Video and content marketing strategies rank among the toughest channels for driving ROI and measuring the results, according to a new report. But that’s not the fault of the campaigns themselves; there is outstanding evidence suggesting that ROI struggles correspond to the prioritization failings by marketers.

According to a report from Econsultancy, companies often struggle to accurately measure the returns coming from various digital marketing channels. In general, older, more established channels enjoyed the best regard among marketers. ROI measurement for PPC advertising, for example, was classified as “good” by 52 percent of respondents. Email marketing came in second, with 44 percent saying ROI measurement was “good.”

At the bottom of the list were content marketing and video marketing, which earned approval by just 16 and 13 percent of those surveyed, respectively. Some of this poor rating is a result of unfamiliarity: Marketers may not yet fully understand how to effectively run their content marketing and video marketing campaigns, while some of those surveyed might not be running an active campaign at all.

In general, channels that focus on engagement—rather than more tangible actions such as click-throughs and conversions—received worse reviews. This isn’t much of a surprise, since engagement measurement continues to be a challenge.

But there is also evidence that marketers simply aren’t emphasizing ROI the way they should. According to the Content Marketing Institute, only 21 percent of surveyed B2B marketers say they can accurately measure the ROI of their work. However, those professionals who have documented content strategies that prioritize measurement are slightly more able (35 percent) to show return on their work.

If this holds true, then the numbers suggest marketers are starting to grasp the basics of content marketing as a digital channel. Now that the content practices are starting to be mastered, professionals have begun working on optimizing their work processes and, in the process, have gained a clearer picture of how their efforts are driving ROI.

Two steps seem to be taking the lead in helping marketers improve their ROI from content and other digital campaigns. The first concerns strategy: Marketers seem more focused than ever on building documented content strategies and using them to optimize their current approach. Secondly, audience targeting has become a subject of focus, with improved targeting tools and emerging targeting platforms, particularly for video content, rising up and offering better methods of measurement.

Between the improved strategy efforts and an increasing focus on ROI, it seems content’s troubles in driving returns are only a temporary blip on the radar that marketers can address by paying close attention in the coming year.

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