This edited excerpt is from “B2B Content Marketing Strategy” by Devin Bramhall ©2025, and is reproduced and adapted with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.
Marketing can contribute to company growth in many different ways: Net new sales, customer retention, reduces risk from competitors, sometimes creates new revenue streams (like events) that impact more than one company goal, bringing a product to market successfully, feature adoption/upsells, to name a few.
The challenge marketers have is convincing multiple stakeholders that their work did, in fact, contribute to any of these areas. Even if you have goals and agreed-upon metrics to measure success, reporting on marketing ends up being fraught with all kinds of complications, from the political and interpersonal to depth of knowledge about marketing and what shows up as “impact” and “value” to the business.
The opportunity for marketers in this situation is that the people who need to be convinced don’t know what “the answer” to marketing attribution is either. They argue with each other about it behind closed doors and change their minds a lot, but they honestly can’t really prove anything better than you can. They just bought into some corollary model or made one up and have spent a ton of time campaigning internally and out in the world to make other people believe their way is correct, and eventually some of them do.
Predicting Future Impact
Most reporting focuses on what’s already happened – last month’s lead generation, last quarter’s revenue, or last year’s customer acquisition costs.
While historical data is crucial to making future decisions, it also keeps marketing leaders in a reactive position. By the time you identify a problem, it’s already affected your results. Leading indicators give you time to adjust course when needed, rather than explaining missed targets after the fact.
That’s why monitoring the signals along the way is also useful, if executed thoughtfully.
A few caveats:
- Monitor quietly. You don’t have to share what you observe with your executives 1) at all, or 2) until you’re ready. They’ll either get confused or too excited, and neither leads to a good place for you.
- Work with your data team. Whatever job title they’ve been given at your company, find the people who have access to the raw data and ask them questions. Be specific about what you want to know. You don’t have to know the exact data types, time periods, or segments. They just need a detailed question to get you what you need.
- Talk it through. Since data contains multiple realities depending on how you slice it, I’ve always found it helpful to run any conclusions or stories by my data team and, where possible, my boss (see first bullet!). Basically, I look for two different analytical perspectives:
- Someone whose job it is to ensure our data is accurate.
- Someone whose job it is to analyze data for reporting on the business.
Remember: Reporting isn’t a single use-case activity. Reflecting on the past to measure impact is just one way to leverage reporting. Use it to inspire new ideas, optimizations, and experiments, too.
Read more: How To Write SEO Reports That Get Attention From Your CMO
A Few Potentially Useful Signals You Can Monitor
Ultimately, it’s up to you to determine which signals provide valuable insights into the performance of your marketing initiatives. And regardless of your role, whether it’s producer, manager, or team lead, as your boss, I’d expect you to know how to determine what those are.
Also, the exact signals you monitor will continue to change as technology and the internet evolve. However, there are a few informative signals that have stood the test of time (thus far) for me.
Resonance
When it comes to resonance, unprompted action on even a semiregular basis is a huge signal that something you’re doing is working, so even if your data is statistically insignificant, I’d lean in and, at the very least, conduct further experiments.
One example of this is folks sharing and referencing a topic or idea you share publicly in their own content (and how their followers react to it) on a semi-consistent basis. This indicates you’re at least on the right track with content direction.
In my experience, search volume for a keyword or phrase is minimally helpful in determining resonance in the beginning. As in, just because no one is searching for a topic doesn’t mean it’s not a common problem. A more useful exercise in search monitoring to me is whether your campaign corresponds with an increase in search volume in that time period.
Activity
The same principle applies to other actions as well. Are folks commenting on posts asking for your opinion on specific problems they are experiencing? Are you receiving anecdotal feedback semi-consistently on specific marketing initiatives or topics you’re investing in?
Do folks engage with your content even when you’re inconsistent? One client I worked with saw 60-70% open rates even on major holidays or when the newsletter was sent off-schedule on a Saturday or Monday.
Are you seeing an increase in time-on-page or pages per session from certain topics or even specific pieces?
Copycats
While not a perfect signal, if your competitors start copying your content, it’s either a sign you could be onto something or an indication that their strategy isn’t working, they don’t have one, or they’re struggling. No matter the case, it’s a signal worth paying attention to and perhaps doing some recon to find out if there are any weaknesses you can exploit.
Ultimately, your goal is to explore these signals to establish whether there are correlations between these leading indicators and your ultimate business outcomes. This isn’t just theoretical – it requires analyzing your data to identify patterns that predict success for your business.
Turning Measurement Into Mastery
Effective reporting isn’t the end of your marketing journey – it’s the bridge to your next phase of growth. Measuring the impact of content marketing isn’t just about proving its value; it’s about creating the leverage you need to execute strategies that genuinely move your business forward.
Remember these essential principles as you develop your measurement approach:
- Numbers don’t tell stories – people do. Your data provides ingredients, but you create the meal. The most powerful reports transform complex metrics into clear narratives that inspire action and build confidence in your strategy.
- Measurement serves strategy, not the other way around. When you begin with clear objectives and understand what truly influences behavior, metrics become tools for insight rather than constraints on creativity.
- Reporting is campaigning. The most successful marketers recognize that performance reporting is ultimately a persuasion exercise – one that requires understanding audience motivations, building relationships, and consistently communicating value.
- Both measurable and unmeasurable impacts matter. While focusing on quantifiable metrics, never lose sight of the equally valuable but harder-to-measure effects of brand building, relationship development, and community growth.
By developing measurement systems that capture both immediate impacts and leading indicators, you transform reporting from a dreaded obligation into a strategic advantage.
Summary: Practice And Persistence
As you apply these principles to your own marketing, remember that mastery comes through practice and persistence. You’ll make mistakes, discover unexpected insights, and continuously refine your approach. That’s not just normal – it’s the path to excellence.
To read the full book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 25% discount code and free shipping to the US and UK. Use promo code “SEJ25” at koganpage.com here.
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