The Focus for Content Marketing is Not Format

I'm getting a lot of questions these days about content marketing. Thank you one and all! I love that B2B marketers are working on embracing the idea of content marketing, but I'd like to point out that there's a better way to go about it than focusing first on format.

The focus for developing a content strategy should first be applied to:

1. Buyers, Prospects, Customers and Influencers - in other words The People whose attention you want to catch...and to keep.


2. Priorities, Problems, Issues, Objectives, Needs and Situations - in other words whatever it is they may need your help to overcome, solve or achieve to meet their business objectives.


3. Buying stages - in other words the right information at the right time for wherever your prospects are in their buying process.

Format (white papers, articles, blog posts, video, case studies, etc.) comes after we've determined what story we're going to tell our audience to help them learn all they need to know to make a purchase decision in our favor.

Format is selected based on purpose, distribution options, depth and more. If you start with format, it's likely you'll end up with one-off content that doesn't attract the kind of extended attention you need to get a people to stick with you all the way through their buying process.

Here's what I mean:

Marketer 1: "We need a white paper to update our website homepage offers."

Marketer 2: "Okay, what should we write about?"

Marketer 1: "Topic X is hot right now. Let's write about that and how our Whiz Bang 7 solution applies."

Marketer 2: "Sounds good. I'll have Sam do the research and write a draft."

You may scoff, but I see this happen all the time. There's not one mention of audience in that discussion. There's not any plan for how to leverage the "hot topic" for additional reach. There's no parallel consideration for tie-ins to any other content the company has. There's no thought about market positioning.

Next month, what do you think the discussion will be?

Instead, consider this type of scenario:

Marketer 1: "We got a tremendous response to the article we used for a nurturing touch last month about why companies need to do Z. How can we expand that story?"

Marketer 2: "I was listening out on the LinkedIn group and heard that people are concerned about how this issue will affect productivity."

Marketer 1: "Great. Let's get our ideas out there and help them learn what they need to know. Let's brainstorm what other questions may come up for them after we address productivity and write a series we can use in a variety of places.

"I want 2 blog posts, 3 successive articles for our nurturing program and have Sam go see Doug in R&D and gather some stats to back up our assertions. We'll incorporate those into a white paper that links back to the articles to see just how interested our audience is in the topic.

"Oh, and make sure that we include a reference back to that first article for those who haven't seen it."

Marketer 2: "What about using some snips from the webinar our VP did last month? We could create a 2 minute slidecast on this great point she made that fits with the subject and put it on the web site when we launch the white paper."

Marketer 1: "Love it! Next let's talk about the takeaways we want them to have and the calls to action. We've got to make sure we build in some metrics for the guys upstairs."

This is the kind of thinking marketers need to shift toward if they're going to get the best results from their content marketing. It's not a full-blown strategy, but it is a heck of a lot better than "we need a white paper."

Just a few thoughts for those who may be wondering how to get started. What do you think?

Comments

[Beth Robinson]

Very clear example scenario.

So if we don't want to get stuck on formats, you'd suggest publishing and promoting a steady stream of smaller content, like blog posts and articles, and then following what resonates with the audience...

I bet part of the reason that scenario 1 happens more than scenario 2 is that we need more patience and willingness to achieve small wins first to really apply scenario 2.

[Danny Essner]

Good post, Ardath and I certainly agree with your recommendations for identifying customer/prospect content needs.

I think you indirectly touch on another important content-marketing issue here; themes. All too often marketing departments try addressing single issues with one content item. However, the reality is that most issues are too deep or complex to be covered in a single white paper, webinar or blog post.

Marketers need to begin thinking of themselves as publishers. And like publishers they must develop "editorial calendars" to guide their on-going content development efforts.

One great way for planning an editorial calendar is to create themes. Rather than identifying specific customer issues, look for the underlying categories or themes that specific issues fall under. Then, plan a series of content around the two or three most important themes.

This strategy will help ensure that you sufficiently address customer needs through a series of content, as well as help provide a roadmap for longer-term content creation than an individual content asset.

[Janice King]

Another reason why it is easy to default to a white paper or other traditional marketing document: Corporate executives understand them, and recognize them as substantial work and value. It's much less easy to justify the promotional effort and value of smaller, scattered bits and pieces of content.

Also, many large companies have long worked from a standard list of materials to produce for every product launch, market release, and similar scenarios. These lists have the lingering effect of keeping marketers and their budgets focused on materials first, and content elements as a distant second.

[PTFE Membrane Filters]

Nice article, thank you.

[Danielbpatton]

Excellent post. I'll add the conversation above between marketers 1 and 2 should also include input from those front-line salespeople steering home those deals most closely aligned to the organization's product, vertical, and revenue sweet spots. These individuals are the tip of your spear and will have a good sense of (and likely a responsibility of reporting elsewhere) the next logical steps toward close -- and thus your content gaps.

The win for the field rep in this situation is ready ammunition for her quarter-end. The marketers, meanwhile, can reduce brand dilution risk, leverage the new assets in their content stores, and capture critical new data around buyers' communication (and learning) preferences.

[Justine Gillen]

This is a great post and I like the way you illustrated the scenarios using real conversations! Taking the approach that the format can reflect the depth or complexity of the content, I like the idea of talking the topic and then creating different formats of content around the topic. Maybe the white paper is the in depth piece of content but you could create a blog post and 1 minute video to introduce the white paper and drive traffic.