1. YEAR 1 YEAR 3
BLOG POST PODCAST VIDEO INTERVIEW ARTICLE ANNOUNCEMENT INFOGRAPHIC WHITEPAPER EBOOK
Why content marketing
can become your most
productive channel
in partnership with
created by
Content Marketing
ROI
The “soft” bene!ts of content marketing
are obvious: public trust, more engaged
prospects, happier clients. But what
about the hard bene!ts. What about ROI?
“Content Marketing ROI” is the !rst study to
address the fundamental questions: How much
does content marketing cost and is it a better
!nancial investment than other marketing
strategies? The answer is, “Yes.” The eBook
explains why. continue reading
Per dollar, content marketing produces
3 times more leads
YEAR 2
Tweet #contentroi

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The New Rules of Marketing
This Study
Content Marketing Analysis
Content Marketing Operation
· Content Plan
· Content Organization: Managing Editor, Organizational Listeners, Internal Contributors,
External Contributors, VP, Marketing, Revised Content Plan
Content Marketing Costs
Content Marketing Bene!ts
Comparison
· Content Marketing Summary: 24 Months
· Paid Search Summary: 24 Months
Benchmark: Paid Search Marketing
Conclusions
Content Marketing ROI Measures Up
Content Marketing is Not a Campaign
Content Marketing Must Be Managed as a Business Process

3. Want to get skip ahead to the ROI calculations?
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THE ICONOGRAPHY USED IN THIS EBOOK
BLOG POST PODCAST VIDEO INTERVIEW ARTICLE ANNOUNCEMENT INFOGRAPHIC WHITEPAPER EBOOK
MID-SIZED
BUSINESSES
LARGER-SIZED
BUSINESSES LEAD

4. INTRODUCTION
The New Marketing Rulebook
The rules of marketing have changed.
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ads have a click through rate of less than one-tenth of one percent.;OLKYVWVɈPZKL[VH
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So what can marketers do?
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5. This Study
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THYRL[PUN^OPJO^HZYLJLU[S` PKLU[PÄLK HZ[OLZPUNSLTVZ[WYVKJ[P]LTHYRL[PUN[HJ[PJ
Content publishers by industry
Content Publishers by revenue
Tech
Financial Manufacturing
Consumer Goods
Retail / eCommerce
GREATER THAN $1B
$100M - $1B
LESS THAN $100M
23
12
15
Services

6. CONTENT MARKETING ANALYSIS
Content Marketing Operation
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CONTENT PLAN
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blog post podcast
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interview article media
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5 per
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1
handheld
video
announcement
per
month
infographic whitepaper ebook
professional
video

7. CONTENT ORGANIZATION
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Managing Editor
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8. REVISED CONTENT PLAN
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“CURATION”
“CURATION”
“CURATION”
“CURATION”
CURATION
POST
M T W T F
MAJOR
PIECE

9. Content Marketing Costs
operation. They are summarized in the following two tables, one for mid-sized businesses and one
for larger organizations.
CONTENT PLAN
Content Marketing Costs: Mid-Sized
PERSONNEL
Managing Editor
CONTENT
Blog Post Costs
Premium Content Costs
TOOLS
Software Hosting
Total Expenses
monthly
$6,667
$1290
$2,500
$1,500
$11,957
Content Marketing Costs: Larger-Sized
PERSONNEL
Chief Content O!cer
Managing Editor
CONTENT
Blog Post Costs
Premium Content Costs
TOOLS
Software Hosting
Total Expenses
monthly
$16,667
$8,333
$1720
$3,500
$2,500
$32,720

10. mid-sized
businesses
Total expenses
for the content marketing operation
Fully loaded costs
$80,000/yr
larger-sized
businesses
Fully loaded costs
$100,000/yr
mid-sized larger-sized
$150/post
$2,500
/premium content
Fully loaded costs
$200,000/yr
$200/post
$3,500
/premium content
Monthly Recurring $11,957 $32,720

11. Content Marketing Bene!ts
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SITE VISITS PER MONTH
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100,000
75,000
50,000
25,000
1 2 3 4 Month 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
The chart above shows the traffic calculated for the two classes of operations in this study. Over time,
the greater resources invested in the larger operation yields stronger results.
$25,000
$20,000
$15,000
$10,000
$5,000
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
$500
larger-sized
mid-sized
larger-sized
mid-sized

12. 100,000
larger-sized
mid-sized
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COST PER LEAD
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larger-sized
mid-sized
The long-term yield of content marketing is illustrated in the chart
above, which shows the cumulative cost per lead over the 24
months, or how much has been spent divided by how many leads
have been generated over time.
25,000
1 2 3 4 Month 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
$25,000
$20,000
$15,000
$10,000
$5,000
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
$500
$375
$250
$125
In !rst 5 months
costs/lead drop
80%
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

14. COMPARISON
Content Marketing to Paid Search
CONTENT MARKETING SUMMARY
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PAID SEARCH SUMMARY
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16. Cost per lead: 24 months
mid-sized larger-sized $125
$109/
Content marketing costs
31% less than paid search
$100
$75
$50
expenses: $437,376
leads: 4,032
paid
search
$108/
expenses: $1,452,984
leads: 13,488
paid
search
Content marketing costs
41% less than paid search
expenses: $312,560
leads: 4,172
content
marketing
$75/
expenses: $869,060
leads: 13,569
content
marketing
$64/

17. BENCHMARK: PAID SEARCH MARKETING
What is the cost per click?
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ISLUKLKH]LYHNLVMRL`^VYKZHJYVZZZL]LYHSZLNTLU[ZIV[OOLHKHUK[HPS[LYTZHSSKLYP]LKMYVT
.VVNSL»Z;YHɉJ,Z[PTH[VY [VVS!
Cost per click across several segments derived from Google’s Tra!c Estimator tool
life insurance $16.59
diabetes medicine $4.74
trucking services $2.42
$4.22 average cost
per click
divorce laywer $10.88
passport services $3.58
tax advisors $2.69
chicago physical therapy $4.17
mexico vacation $2.14
dallas real estate $2.50
running shoes $1.86
baseball cards $0.82
dvd player $1.27
quilting supplies $1.22
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V]LYTVU[OZ`PLSKZH[V[HSL_WLUZLVM HUKan average cost per lead of
$109 / $108.

18. CONCLUSIONS
Content Marketing ROI
Measures Up
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Many Factors:
Content Expense
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Conversion Rates
Keyword Prices

19. Content Marketing is Not a Campaign
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The graph below compares the cumulative number of leads generated per $1000 spent from
the study’s content marketing operation (large organization) and its paid search campaign:
36
30
24
18
12
31 leads
CONTENT MARKETING
/$1,000
9 leads
/$1,000
PAID SEARCH
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
6
6^ULYZOPWILULÄ[Z
Once you’ve built your audience, your ROI goes up
since you no longer have to pay rent to the media

20. Content Marketing Must Be Managed as a
Business Process
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
About Kapost
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