Your content marketing strategy might be bringing traffic to your website, but is it bringing you quality leads?

In this article, we’re going to share insider secrets about using gated content to generate leads for your business. And not just any leads, but qualified leads.

We’ll answer all your most important gated content questions:

• What is gated content, and how is it different from ungated content?
• What are the benefits of gated content?
• How do I use gated content to generate quality leads?

Consider this your guide to gated content lead-gen!

What is gated content vs. ungated content?

Gated content is information that is only made available to users who register for the information. The registration could mean creating a free account, creating a paid account with could be a subscription fee, or simply providing an email address.

This is the opposite of ungated content, which is available to the general public via your website. With ungated content, users don’t need to do anything more than visit your website to access the information. Interestingly, an estimated 80% of B2B content marketing assets are gated.

Gated content examples

Our Free Content Marketing Data Study is a prime example of gated content. This is a valuable study showing how we grew organic traffic by more than 350% by focusing on six key areas. And it’s free to anyone who provides their email address. Once you submit your email address, the study is automatically emailed directly to you. You receive information that can transform your business, and we get to add an email address to our mailing list. This is often called a “lead magnet” because it attracts new potential leads into our marketing funnel.

Another example of gated content is PropStream’s 7-day free trial. By creating an account, customers can get the full property data experience without any commitment.

A final example of gated content is a Wall Street Journal online subscription. For a reasonable monthly fee, you can gain access to the premium articles published by the Wall Street Journal. This is an example of a specific type of gate called a “paywall.” Any visitor to the WSJ website can see teaser snippets of any article, but the full article is hidden behind a pay wall, where only members of paid subscriptions can access them.

What’s the benefit of gated content for lead generation?

Why should you consider gated content for lead generation? If you’re looking to establish recognition and built trust, why wouldn’t you make all your content accessible to everyone?

Here’s how gated content can give you an advantage over ungated content in lead generation:

• Gated content grows your email marketing list. As you gain email addresses, your opportunity for nurturing a wider audience grows. Through your email marketing campaigns, you’ll be able to regularly provide value and share the benefits of your product or service.
• You can segment your audience with gated content. Gating your content helps you determine where a lead is in their customer journey. If they access high-level educational materials, for example, you know they’re in the top-of-the-funnel phase. And if they sign up for a free trial, you know they’re in the bottom-of-the-funnel phase. With this information, you can create marketing campaigns that speak to each targeted audience where they are.
• Gated content can create brand loyalty. Gated content that is refreshed weekly or monthly, can bring customers back to your site month after month until you become their go-to.
• You can potentially charge for gated content. Gated content doesn’t have to be free. Even if subscriptions are not your primary revenue model, you can earn a supplemental revenue stream with gated content.

How to use gated content for lead generation

You can generate leads with gated content in four easy steps.

Step 1: Determine your gated content model

Will you offer a one-time lead magnet? Or will you use a subscription model? Will it be free or paid? Gated content best practices indicate that you should only choose a subscription model if you have the resources to continue providing high-quality content month after month. Making your gated content free of charge typically attracts more leads than paid content.

Step 2: Create something of value

What can you offer to your audience? Consider the customer journey; is there something you can offer customers that will prepare them for the transformation they’ll enjoy once they start using your product or service?

Here are some gated content ideas:

• Product demos.
• Free trials of your product.
• Price quotes.
• White papers.
• Digital courses.
• Exclusive community access.
• Templates.
• Checklists.
• Digital guides/eBooks.
• Premium articles or images.
• A resource library.

Step 3: Publish your gated content

The logistics of publishing your gated content depends on your content model.

In most cases, you’ll want to use a gated content platform that automated the process for you. Your platform should include:

• Gated content forms to collect customer contact information. These can be formatted as pop-ups, static forms in the side-bar widget area of your website, and/or status forms in line with the text in your blog posts/website copy.
• A gated content landing page. This page will include some sales copy to entice customers to register, as well as a form for their information. Having a landing page allows you to easily share a link directly to this single-purpose page where your audience can focus on your offer.
• Automated delivery of your gated content. The platform should be able to immediately take your new lead to the gated content or email them access to your content. You might want to consider a double opt-in, in which customers must confirm their registration via email. This does provide an additional step for customers, but it also helps to qualify your leads by eliminating bot registrants.

Step 4: Promote your gated content

To generate leads from your gated content, you need to get eyeballs on your offer. So, how can you promote your gated content? Here are a few ideas for your gated content marketing:

• Link to your landing page from relevant blog posts, both new and old.
• Send an email blast.
• Share the link to your landing page on your social media accounts.
• Create social media reels, stories, and live streams based on your offer.
• Create “pins” to publish on Pinterest.
• Consider social media ads that link to your landing page.
• Consider using Google ads.

Does gated content hurt organic rankings?

Many business owners and managers ask how gated content impacts organic search engine ratings.

While gated content won’t hurt your current search engine optimization (SEO), it probably won’t help either. Gated content typically isn’t crawled by search engines, so search engines can’t index the information and list your gated content on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Your content strategy should include both gated and ungated content. If you have a page that ranks well for a given keyword, a related lead magnet would serve your audience well and generate additional leads. This type of lead magnet is often called a “content upgrade” because the gated content takes the related ungated content to the next level.

If you’re not ranking for the relevant keywords, you may be better off creating ungated content that will drive users to your site before creating gated content around those keywords.

Is it more effective to promote blogs or gated content?

At this point, you might be wondering if your time and energy are best spent promoting your ungated blog posts or your gated content. In most cases, the answer is that you should promote both. But depending on your goals, you may want to invest more effort in one over the other.

Here are a few questions to help you decide when to focus on gated content and when to focus on ungated content:

• What is your goal? If you want to build brand awareness, stick with ungated content. But if you’re looking to generate leads, focus on gated content.
• What are your competitors doing? If your competitors offer this information ungated, you should keep it ungated as well. Why would your customers register to get the information from you if it’s easily accessible elsewhere?
• Is the information extra valuable? All of your content should provide value. But your gated content needs to be valuable enough to warrant taking the time to register.

What gated content will you create?

Now that you’ve seen the value of using gated content to generate leads for your business, it’s time to incorporate it into your content strategy. Determine which gated content ideas will be most appealing to your audience and beneficial to your business and start creating it.

The post How Do You Create Gated Content that Generates Leads? appeared first on ClearVoice.

That’s why you’ll find valuable information below on how to use commas, colons, question marks, and more to help level up your business communications.

How to use punctuation properly

Punctuation makes reading easier and more enjoyable. You just need to make sure you’re using punctuation marks correctly so your readers can clearly understand your message as intended.

Consider this your punctuation cheat sheet!

Punctuation to end a sentence

Your sentence isn’t complete without a punctuation mark. You get to choose from three main options:

Period (.)

A period ends a sentence that provides information or states a fact or opinion.

Example: I want to be a better writer.

Question mark (?)

As the name implies, the question mark ends a sentence that asks a question.

Example: Is the Wi-Fi down?

Exclamation point (!)

Exclamation points end sentences with strong emotion.

Example: I can’t believe I caught that pass!

Punctuation to join or separate ideas in a sentence

Commas, colons, and semicolons are all used to join or separate ideas in a sentence.

Comma (,)

Commas are one of the most versatile and useful bits of punctuation.

There are tons of extended rules for comma use, but here are the basic uses:

• To address someone directly. Example: It was nice working with you, Sam.
• To use with coordinating conjunctions to join two complete sentences into one compound sentence. Example: Carlos is prompt, and he always completes work ahead of the deadline.
• To list multiple items. Example: Stephanie handled the scope, development, production, and delivery of the final product.
• To separate an introductory clause at the beginning of a sentence. Example: While I was on vacation, Sarah filled in.

Colon (:)

The primary use of a colon in American punctuation is to introduce a list.

Example: The project has four phases: planning, development, testing, and delivery.

Semicolon (;)

A semicolon joins two complete sentences into one sentence. This is similar to using a coordinating conjunction to join two complete sentences into one, but it allows you to drop the conjunction completely.

Example (a semicolon twist on our earlier comma example): Carlos is prompt; he always completes work ahead of the deadline.

Punctuation to elaborate or clarify

When you need to elaborate on a thought or clarify your meaning, you need punctuation to encase your little sojourn in your explanation. You can choose parentheses or brackets.

Parentheses ( )

Parentheses are used when your thought requires a bit of expansion to be better understood.

Example: My sister (who grew up in Los Angeles) has no idea how to deal with the Illinois winters.

Interesting side note: You can also use a set of commas in place of each parenthesis. My sister, who grew up in Los Angeles, has no idea how to deal with the Illinois winters.

Brackets [ ]

Brackets are often used to clarify who a pronoun is referring to when the reader can’t be entirely certain.

Example: She [Mrs. Peck] teaches third grade at Lincoln.

Punctuation lines

Hyphens and dashes look alike but serve different purposes.

Hyphen (-)

The hyphen is used to make compound words out of multiple single words.

Example: I love writing multiple articles back-to-back.

Dash (—)

Dashes can be separated into two categories: the en dash and the em dash. The en dash indicates ranges.

Example: Construction lasted from 2001-2005.

The em dash is twice the length of the en dash and is stylistically used in place of other punctuation for emphasis.

Example: There’s only one thing I love more than writing — traveling!

And the rest…

Apostrophes, quotation marks, and ellipsis don’t fit neatly into our other categories, but they deserve a mention.

Apostrophe (’)

Apostrophes have multiple uses:

• To show possession. Example: Jessica’s family is from Michigan.
• To show that a letter has been omitted. This is most common in contractions. Example: I can’t make it to the event.
• To pluralize lower-case letters. Example: How many s’s are in Mississippi?

Quotation marks (“ ”)

Quotation marks are for more than just quotes. There are several reasons to employ quotation marks, but here are the most common:

• To mark the exact words someone said. Novelists use quotation marks for dialogue, and journalists use quotation marks when they quote experts or historical figures. Example: According to Mark Twain, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
• To indicate that the writer is using a term ironically. Example: Yeah, I’m sure she’s “too sick” to come to work.
• To denote works of art (like book titles). Example: Have you read “Atomic Habits” by James Clear?

You should also know that you can use single quotation marks if you need to use a quote within a quote. Example: Jacob asked, “Why did you say ‘I’ll see you then’ if you weren’t planning to attend?”

Ellipsis (…)

Ellipsis is yet another punctuation mark with multiple uses. It can be used:

• To show that words have been omitted. Example: Four score and seven years ago… begins one of the most famous speeches of all time.
• To build suspense. Example: And the winner is… drumroll, please… Jake Flemming!
• To indicate trailing off. Example: Well, I guess I just thought that… I don’t know…

So what have we learned? Punctuation is helpful in conveying your message to your audience. But only if we’re all using it the same way. Stick to this punctuation cheat sheet to make sure your message will be received as intended.

Get perfectly written (and punctuated) content every time by talking to a content specialist at ClearVoice today.

The post Punctuation Cheat Sheet: When to Use Commas, Colons, Question Marks, and More appeared first on ClearVoice.

Or, for many of us, the last time we discussed parts of speech was in our third-grade English class. We watched season two of “Schoolhouse Rock.” Then, we practiced circling the nouns, underlining the verbs in sample sentences, and moved on with our lives, forgetting all about our wonderful time with the parts of speech.

Pop quiz! Can you name the eight primary parts of speech? Actually, you don’t have to, because we did it for you!

Here’s a quick refresher.

8 Parts of Speech Cheat Sheet

Let’s start with the answer key:

1. Noun
2. Pronoun
3. Verb
4. Adjective
5. Adverb
6. Preposition
7. Conjunction
8. Interjection

Did you get them all?

Here’s a bigger question: Do you know how to use each of these eight parts of speech? Consider this your parts-of-speech cheat sheet!

1. Noun

Nouns are classically known as people, places, and things.

Nouns can be the subject of the sentence (the person, place, or thing performing an action) or the object (the person, place, or thing on the receiving end of the action).

Example: Michelle writes for ClearVoice.

In this sentence, both “Michelle” and “ClearVoice” are nouns. Michelle is the subject because she is the noun performing the writing. And ClearVoice is the object because ClearVoice is the recipient of the writing.

2. Pronoun

Pronouns are like shorthand for nouns; they take the place of a noun. Pronouns are useful because no one wants the noun spelled out every time. Imagine reading:

Michelle writes for ClearVoice. Michelle holds an MBA in Business Management and Strategy, so Michelle is well-qualified to cover business topics.

Painful, right? But if you substitute the pronoun she in place of Michelle, it reads more smoothly.

Example:  Michelle writes for ClearVoice. She holds an MBA in Business Management and Strategy, so she is well-qualified to cover business topics.

Ah, that’s better. Thanks, pronouns.

3. Verb

Verbs are commonly known as the actions of the sentence.

Example: I ran yesterday.

In this sentence, ran is the action word, so it is the verb. But verbs can also be states of being that link a subject to another noun or an adjective.

Example: She is a runner.

“Is” is the verb in this sentence because it equates “she” to “runner”.

4. Adjective

Adjectives describe nouns.

Example: The colorful candies sparkled behind the counter.

In this sentence, “colorful” describes candies, so colorful is the adjective.

5. Adverb

Just like adjectives describe nouns, adverbs describe verbs. And they commonly end in -ly.

Example: You can walk quickly, slowly, or happily.

Example: You can write seriously, casually, or educationally.

All these -ly words describe verbs.

6. Preposition

A preposition gives you context about a noun by telling you how a noun relates to other words in the sentence. That sounds vague, but an example will help.

Example: Steve works from his laptop.

Steve is the subject; works is the verb. And the word “from” gives you more context about how Steve works. How does he work? He works from his laptop. From is the preposition.

Think of prepositions as relational builders. Common prepositions include words like:

• On
• Beside
• With
• Near
• Across
• Below
• Etc.

Prepositions kick off prepositional phrases, which are the complete phrases used to describe the relationship of a given noun to something else in the sentence. In our example, from is the preposition, and the prepositional phrase is from his laptop.

7. Conjunction

Conjunctions join other parts of speech to give you more fluid writing.

When you think of conjunctions, you probably immediately go to the coordinating conjunctions, known by the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

Example: Jason and I got dinner but not dessert.

This example has two coordinating conjunctions:

1. And joins Jason and I
2. But compares dinner to dessert.

In addition to coordinating conjunctions, there are subordinating conjunctions. Subordinating conjunctions link phrases in a sentence to explain the why, when, and where.

Example: We got dinner because work ran late. 

Because explains why we got dinner, so because is the subordinating conjunction.

Other subordinating conjunctions include since, therefore, before, and after.

8. Interjection

Wow! We’re already at the end of our parts of speech list. Interjections are words that express sudden feelings, like “wow.”

The term interjection is based on Latin words inter (meaning between) and jacĕre (meaning to throw). So an interjection is a word you throw in between the rest of the text because you feel a sudden need to exclaim.

Example: Yay! We learned so much about the parts of speech today. 

Elevate Your Writing Career Today

Although it may feel slightly tedious to go through a basic primer on these parts of speech, they’re important! The more airtight your grammar is in your writing, the more professional it will come off. And that will lead to more work and, more importantly, more money!

Speaking of more money, we have another way you can expand your career right now. Join our Talent Network and we’ll match you with brands that fit your expertise and skill set to help you skyrocket your career in no time.

The post The 8 Parts of Speech Everyone Needs to Know appeared first on ClearVoice.

FANBOYS is a mnemonic device to help you remember the seven coordinating conjunctions:

1. For
2. And
3. Nor
4. But
5. Or
6. Yet
7. So

What Are Coordinating Conjunctions?

Coordinating conjunctions are used to join multiple grammatical elements of equal importance. These elements could be nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or even whole phrases and independent clauses. We all use coordinating conjunctions every day. But are you using them correctly?

Let’s look at:

• How to use FANBOYS as coordinating conjunctions — including lots of examples
• How coordinating conjunctions are different from subordinating conjunctions
• Whether it’s proper to start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction
• And why “however” isn’t included in FANBOYS

Here’s everything you need to know about FANBOYS.

How To Use FANBOYS As Coordinating Conjunctions

You can use FANBOYS to join multiple…

• nouns (persons, places, or things)
• verbs (actions or states of being)
• adjectives and adverbs (descriptions)
• whole phrases
• independent clauses (complete sentences)

Let’s look at a few examples.

Example of using FANBOYS with nouns

Micheal and Nina are working together on that assignment.

The nouns (Micheal and Nina) are joined by one of our FANBOYS: and.

Example of using FANBOYS with verbs

Should we walk, drive, or Uber?

The verbs (walk, drive, and Uber) are joined by or.

Example of using FANBOYS with adjectives

That article was neither well-written nor informative.

The adjectives (well-written and informative) are joined by nor.

Example of using FANBOYS with phrases

The project was difficult yet worth the effort.

The phrases (The project was difficult and worth the effort) are joined by yet.

Example of using FANBOYS with independent clauses

I thought I knew a lot about the topic, but I learned a lot more.

The independent clauses (I thought I knew a lot about the topic and I learned a lot more) are joined by but. This could be written as two separate sentences: I thought I knew a lot about the topic. I learned a lot more.

However, using a conjunction combines the sentence into a single thought and improves the flow of the writing. When using FANBOYS to join two independent clauses, you need a comma before the conjunction.

The Difference Between Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions

FANBOYS are most often used as coordinating junctions to join grammatical elements, as we’ve seen so far. But they can also be used as subordinating conjunctions. In subordinating conjunctions, the grammatical elements are not equal; one is dependent on the other.

Example of subordinating conjunctions

I started blogging so I could get more customers. 

In this example, “I could get more customers” is dependent on the clause “I started blogging.” This makes “so” a subordinating conjunction in this example.

Can I Start sentences With Coordinating Conjunctions?

Your elementary school teacher probably told you it’s not proper to start a sentence with a conjunction. But I do it all the time as a professional writer. See what I did there?

Not starting a sentence with a conjunction is an outdated grammar rule. We’re taught not to start sentences with conjunctions because teachers are afraid we’ll use them to write in sentence fragments instead of complete sentences.

However, once you understand that a sentence is only complete when it has a subject and a noun, there’s no reason to avoid starting a sentence with one of our FANBOYS.

What About Words Like “However”?

Why isn’t “however” included in FANBOYS? “However” is an example of a conjunctive adverb. Conjunctive adverbs are transition words; they transition from one thought to another. Other examples of conjunctive adverbs include furthermore, meanwhile, moreover, namely, nevertheless, and subsequently.

FANBOYS and conjunctive adverbs are all about adding flow to your writing and making it easier for your reader to follow your train of thought. And if you really want to level up your skills, check out our blog writing tips.

How to Ensure You Produce High-Quality Content

Grammar may seem like a low-priority aspect of your content, but how you do one thing is how you do everything. Polished, grammatically correct content not only enhances readability but also reflects a brand that values precision and attention to detail—qualities that build trust and credibility with your audience.

Ensuring consistently high-quality content that aligns with your brand voice and appeals to your target audience can be challenging. That’s where we come in. When you partner with ClearVoice, we bring our highest standard of excellence to help you produce top-tier content that hits the mark.

Talk to a content specialist to see how you can get started.

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What is a response rate? A response rate is the number of valid replies received from a given campaign, typically expressed as a percentage. Response rates measure engagement on campaigns like surveys, emails, and quizzes.

Have you ever sent out a survey or a mass email requesting a reply? If so, you’ve likely worked with response rates. A response rate is the percentage of valid replies you receive from your request.

Notice that we said “valid replies” instead of total replies. Responses that contain bogus information are typically eliminated from the count of replies because response rates focus on the number of valid responses a campaign generates.

The use of a response rate

They’re generally used to measure how engaging a given email campaign is. The more people who reply, the higher the rate. Higher responses tend to lead to better outcomes.

It could also be used to determine the validity of the information received from the campaign. If a response rate on a survey about shopping preferences was less than five percent, the organizer might decide that the campaign did not generate a large enough sample size to validate the responses. The many people who didn’t respond might not feel the same way as the few people who did respond.

How to calculate a response rate

Divide the number of valid responses by the total number of responses requested.

For example, if you send an email survey to 5,000 people, and 2,852 responded with valid answers, your response rate would be 57% (2,852 divided by 5,000 equals .57).

Response rate vs. completion rate

Response rates and completion rates are often discussed in the same conversation, particularly when it comes to surveys. But there is a key difference. While response rates focus on the percentage of total valid responses, completion rates count only the responses that are complete.

When a marketer emails a survey to a group, some surveys may be submitted without a reply to every question. These surveys would count toward the response rate but not toward the completion rate.

Examples of a response rate

• Survey submissions: In a survey, this is the number of surveys submitted compared to the number of surveys distributed. Organizations often send surveys to recent customers requesting customer feedback.
• Email replies: In emails, this is the number of replies compared to the number of emails sent. If you’re trying to organize an event, you might email the key participants to coordinate schedules and decide on a date for the event. Those who reply count toward your rate.
• Quizzes taken: In quizzes, this is the number of quizzes submitted compared to the number of quizzes shared. A social media influencer in the personal finance industry might quiz their followers on finance topics with a chance to win a prize. A higher response rate means more followers are engaged.
• Assessments: In assessments, this is the number of assessments submitted compared to the number of assessments offered. Schools might offer an assessment to determine the level of knowledge for an incoming class. The higher the rate, the more confident instructors can be that the curriculum will suit the students.

What is a good response rate?

The percentage that constitutes a good rate depends on the medium used. For example, more people will respond to an in-person survey than a telephone survey.

A general rule of thumb is 33 percent. If you can get a submission from one-third of the people you reach, you’re likely doing pretty well.

Ways to improve your response rate

• Offer an incentive. A gift card to all respondents or a chance to be entered in a drawing to win a large prize is effective.
• Keep it short. People are busy.
• Make it easy to access and complete. Use an easy-to-navigate, glitch-free platform.
• Explain the significance of the campaign. People are more likely to respond if they understand why you’re asking them to.

Improve your response rate with better content from ClearVoice. Talk to a content specialist today about your needs.

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What is cost per impression? Cost per impression (CPI) is the expense an organization incurs every time its ad is displayed to a potential customer. Measuring cost per impression helps marketers decide if a given ad campaign is reaching a large enough audience to justify the expense.

When you’re investing money in an ad campaign to market your business, you need to know whether or not your investment will pay off. This is why advertisers measure the cost of displaying an ad to a potential buyer, the cost of getting a potential buyer to reach out as a new lead, and the cost of getting a lead to buy.

The cost of displaying an ad to a potential buyer is the cost per impression.

Because impressions can easily number in the tens or hundreds of thousands, CPI is often converted to CPM (cost per mille, which is Latin for thousand), meaning cost per thousand impressions.

The Uses of Cost Per Impression

1. Traditional marketing

Cost per impression is most useful in traditional marketing methods like television, radio, magazines, and billboards.

In the days before the internet and Big Data, companies could not track leads by “click” to know exactly how much each lead would cost. Instead, they had to track “impressions.”

Consider television advertising, for example. Advertisers can estimate how many people were watching when a commercial for a laundry detergent was displayed. But they can’t calculate how many of those viewers purchased that detergent because of that ad.

Today, organizations can calculate the cost per lead based on click-through rates. Cost per lead is a more valuable metric than cost per impression because it tracks how many viewers take action on a given ad campaign.

However, many organizations still use traditional marketing methods that can’t track the cost per lead. So they still use the cost per impression.

2. Comparing online ad campaigns to traditional marketing campaigns

Many companies also calculate the cost per impression of their online ads in order to make direct comparisons between their online and offline ad campaigns.

3. Boosting brand awareness

When the goal of your ad is to make more people aware of your brand, as opposed to specifically generating new leads, it makes sense to use cost per impression instead of focusing on cost per lead.

How To Calculate Your CPI

You can calculate your CPI for any ad campaign by dividing the total advertising cost by the number of times it was displayed to potential customers.

For example, if you paid $50 on a social media ad campaign that results in 4,000 views, your CPI is $0.0125 ($50 divided by 4,000).

To calculate, you would multiply the CPI by 1,000. So in this example, the CPM would be $12.50 ($0.0125 times 1,000).

Ways To Improve Your Cost Per Impression Performance

• Market to a broad audience. The more views you get, the less each impression costs.
• Use compelling images and ad copy to convert more of your impressions to leads.
• Make your message appeal to a wide audience. Narrowing your message to a specific niche may be good for your cost per lead, but it will only increase your cost per impression.
• Use SEO in your content marketing to earn free impressions in search engine results.

Examples of Cost Per Impression:

• Boosting Facebook posts: Meta allows businesses to boost posts so they can be seen by a larger audience. Facebook calculates the cost per impression and cost per click for you.
• LinkedIn CPM bidding: LinkedIn allows organizations to bid on ads by CPM as part of its “Maximum Delivery” bidding strategy. LinkedIn will calculate the CPI and cost per click for you.
• Billboard advertising: City planners will have data regarding the number of drivers who will pass a specific billboard location. This is the number of impressions the billboard will get in a given month. Divide the cost of the monthly billboard rent by the impressions to get your cost per impression.

Maximize Your Marketing Impact

Marketing can get expensive, really fast. Especially now, with stakeholders asking their marketing departments to do more with less. One of the best ways you can get the most out of your budget is through cost-effective content outsourcing and fractional talent.

In fact, our marketing team implemented this exact strategy this year to save nearly 38 percent of our marketing operating expenses. Not too bad, right?

When you work with a proven partner like ClearVoice, you get experienced, top-tier talent to produce the high-quality content you need, when you need it. We’re happy to oversee your content creation so you can focus on higher-level tasks.

Talk to a ClearVoice content specialist to discover how we can drive your success without breaking the bank.

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What is benchmarking? Benchmarking is the practice of regularly comparing various performance metrics in order to continually improve performance. A benchmark is the standard by which performance is measured.  

The term benchmarking is used broadly in business, often to describe the process of measuring one thing against another to establish a standard acceptable value. But the true definition is a bit more technical.

With true benchmarking, you aren’t just comparing metrics to establish a standard; you’re comparing the processes behind the measurements to continually improve performance. Organizations use benchmarking to establish best practices and operate at peak performance.

What metrics should you measure with benchmarking?

You could be measuring any number of metrics. Your business model determines which metrics are most important for your organization.

Common benchmarked metrics include:

• Customer retention
• New business
• Client engagement
• Social media reach
• Productivity
• Customer satisfaction
• Market share
• Time
• Sales
• Expenses
• Revenue
• Profit

Benchmarking typically follows this process:

• Step 1: Plan the project. Identify the metric you wish to benchmark and note your organization’s current standing in regard to that metric. Define the processes your organization uses to achieve the current level of performance, and identify competitors that are performing better than your organization.
• Step 2: Research your competitor’s processes. Find out what processes your competitors are using that allow them to perform better than your organization. You might search for information online, interview the competitors’ workers, or interview competitors’ clients.
• Step 3: Compare your processes to your competitors’. Look for gaps between your organization’s performance and your competitors’ performances, and identify differences in processes that could cause those gaps.
• Step 4: Revise your processes. Implement the best practices of your competitors that are most likely to close the performance gap.
• Step 5: Measure the results and adjust as needed. Track your organization’s progress over time and adjust processes until you’re able to match or exceed the best practice benchmarks.

Benchmarking can be categorized in any number of ways, but you’ll generally benchmark internally or externally.

Internal benchmarking measures current performance between different groups (or individuals) within your organization. External benchmarking measures your organization’s performance against the performance of your industry’s top competitors.

Common uses for benchmarking:

• Grow your online presence by comparing social media marketing tactics against your top competitors.
• Increase new business by comparing your marketing strategies against your competitors.
• Increase market share by comparing marketing conversion methods against your top competitors.
• Reduce output times at one facility by benchmarking production processes against another facility.
• Increase customer satisfaction by comparing customer service workflows and response times with your competitors.
• Decrease expenses by comparing resources with competitors.

There is no end to the number of metrics you can benchmark and the improvements you can make in your business through the process of benchmarking.

Examples of benchmarking:

You can use benchmarking to increase your Google ranking for competitive keywords. Compare your content marketing strategy with a competitor who is ranking higher than your organization for keywords on Google.

See what your competitor is doing differently and attempt to replicate their success by adopting their processes.

Airlines use benchmarking to improve their response times to customer inquiries. When Unmetric benchmarked airline response times, it found that airlines like JetBlue were able to respond in under 15 minutes around 90 percent of the time, while Delta only responded that quickly around 20 percent of the time.

Delta can use this benchmark data to look more closely at JetBlue’s response process and emulate the systems that allows JetBlue to respond so quickly.

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