What's your lead nurturing health score?

When it comes to content marketing in the Life Sciences, MedTech, and Biotech sectors, the stakes are high. The products and services you’re promoting can be heavily regulated, and may even have a direct impact on human lives which means that your content must be technically accurate and able to withstand the intense scrutiny of scientists. 

Marketers are expected to demonstrate a consistent return on investment (ROI) from their activities, but achieving and communicating content’s ROI can be tricky. This is because it involves overcoming challenges related to delayed impact, complex customer journeys, internal data silos, and subjective engagement metrics.  Navigating these obstacles requires careful planning, stakeholder management, robust analytics, and the ability to articulate the long-term benefits of content in a language that resonates with leadership. Below we list some recommendations and actionable tips on how to initiate and excel at the internal conversations about the value of marketing.

B2B ROI challenge: connect the dots

Do you recognize this scenario? 

…

Your marketing team delivers a content strategy focusing on educating healthcare professionals about a new device by investing in a series of webinars, infographics, and case studies to illustrate its benefits. They are then invited to present their quarterly results to senior management demonstrating their strategy’s impact in terms that leadership expects – ROI.

You know your content performed well as you received positive feedback from webinar attendees, and your stellar infographics were widely shared on social media. But how do you convert this performance into hard numbers to answer the question that the CEO will certainly ruminate on – how much revenue did this content generate? And, did it lead to new sales or partnerships? If ‘yes’ then how many? Without a firm grip of the necessary metrics, it’s going to be a challenge to prove your strategy is worth its weight in gold and harder to secure marketing budget for the following year. So, at the very least, to prepare for this kind of conversation, you would want to make sure that you can:

1. Track content-driven leads: Use your CRM system to track leads generated from your content efforts. At Qincade we work with clients to help them select the right attribution model to assist with this, but whatever approach you take, it will ultimately help you draw a direct line from the consumption of your marketing content to sales inquiries.
2. Quantify prospects’ engagement: Spend time looking at the engagement metrics for each piece of content, including downloads, shares, and time spent on pages. Aside from web visits, scheduled calls or appointments, requests for demos, attendance of events/webinars and subscriptions are all great content touchpoints to track. This data will allow you to identify high-performing content and correlate it with sales outcomes.
3. Understand your customer’s journey: Gaining a clear understanding of the average number of touchpoints a customer has from the time they first engage with your company, to the time they make their first purchase is key. How long does it take on average for them to move from prospect to customer? Having this data to hand lays a valuable foundation for the continuous improvement of your content strategy.
4. Make ROI tangible: When it’s time to present to leadership, highlight not only the engagement metrics but also the revenue generated from content-driven leads. For this, you would need to ensure your CRM integrates with your automation tools (e.g. Pardot, Marketo, Mailchimp etc.) and analytics platforms (e.g. Google Analytics), your UTM tracking is set up, and you use closed-loop reporting. Use few but clear visuals or dashboards and compelling stories to prove how your content influenced key business outcomes. Your leadership team will be mesmerized. 

Talking content ROI with Leadership: strategies for success

The key to gaining leadership buy-in lies in demonstrating ROI in a way that resonates with the decision-makers. These are proven approaches we’ve used to help communicate the value of our content strategies. There are three ‘c’s that are critical to your success: content cadence, consistency, and channel selection.

1. Align content strategy with business strategy:  Ensure that your content strategy aligns with the company’s broader goals. When leadership asks how your content is driving sales, you don’t want to be scratching your head. Keep content focused on the areas where the business wants revenue growth, customer acquisition, or market expansion.
2. Visualize: When presenting data to leadership, less is more. Use infographics and charts to make your point. Did you know the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text? Exactly. So, remember to make it visual.
3. Success stories: Dig out and include real-life examples of how content has positively impacted your business. Testimonials from customers or case studies demonstrating content-driven results are powerful tools for getting leadership’s attention.
4. Highlight long-term benefits: Emphasize that content marketing is a long-term investment. Yes, immediate ROI is great, but it is consistent content over time that builds brand loyalty, increases customer retention, and establishes your brand’s influence and voice in the industry.

While ROI is a big deal, you don’t need us to remind you that it’s not the only metric that matters. There’s a whole buffet of numbers that you should be keeping an eye on. Do you want to measure customer engagement? Absolutely. Brand awareness? You bet. Customer satisfaction? If you’re not checking that, you might find yourself with a bunch of grumpy customers who’d rather have their teeth pulled than deal with you.

Here’s the thing: If you focus solely on ROI, you might hit your short-term targets, but you’ll miss all the warning signs of a marketing strategy that will never deliver in the long term. It’s like eating only dessert and ignoring the veggies—you’ll crash sooner or later. Those other metrics give you a broader view of your marketing health, pointing out what’s working and what’s not, allowing you to pivot and alter your performance.

So, do keep an eye on your ROI, but don’t forget the other numbers that keep your marketing ship afloat. Otherwise, you might find yourself in the middle of a storm with no lifeboat in sight.

To sum up

Delivering consistent ROI and gaining leadership buy-in for your content strategy requires a plan, stamina and a healthy dose of creativity. Here are some key takeaways for marketing managers working in Life Sciences, MedTech, and Biotech companies:

• Invest in analytics: Implement tools to track leads and measure content engagement. This data is critical for demonstrating ROI and identifying successful content.
• Present data effectively: Keep it visual, and make sure your data aligns with the company’s objectives.
• Emphasize long-term value: Content marketing is a long-term play. Highlight the ongoing benefits of a well-executed content strategy and its role in establishing your company as an industry leader. Want to know how to answer when someone asks the question: “How is content marketing different from just marketing?” Read on

Follow these recommendations, and you’ll have the defence for your content marketing strategy in good shape, with the leadership team singing your praises. Good luck, and may your ROI be as big and worthy of admiration as a 9-tier wedding cake at a royal reception.