Content marketing can feel productive.
You’re publishing, promoting, and checking off deliverables.
But if your content isn’t showing up in conversations that move deals forward, it’s not strategy—it’s overhead.
Here’s how to evaluate whether your content is truly influencing revenue—and how to make it sharper if it’s not.
1. Map Content to the Deal Cycle
Ask yourself:
- Does this asset support a sales conversation?
- Is it useful during discovery, evaluation, or closing?
- Can a rep send it mid-cycle to unblock progress?
Great content supports real decision-making. Not just awareness.
Build a framework like:
- Top of Funnel: POV pieces, problem education
- Middle of Funnel: Case studies, comparison guides
- Bottom of Funnel: ROI calculators, implementation checklists
2. Track Sales Usage, Not Just Pageviews
If content is built for revenue, sales should use it. Regularly.
Ask:
- Are reps sharing it in follow-ups or proposals?
- Is it part of outbound or ABM sequences?
- Are there Slack threads or Notion docs where it lives?
If sales isn’t using it, it’s not helping close deals.
3. Monitor Pipeline Influence
Content doesn’t need to convert to be valuable—it needs to influence.
Look for:
- Content that appears across multiple stages in CRM
- Accounts that engaged with content and progressed to late stage
- Closed-won deals where specific assets were referenced or revisited
Work with RevOps to tie content engagement to pipeline activity—not just lead gen.
4. Get Direct Feedback From Sales
Skip the survey. Go straight to 1:1 convos.
Ask:
- What’s missing in our content right now?
- What link do you wish you had last week during that stuck deal?
- Which asset do you actually send?
Sales will tell you which slides, snippets, or stories are helping—and which aren’t landing.
5. Measure Conversion Impact
Look at movement between key funnel stages.
Does content help advance:
- Lead → MQL
- MQL → SQL
- SQL → Opp
- Opp → Closed Won
If not, something’s off—either in the content or the context in which it’s used.
Final Thought
Not all content needs to generate traffic.
But every piece should help move a conversation forward.
Evaluate based on:
- Strategic placement in the journey
- Actual sales usage
- Measurable influence on pipeline velocity and win rates
That’s when content stops being noise—and starts being fuel.
Stay focused. Stay productive. Keep building.
