Dimensions of Performance Measurement in Digital Content Marketing

Abstract

Companies strive to facilitate a customer-centric approach in their marketing efforts in a tight, competitive environment. As a result, digital content marketing (DCM) has become an essential marketing attribute in organizations with its inbound logic of attracting customers. However, marketers face significant challenges in providing convincing results of the DCM marketing performance measurement (MPM), a topic studied only little by academics. Therefore, this research aims to produce valuable information about DCM performance goals, internal DCM performance factors, DCM performance measurement practices, and their mutual relationship. The study’s data was collected via qualitative interviews targeting marketing managers. The data obtained was analyzed using thematic analysis with an abductive approach.

The results of the study offer three key findings. First, compared to previous research, sales performance goals emerged as the most significant in the context of Finnish SMEs ahead of customer relationship and brand performance goals. Practitioners recognized the mismatch between goal allocation and longed for a more balanced allocation between the performance goals through collaborative hybrid goals. Second, DCM appears to be more critical in the eyes of marketers than the top management, who are unwilling to allocate sufficient resources to improve the crucial time spent on DCM operations. As a result, several in-house teams depend on external capabilities in DCM analytics, but the development of AI is believed to democratize DCM's performance measurement in the upcoming years. Third, the metrics companies use to analyze DCM performance are largely unsuitable due to the selection of easy metrics and the conscious avoidance of better-suited qualitative metrics, which are more difficult to interpret. As a result of this study, managers should aim to balance their DCM performance goals with a hybrid approach, reassess proper resource allocation, develop DCM analytics expertise, and, finally, choose the right metrics.