How to Set Expectations for Content Marketing

Hey there,

As a marketer, it’s your job to set expectations for content marketing results, timelines, and return on investment.

If you fail to set expectations properly, don’t be surprised if you find yourself without a job in six months.

Here’s what you should do:

1. Think like the C-suite

Executives don’t care about the number of blog posts you’ve published this quarter or how many positions your keywords have jumped in rankings this month.

They care about revenue and return on investment, so you need to think in terms of those two things and adjust the way you talk about results accordingly.

2. Create a forecast

Content marketers often shy away from forecasts because there are a lot of things that can impact their results but aren’t under their control (Google’s algorithm being one of the biggest ones).

But, you still need to create some sort of data-driven forecast you can share with stakeholders. As with any forecast, it’s never going to be 100% accurate.

Stakeholders understand this, but just having any kind of forecast will help manage expectations.

3. Report on results regularly

You also need to report on results fairly regularly. This should ideally be a weekly occurrence.

While you usually won’t see a lot of movement on a week-to-week basis, that’s precisely the point: you want to get stakeholders accustomed to slow, gradual growth instead of having them expect a major breakthrough after not hearing from you for an entire quarter.

Need a content strategy?

I help B2B SaaS companies drive growth through strategic, product-led content marketing.

My clients include companies like Semrush, Hunter.io, and Hubstaff.

I can create an effective content strategy for your brand that will help you generate new customers consistently.

Interested? Book an introductory call here. Or check out my website here.

Thanks,

Boris