The focus of content marketing is one that I’ve consistently discussed in more ways than one. But a critical point was made in today’s engagement report of the Content Marketing Institute which shares its top 10 content strategies for 2019.

And the second most critical point? The importance of the content marketing goals you set for yourself.

These goals, and how they connect to the content strategy and all the strategies that come in between, are crucial for content marketers (and other buyers at that). And yet they’re also hidden behind a lot of traditional research on marketing activities and buyers, which many marketers seem to find difficult to dive into.

They’re exciting and meaningful for the buyers, but in the underwhelming world of content marketing research, most executives and marketers tend to ignore them. But they are necessary – you need these goals, and they’re essential if you’re investing time in content marketing.

Here’s my take on the reasons why your buyer strategy is critical for all things you’re doing in terms of content marketing:

1. Creating Content: It’s one of the most important drivers of awareness in the world.

Here’s a great quote from the report, cited in their summary of the strategy piece: “most marketers aren’t even aware of what their content marketing plans look like – and fully 57% of marketers are afraid of the price they’ll be asked to spend.”

To eliminate that fear of the unknown, you must be clear about the objectives of your content marketing strategy. Otherwise, every single decision you make in that direction (even about where to deliver that content, how it’s going to be delivered, who it’s going to reach, and so on) could be questioned from a marketing buyer’s perspective.

2. Analyzing Your Results: They are important as an indicator of success and set to influence your next steps in the process.

And here’s the good news: They’re easier to measure than you’d think. Here’s why:

You can measure the click through, email signup, or personalized marketing lead conversion rates to your content marketing goals. This means you don’t need a focus group to tell you how well something you did has been working, or why it’s needed.

You can measure it in dollars. Online publishers, for example, love to measure average monthly page views in terms of average revenue per website view, then multiply that by 1,000 to figure out which strategy will work best.

3. Putting the Pieces Together: It allows you to track your overall KPIs, not just one particular goal.

And the most important one of all:

4. Giving Back: It’s a great way to be an agent of positive change and contribute to your causes or communities.

It’s also the number one reason why your buyer strategy is important. But that’s not the only reason:

“Even the most hard-nosed marketers would probably agree that the biggest factor in deciding what to do about the strategies they’re implementing is how it will impact someone else: your customers and potential customers. If there’s some meaningful thing in your offering that you think your customers will value, you should place it right at the center of your strategy, right up there with relevance, urgency, authenticity, relevance, competition, story, key words, influencers, and content.”

-Carrie Minato, Brian Halligan, Steve Rubel, Benjamin Ling, Oliver Robinson, Thomas Pint, et al