“We sent out our email campaign and got zero inquiries. Pretty frustrating.” Sound familiar?
Last month, one of our clients sent their first email campaign in months to nearly 1,000 past and potential customers. The response? Cricket sounds. No phone calls, no inquiries, no immediate sales.
At first glance, to the client, it looked like a failure. But when we dug deeper into the data, we discovered three surprising wins that completely shifted how this client—and hopefully you—think about content marketing success.
Win #1:
Your Dormant List Isn't Dead
Here’s what actually happened with that “failed” campaign:
- 290 emails sent to past customers with a 53.79% open rate
- 712 emails sent to potential customers with a 28.65% open rate
- 57 people clicked through to read more
Think about it: More than half of their past customers opened that email, and nearly 30% of cold prospects did too. For a list that hadn’t been touched in months, those numbers tell a powerful story.
THE REALITY
Your audience is still paying attention. They’re just not ready to buy today—and that’s perfectly normal.
Win #2:
Content Creates Compound Interest
While our client was focused on immediate inquiries, something else was happening behind the scenes. The blog post featured in their email campaign drove 27 website visits in its first two weeks after posting, with visitors spending over a minute reading.
That might not sound like much, but consider this: those 27 people now know about a service they didn’t know existed before. Some might have bookmarked the page. Others will remember it when they’re ready to make a decision six months from now.
THE REALITY
Content works like compound interest. The value builds over time, often invisibly, until it suddenly pays off in ways you can’t always track back to a single piece.
Win #3:
You're Learning Who's Actually Interested
Here’s the win most businesses miss entirely: your content is doing market research for you.
Those 57 click-throughs? They’re raising their hands and saying, “I’m interested in this topic.” The people who opened multiple emails but didn’t click? They’re warm but not ready. The hard bounces and unsubscribes? They’re doing you a favor by cleaning up your list.
THE REALITY
Every send teaches you something about your audience. The data helps you identify your warmest prospects so you can refine your approach.
The Content Truth Nobody Talks About
Content marketing isn’t a vending machine where you insert a blog post and get an immediate sale. It’s more like planting seeds in a garden—some sprout quickly, others take seasons to bloom, and a few need multiple plantings before they take root.
This is especially true if you’re selling high-ticket services or products with longer sales cycles. The higher your price point, the more touchpoints someone needs before they trust you enough to buy.
What Content Marketing Success Really Looks Like
Instead of measuring content success by immediate inquiries, look for these indicators:
- Engagement signals: Open rates, click-through rates, time spent engaging with your content, and website traffic spikes all indicate people are paying attention.
- List health: Bounces and unsubscribes help you build a more engaged, targeted list over time.
- Consistent messaging: When you repeat your core message across different content, you’re teaching your audience what you want them to do. So when they’re finally ready, they won’t hesitate—they’ll know exactly how you can help.
- Staying top of mind: You never know when the problem you solve will pop up for your audience—or for someone they know. Consistent content keeps you in your ideal client’s mental file folder so when the moment comes, you’re the first person they think of.
Your Next Move
If you’ve been frustrated by content that doesn’t immediately convert, you’re not alone. Most businesses give up right before content starts working because they’re measuring the wrong things.
The secret? Consistency over perfection, relationship over immediate results, and patience over pressure.
Your audience is listening. They’re just not ready to raise their hand yet. Keep showing up, keep adding value, and keep tracking the right metrics. The compound effect of consistent content will surprise you.
Your Next Move
If you’ve been frustrated by content that doesn’t immediately convert, you’re not alone. Most businesses give up right before content starts working because they’re measuring the wrong things.
The secret? Consistency over perfection, relationship over immediate results, and patience over pressure.
Your audience is listening. They’re just not ready to raise their hand yet. Keep showing up, keep adding value, and keep tracking the right metrics. The compound effect of consistent content will surprise you.
You Can Stop Guessing and Start Growing
We’ve been creating monthly content for clients who were tired of throwing marketing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something would stick. Instead of wondering if your content is “working,” you get clear metrics, strategic insights, and consistent messaging that builds real relationships with your audience.
Here’s what monthly content creation with FitSimply looks like:
Stop wasting time and energy on content that falls flat. Let’s create a monthly content strategy together that will effectively help you maximize your contacts, followers, connections and Google so you get more of the clients you want to serve.
- Strategic content planning that aligns with your business goals
- Monthly content creation tailored to your business—blog posts, email campaigns, social media posts, or whatever makes sense for your audience
- Clear reporting on what’s working (and what those metrics really mean)
- Ongoing optimization based on real data, not guesswork
Stop wasting time and energy on content that falls flat. Let’s create a monthly content strategy together that will effectively help you maximize your contacts, followers, connections and Google so you get more of the clients you want to serve.
