There's No Magic In Measurement

There’s No Magic In

Measurement Ronell Smith | @ronellsmith | [email protected]

Add … Bitly

A Process of Discovery

“Michelin Man”

Cardio(?)

Ate Like A Bird

Smaller, Not Healthier

A Journey That Changed My Worldview

Discovery #1

Prioritized lean body mass (LBM), not overall weight

Discovery #2

Focused on “simple but not easy,” especially with regard to exercise

selection

Discovery #3

Different from everyone else—focused on moving better, not simply

looking—in their approach

Discovery #4

Focused on the process—better looking, better movement, better

health was a by-product of the work, not the focus of it.

Discovery #5

Main variables determining success or failure: diet, exercise, recovery,

stress management and sleep

Putting It Together

Goal (e.g., more LBM, less fat) baked into the Process (e.g., exercise, etc.)

Eureka Moment!

Inputs > Outcomes

Same Soup, Different Bowl

More and better content



Grow traffic & links



More traffic & links

Be No. 1 on the Google

Get Real

Lack Resources

3/28/17 23

Grow traffic & links Website trapped in

1997

Not an Established

Brand

Same Soup, New Bowl


More traffic & links

Be No. 1 on the Google

Outcomes

Same Soup, New Bowl

Mastered Boring stuff

Didn’t chase shiny things

Did things differently

Inputs

In Content Marketing, the thinking goes…

We Know the Right Inputs

+ More Content

More Links = CItations

We Know The Work That Matters vs. Doesn’t

Don’t Do Do Every Day

Create Blog Posts Manual Link Outreach

Posting to Google Plus New Facebook Posts

Asking for Google Reviews Monitor Review Sites

A Focus on Outcome vs. Input Metrics Can Yield Success

Outcome

Outcome

Outcome

Focusing on Outcome Metrics vs. Inputs Will Bring Success

My Single Best SEO Tip for Improved Web Traffic, by Cyrsu Shepard

How Do We Remedy This?

Goals For Content Marketing 3

#1 — Awareness & Visibility

#2 — Reputation & Brand Trust

#3 — Loyalty

Via Contently

We’re good at #1 and #2; Few truly understand #3

Instead of Measuring What Matters, We Measure

Everything

Blindly Chase Shiny Things

These elements might be well correlated with sites that tend to rank well, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best investments your

site can make?

Via Moz’s 2015 Google Ranking Factors

Via Rand Fishkin’s Art of Product Marketing Presentation

We Don’t Foster a Culture of Iteration

We Don’t Understand The ‘Why’

Our Comfort Zone Is Measuring Output

Via Moz’s 1Metric Content Tracking System

Our biggest challenge to finding consistent content marketing success.

Identifying the Work that Creates Improvement

Identifying the Best Targets for the Correct Metrics

Theory for Content Marketing Success

Tolerance

Adherence

Repetition

Putting Theory to the Test

Each Effort Can be Broken Down:

Work Metrics Goal(s)

Eat less, train more

Scale weight < 230 lbs

Lose weight



Eat less, train more &

test

Scale weight < 230 lbs

Lose weight

Output

Waist: 37

Hips: 42.5

Jan. — Mar.

Output

Input

The Work That Moved The Needle

Input

The Work That Moved The Needle

Train: 2 -3X/week

Jan. — Mar. Apr. — Oct.

Train: 4X/week + 30-45m walk/day

Tracked meals/snacks

Tracked meals/snacks

Waist: 37

Hips: 42.5

Jan. — Mar. Apr. — Oct.

Waist: 35 1/8

Hips: 41 1/8 Output

The Results Don’t Tell The Story

“There is growth in every process, but not in ANY outcome.” — Eric Cressey, Cressey Sports Performance

“An outcome is result. It’s what happens when the work is done.

— Eric Cressey, Cressey Sports Performance

Outcome-oriented

I want to be lean and ripped in 30 days

Process-oriented I’m going to eat more lean protein and

vegetables, in addition to getting 60 minutes of exercise per day.

What Ultimately Matters

Exercising in am

Keep a schedule

Plan all meals

No snacks before first meal

200g/protein daily

200 oz./water daily

NUDGES

This is what’s missing from our current approach to content marketing.

We ignore the inputs that create those outcomes.

We measure the outcomes.

NUDGES, which make consistent success more reliable.

We aren’t even aware of our

What are the (unspoken) everyday actions that consistently improve your content marketing efforts?

When we commit to _______, we achieve success by _______.

When we commit to blogging more frequently, we achieve success by

attaining more links.

When we commit to on page SEO, we achieve success by increased web visits.

Our Job: Find the BEST TARGETS

Regular Content Creation?

Establish metrics for content cadence, and

you’ll know the benefits of 1X/week

vs. 1X/month.

Customer Service?

Great customer service helps move

the needle with reviews.

Infrequent, Higher-Effort Content?

Many times, one piece of extraordinary content every quarter or even every year

can be enough.

See Rand’s List of 10X Content

Social Shares? Or Social Followers?

What actions earn social engagement? Are they worthwhile?

Via Followerwonk

Interacting in Online Communities?

A few replies a week, or each month, may have a

compounding impact

Mainstream or Niche Media Coverage

Press outreach, or crafting a press-worthy story/event each month could be a worthwhile

endeavor

More Keyword-Focused Pages? A handful of

keyword-focused pages could have a

big, long impact term.

Site Crawl to Find and Fix Issues

Fixing, redirecting, and/or finding the linking sources to these may drive

additional rankings & traffic.

Comment Marketing?

Guest Blogging

Via Eric Enge, Search Engine Land

Concerted-Effort Outreach


Work Put up two Facebook

posts/week

Fix any broken links

Pitch a guest contribution 1X/month

Participate in three discussion threads/week


Work Metrics Put up two Facebook

posts/week




FB shares, new page likes, traffic

Traffic increase

Acceptance of post, traffic driven

Traffic from discussion site


Work Metrics Goal(s) Put up two Facebook

posts/week




FB shares, new page likes, traffic

Traffic increase

Acceptance of post, traffic driven

Traffic from discussion site

Grow reach on & through Facebook

Direct+search bump

Visibility to new audience, traffic

Brand awareness, branded search




Traffic Increase

Direct+search bump

Curtail daily meetings

Nudge

The Wrong Way to do Content Marketing:

Grow Traffic to the Blog

Our site’s traffic blows,

folks.

Assign Targets

I expect to see traffic to the site up by 300% this

month.

Do Work Assumed To Help Us Reach Goals

Maybe we can find some links over there, y’all.

Measure Results

Measure Results

I EXPECT better!

A NEW WAY to Do MARKETING:

Determine Nudges, Work Items & Metrics to Monitor

We’re in this together.

Limit all meetings to only essential parties Post two blogs

per week

Increased social sharing, distribution, engagement, reach Brand mentions,

traffic and links

Discern What Work Moves Which Needles

We can do this. Right?

I’ve never been more proud of you.

Measure the work against work targets, not simply

metrics & goals

Double Down on Work that Improves the Metrics You Care About Most

Pfft … We got this.

Improve Time to Goal Attainment

This is my “we own the competition” face

Make it a Habit

Refine Revise

Repeat

Tool(s):

My favorite tool: Trello

Trello

Ronell Smith Ronell Smith

[email protected] | @ronellsmith

THANK YOU