There was a time when it was tough to convince businesses that their content is extremely important. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case. Most businesses today understand that their content is a strategic asset, and a lot of work goes into creating good content.

But sometimes content, and the processes around it, can feel like a bit of a cargo cult: we make content because that’s what successful businesses do, and we want to be successful.

Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you set up your processes correctly, you can get insight into your return on content. And that can help you better understand where you should redouble your efforts and where you might consider changing your strategy.

What’s return on content?

Return on investment (ROI) is fairly easy to understand: you divide your profit by your cost of investment, multiply by 100, and you get a nice number you can use to justify your investment.

Return on content, however, isn’t as easy to quantify. Defining the inputs (your investment in creating the content) is hard, and the outputs aren’t always a clear monetary value. Maybe you’re writing direct sales copy that’s easily tied to a number, but maybe you’re creating content to improve brand awareness or promote thought leadership.

A more nuanced definition is required. When we talk about return on content at Kontent.ai, we mean the ability for content to achieve its desired outcome, monetary or not. Improving your return on content may mean more conversions from your convincing sales copy, or it may mean an improved share of voice for specific keywords you’re targeting.

It all starts with your goals

Since return on content has a flexible definition, it follows that there are several ways to improve it. One thing, however, is constant: if you want to improve your return on content, you need to set clear, measurable content goals. 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to the goals you should set for your content. They’ll look different for different companies. The critical thing to get right here is to set content goals that are aligned with your wider business objectives.

Measure what matters  

Once you’ve set your goals, you need to establish ways to measure progress toward them. A headless CMS, like Kontent.ai, can be a good option here. Dashboards track important metrics about your content (like content status, deadlines, and more). At the same time, the extensibility of headless architecture allows you to connect your CMS to other tools you use to measure your content (like web analytics providers, SEO tools, and so on). 

 

Establishing a place where you can see all critical data at your fingertips helps you to course correct when necessary and achieve a higher return on your content. 

Improve your content supply chain 

With goals and measurements in place, it’s time to take a look at your processes. How is content currently created? How many people work on a piece of content, and how many people are involved in reviews and approvals? Are there redundancies or any missing steps?

If you’re working with a platform like Kontent.ai, it’s easy to get the answers to questions like these. Build out the exact workflows you need for different types of content, assign the right roles to the right people, and give users the level of permission they need to accomplish their tasks.

By creating and using clear workflows for your different content types, it’s easier to get content to market faster. When processes are well understood, content production starts to move like a well-oiled machine. And while there are multiple ways to understand return on content, all benefit from increased content velocity.

Regularly reflect and iterate on successes

Set goals, measure them, and streamline processes. 

These three steps are key to improving return on content, no matter how that return might look for your business. Once this machine is set in motion, use your goals and progress toward them as guiding lights to be sure your content is delivering the results you want. 

If you’re ready to start improving your return on content, Kontent.ai is a great option. As a headless CMS, Kontent.ai enables businesses to create and measure their content across any channel, leading to incredible content returns. Start by scheduling a demo to see what’s possible for your business.