Professional tennis is the perfect analogy for content marketing statistics and measurement – read on to find out how.
Why does Andy Murray lose to Novak Djokovic? What’s this got to do with business, marketing or the price of tennis balls you may be thinking? – well bear with me. It’s all about the importance of measurement and content marketing statistics.
In Murray’s case, a remarkable statistic was uncovered by the blogger Ian Dorward who calculated that across 13 games against each other – in rallies lasting 3 shots or less, Djokovic & Murray were even on the points – winning 50% each, but for rallies lasting 4-7 shots, Djokovic’s percentage rose to 55%.
If you consider that Murray’s first serve percentage in the French Open Final against Djokovic last month and that he’d run 6 more miles on court by finals day, you begin to get a good picture of why he loses to Djokovic the majority of the time.
The uncovering of key statistics like this – and the ability to improve on those aspects of their game can be the difference to a pro tennis player of a top100 or top 10 ranking and the millions of pounds that go with it.
Content Marketing Statistics
In content marketing, knowing which statistics to look at are equally critical to the financial success of a campaign. Here are 5 statistics that every content marketer should be looking at:
- Overall KPI – what is the ultimate measure of success for your business. We call this the BHAG (big hairy audacious goal). An example could be ‘To supply 10 qualified new leads per month’
- Buyer personas – who are your customers – age, sex, demographic, habits, likes, dislikes. If you think they really like a forehand up the line – dolly it up to them (but not if you’re playing Djokovic)
- Keywords – what are your customers searching for on Google? Content marketers often fail to supply content that answers a question
- Email data capture – if you’ve earned the interest of a potential customer via a download or an email sign-up, it would be good to know what sparked their interest and send them more information on that area.
- Did they buy? Understanding how your customer found you and what they spent is the ultimate proof of the exercise.
Download our free eBook here to learn how to develop a content marketing strategy.
Andy Murray is a great student of the tennis game and will no doubt be aware of why he is losing to Djokovic and what he has to do to win. Whether he can deliver it is another question. Happily content marketers have all the tools they need to succeed, they simply need to apply them.
