content which appeals to dog owners! By creating personalised content, you can build a stronger relationship with your audience, increase engagement and build brand awareness. 

The Benefits of Personalised Content 

Personalised social media marketing content has numerous benefits. Firstly, it helps you to stand out from the crowd as it helps to differentiate your content. Secondly, it can increase engagement and reach, as your target audience are more likely to engage with content that is relevant to their interests. Thirdly, it can help build customer loyalty and brand awareness. Finally, it can help with your sales as personalised content can help promote specific products or services to individuals who are more likely to purchase them. 

How to Create Personalised Social Media Content 

When it comes to personalised marketing content, understanding your target audience is key. This is where marketing research comes in. You can conduct market research and analyse your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviours. This doesn’t have to be a complex process; it could be as simple as using social media analytics tools or through online polls. These are both great ways to get the information you need to begin personalising your content. Once you have a good understanding of your audience, you can create content that speaks to them.  

Best Practices for Personalised Social Media Content 

When creating personalised social media marketing content, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. Firstly, make sure your content is relevant to your audience’s interests and preferences. Secondly, use a conversational tone to engage with your audience and build a relationship. Try not to make your captions too corporate, after all it’s called ‘social’ media! Thirdly, one of the most important points to remember is to track your results. Be sure to give your content the time to work. Try not to change things immediately if a post didn’t perform as well as you’d hoped. You can then start to build up a picture of what’s working and what’s not and adjust your content strategy accordingly. 

Overall, when used correctly, personalised social media marketing content is a great way to stand out from your competitors. If you’re not already personalising your content, we’d recommend using these tips to get started right away! 

About us

We’re Freshbat – a strategic communications agency providing integrated marketing services to business leaders who embrace change and value marketing in a proactive and trustworthy environment.

Our goal is to give you more headspace, help you to make stuff happen and build better relationships by taking a fresh approach to marketing. We know you’re the kind of person who wants to be considered an inspiring and empowering leader for your business.

In order to be that way, you need to be in control of your marketing. The problem is you feel your marketing isn’t good enough, which in turn makes you feel confused and frustrated that you don’t have the resources, creativity or expertise to solve the issue.

We believe it’s just plain wrong that business leaders are tasked with keeping up with the rapidly changing marketing landscape on their own. That’s why we provide integrated marketing solutions through our worry-free marketing process.

Here’s how it works: we have an initial call to find out the things holding you back, we then create a bespoke strategy to reach your ideal clients and finally we implement your marketing plan for you so you can worry less and achieve more. We create tailored and integrated marketing solutions that bring order, strategy and results while having fun in the process (yes, it’s possible!).

Our core services include:  Content marketing strategy  Social media management  Email marketing  Blogging and web content

Contact us to see how we can help you take a fresh approach to marketing. Email hello@freshbat.com to book your discovery call 

Content Marketing 101: Why is my content not performing well?

Catherine Storey on 26th May 2022

Grasping content marketing can be quite hard, especially when you are not sure how to improve your content performance. Content creation can be a powerful way to further your business and marketing objectives while engaging with your audience.

However, it can be really frustrating when your content isn’t performing as well as you had hoped. A lot of the time, people wonder “What went wrong?“, “Why is my content not working?”, “How can I engage with more people?“.

There are obviously several factors influencing the answers and that’s why it is always good to ask an expert.

As marketers for several businesses, we have often come across the same missteps. Common mistakes in content creation and content marketing can be summarised in 5 Ps: “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance”.

 

But what does it mean to plan “properly”?

  1. Do research!

A marketing audit is always a good idea to start planning. What are your competitors publishing on social media, on their website, and in their newsletters? Social media can give you an idea of the most engaging posts and their relative messages and you can often get really good insights for free based on what’s working and what isn’t for your competitors too. Also, you can great ideas for future content by just looking at a calendar and seeing if any topics link with your services/products or your audience. 

  1. Know your audience

As part of your marketing plan, you should also know your target audience (i.e. your clients or customers). Think about what communication channels work best to engage with them, what type of content would they find more interesting, what call to action (CTA) would work best in your messages, and what time should you send it. Poor performance is often associated with unclear messaging, unenticing CTAs, and irrelevant content.

  1. Think about more than one communication channel

Social media is not the only way to share content! Emails, SEO-friendly blog articles on your website, and even direct mail. There are so many ways you can try reaching your target audience. Though with limited resources, it is better to focus your efforts only on the best-performing communication channels.

  1. Plan in advance

Do not leave your content planning and scheduling to the last minute. This usually makes it harder to create great content, as it is created in a hurry or under a lot of stress. While it is good to leave some space for flexibility and last-minute news, preparing your content weeks in advance gives you more time to proofread it and optimise it for each communication platform. Users are usually not fans of typos as it makes any content look unprofessional.

  1. Check the right metrics

Website analytics, trackable links, social media conversion rates, email readership, email bouncing rates, and many more. Metrics can offer amazing insights into what is working and what isn’t, why, and what to change. And if you need a marketing eye, we’re always here to help.

 

Finally, for your content marketing campaigns to succeed, do not forget what your audience loves to engage with. Remember, retaining a client is easier and cheaper than finding a new one.

If you enjoyed this post and want more juicy marketing tips, here are some more resources for you:

Or if you’re ready to take a fresh approach to finding and retaining clients in your business, book a discovery call to find out more.

How much should a small business spend on marketing?

Catherine Storey on 17th January 2021

In this blog post, I’m going to look at the million-dollar question – how much should a small business spend on marketing?

As you might expect, there are lots of different answers to this question and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.

The good news is that there are some key questions you can answer right now to work out how what marketing budget is right for your small business.

Average marketing cost for small business in the UK

Let’s start by understanding a bit about how much small businesses in the UK spend on marketing activities. According to YouGov, the average marketing cost for small businesses in 2019 was 9.3% of total revenue.

How to set a marketing budget for your small business?

If you’ve never had a dedicated marketing budget before, allocating around 10-20% of your annual revenue to marketing spend is a sensible starting point. You can keep the budget closer to 10% if you’re happy with steady growth or aim closer to 20% if you have ambitious growth plans.

Another way to look at how much you should be spending on your marketing is to review what you’ve already spent. Do you already have a budget allocated for marketing activities? If so, how much is that and what percentage of your annual revenue is it? You can then decide if you need to allocate more or less budget to marketing depending on your business goals.

Marketing budget allocation best practices

If you already have a marketing budget or have been spending money on marketing activities, you should look at spend by channel and work out the return on investment from each.

For digital channels, you can look at different metrics such as click-through rates, followers, likes, engagement and website visitors. ROI for traditional channels is more difficult to measure but consider asking your customers how they found out about you to give you an indication of how effective these marketing activities are.

Make sure you diversify your marketing budget across a number of areas so you’re not completely reliant on one or two activities. This will help you implement both long-term and short-term marketing strategies to ensure you always have a good sales pipeline and aren’t scrambling for sales.

If you spot something that isn’t working, stop spending precious marketing budget on it. I see a lot of small businesses continuing to do something because they think they should or because it’s what they’ve always done. To stay competitive, you’ll need to make sure you’re maximising your marketing spend to get in front of your ideal customers rather than wasting money on ineffective activities.

When it comes to allocating your marketing budget, don’t be afraid to experiment. Consider allocating 10% of your marketing budget to something new that you’ve never tried before. Identify how you’re going to measure whether this activity is successful and then stick with it for at least 6-12 months. Don’t expect instant results from new marketing activity but give it chance and after a year you’ll have a good idea of how effective it is for your business.

Marketing spend categories and marketing budget breakdown

A lot of different things can fall under the catch-all of marketing activity, but these are the main ones to consider for your small business:

  • Website
  • Advertising
  • Design
  • Market research
  • Agencies/freelancers e.g. for social media management
  • PR and outreach
  • Brand development
  • Asset production e.g. videos, photography
  • Print e.g. business cards, flyers
  • Sponsorships
  • Marketing consultancy
  • Promo e.g. gifts for customers, giveaways
  • Events e.g. trade shows, exhibitions
  • Travel expenses
  • Marketing training
  • Marketing tools e.g. CRM system, automation tools, analytics

Not all businesses need all of these categories. As always, it depends on who your ideal customer is and which marketing channels are best to reach them.

How much to spend on advertising for a small business?

Advertising tends to be one of the biggest marketing costs and needs to be managed carefully. The sky’s the limit when it comes to how much you can spend on advertising so it’s important to make sure the advertising channels you use have good ROI.

Traditional advertising tends to be very expensive and hard to track, whereas digital advertising can be much more cost-effective. It also gives you the ability to target specific demographics, criteria or keywords to help you get in front of your audience at a lower cost than traditional advertising.

I’d recommend setting aside anywhere from 50-75% of your total marketing budget for advertising and spending the majority of this on digital advertising rather than traditional.

Digital marketing budget allocation

In addition to budgeting for advertising, it’s vital to think about the money you’re going to allocate to your digital marketing. This includes things like website design and maintenance, creation of digital assets such as templates for social media and infographics or managing digital content such as social media channels and blogs. It’s worth investing in your digital assets consistently as your small business relies on these to represent your brand online to both prospective and existing customers.

If you need help with your marketing budget or marketing strategy, arrange a free 30-minute discovery call with me today.