Most content marketers focus on creating, but not on impact. They churn out blogs, whitepapers, and social media posts without truly understanding how their work drives business outcomes. According to Emily Anne Epstein, Director of Content at Sigma, this is the biggest mistake content teams make.
Great content marketing isn’t just about writing, it’s about owning the results. Marketers who think like business owners don’t just create; they analyze performance, track revenue impact, and continuously optimize for growth. In this episode of Global Marketing Leaders, Emily shares why content professionals must shift from creators to strategists, how to use data to prove ROI, and what it takes to build a content program that actually moves the needle. Here’s what we learned.
Own the Impact of Your Content
One of the biggest mindset shifts content marketers need to make is taking responsibility for their content’s performance. Too often, content is treated as a creative function rather than a revenue driver. Emily emphasizes that content teams must move beyond vanity metrics like page views and focus on real business outcomes. Instead of just tracking how many people read a blog post, marketers should ask: Did it drive meaningful action? Did it influence a deal? Did it nurture a lead further down the funnel?
“If you're creating content, you must own its impact. In journalism, success was measured by page views, content marketing is no different. You need to know how your work is performing.”
Owning performance metrics allows content marketers to prove their value internally and secure more resources. Emily explains that engagement metrics like time on page, bounce rate, and shares are helpful, but content’s real value lies in how it contributes to sales pipeline and revenue. By demonstrating direct business impact, content teams can shift from being seen as cost centers to vital growth drivers.
Data Isn’t Just Numbers, It’s a Listening Tool
Marketers often struggle to balance creativity with analytics, but Emily sees them as complementary. She believes data is not just a way to track performance—it’s a tool for listening to the audience. By analyzing user behavior, marketers can better understand what works, what doesn’t, and why.
“Data is a listening tool. With insights like scroll depth, return visits, and conversion rates, if we’re not using them to inform our content, we’re missing a huge opportunity.”
For instance, if a blog post has a high bounce rate, it might mean that the headline was misleading, the introduction didn’t hook the reader, or the topic wasn’t relevant. On the other hand, if a piece of content drives high engagement and conversions, it signals an opportunity to double down on similar topics, formats, or distribution strategies. However, Emily warns against blindly following numbers. Many marketers create content purely for traffic rather than value, leading to short-term gains but long-term stagnation. Data should be used to refine and guide strategy rather than dictate it. The most successful content marketers combine data with intuition, ensuring that content serves both the audience and business objectives.
Content Teams Should Operate Like Startups
Great content teams act like mini startups, they experiment, adapt, and focus on growth. Emily emphasizes that content professionals need to think strategically, not just creatively. Simply writing without considering distribution, engagement, or business goals isn’t content marketing, it’s just writing.
“If you’re just writing without thinking about distribution, engagement, or business goals, you’re not doing content marketing, you’re just writing.”
Instead of perfecting content over months, successful teams launch quickly, test different formats, and refine based on performance. Prioritizing distribution is just as important as creation. Many marketers spend too much time producing content but fail to ensure it reaches the right audience. Emily advises flipping this approach by leveraging paid promotion, repurposing content across multiple channels, and collaborating with industry leaders to maximize reach.
Aligning content with business goals is essential. Rather than measuring success by the volume of content produced, teams should focus on how content contributes to sales, customer retention, and brand perception. When content marketing is directly tied to business outcomes, it shifts from being a creative function to a strategic growth driver.
Final Thoughts: Content Marketing is More Than Writing
For content marketing to be truly effective, it needs to be treated as a business function, not just a creative one. Emily’s advice is clear: marketers must own the performance of their content, track meaningful metrics beyond views, and use data as a tool to guide strategy rather than dictate it. Thinking like a startup, testing, iterating, and prioritizing distribution, will help content teams drive measurable business impact.
For marketers who want to secure more resources, prove their impact, and scale their programs effectively, the solution is simple: stop thinking like a writer. Start thinking like a business leader.
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