Are Your OKRs OK?

mlns='> ContentTECH Summit - Register today! [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 4.30.21 Connect with CMI [15 Engaging Ways to End Your Next Blog Post]( Introductions get all the attention. Yet conclusions and endings matter even more. Readers who get to the end of the story are the ones most interested in the topic (and likely what your business offers). Here’s how to reach a satisfying conclusion. [Read more]( By Alexandra Cote [Content Creation] Some more of this week's best stuff: - [4 Mental Models to Help You Tackle Tough Content Marketing Questions]( by Chintan Zalani [General Success Tips] - [9 Ways to Increase Watch Time on Your YouTube Channel]( by Anjan Sarkar [Distribution and Promotion] - [How to Use Reddit to Find Subject Matter Experts]( by Teni Hallums [Content Creation] - [3 Ways to Know Your Audience: Hire Them, Talk to Them, or Tease Them]( by Content Marketing Institute Team [Trends and Research] Join Our Weekly Wrap News Crew Did you come across an exciting content idea, unique example, or puzzling trend this week? Help us share it with your fellow Content Marketing Institute readers by completing [this form](. If we include your submission in an upcoming Weekly Wrap, we’ll credit you as the source of the inspiration.  A Note From Robert Rose Are Your OKRs OK? How do you measure content marketing? Despite all the digital ink spilled on the topic, conversations about measurement rarely happen in marketing departments today. Let me explain. Tons of words get exchanged – but they seldom result in a shared understanding. Two discussions about measurement typically happen. The first covers the content team's goals. Many organizations now call these [OKRs]( (for objectives and key results), a term originated by former Intel CEO Andrew Grove and popularized by Google. I often see OKRs containing goals such as “increase awareness,” or “drive additional leads or sales inquiries,” or “build a thought leadership platform.” But these are only half of an OKR. In an OKR, the key result has to be without interpretation – meaning there’s no debate about whether it was achieved or not. The second discussion covers the metrics used to show content performance. Often, the sales and marketing organization tells the content team that the key results should be downloads, visits, conversions, email subscribers, leads generated, and so on. Yet the teams rarely discuss whether any of those numbers are meaningful – or how they're connected to the OKRs. On one hand, content marketers say, “This is what we plan to create, but we’re not sure what success looks like." On the other hand, business leaders say, “This is what success looks like, but we’re not sure what to create.” What’s missing in both of those discussions? A shared definition of success. The discussion that should happen isn’t deciding whether the team met vague goals or how to share the attribution of hard marketing conversion numbers. It should be about agreeing and sharing what success looks like. If the content marketing team's goal is to increase internal awareness and the perceived value of our content, then everyone (including business leaders) should agree on how they’ll know if the goal was met. I don’t think OKRs always have to be measured with a hard number (though many people do). However, they must be based on a shared understanding that’s unambiguous. At its core, that’s what all measurement is: a shared understanding of the value of something. How much value does 30 new sales inquiries, a substantial reduction in content creation cost, or 22% new audience brand awareness bring to the business? The answer is that it doesn’t matter – unless there’s a shared understanding of what those measurements represent. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you’re right when no one understands what you’re saying. It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute This article from Robert is available only in this newsletter for you, the newsletter subscriber. If you have friends that would see value in Robert's weekly updates, please have them [subscribe](.  Sponsored Content:  2021 Video in Business Benchmark Report As the use of video increases, it’s important to have benchmarks to guide best practices, and get the most ROI from your video efforts. That’s why we created the fourth annual Video in Business Benchmark Report, which analyzes business’ use of video to support sales, marketing, and communication efforts. [Download Now »](   More from CMI ContentTECH Summit - Register today! ContentTECH Summit 2021 is taking place June 8-10! You won't want to miss this digital experience with the best and brightest in the content, strategy and technology space. Learn how to manage, deliver and scale your content marketing. 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