Savvy B2B Marketing

Jamie

5 W's and an H

A content strategy helps you get a big picture view of:

• Who you're writing for
• What questions they need answered
• Where they're looking for information (in terms of placement and format - text vs. audio vs. video, etc)
• When they're looking for it (in terms of the buying cycle)
• Why they should care 
• How your content moves the prospect to the next step

It also helps you identify where you have "holes" in the content "stream" and where there are opportunities to repurpose existing or new content into multiple formats or across multiple platforms.

Kate

The Answer Lies in the Questions

Content strategy is the high level messaging that you carry through all of your collateral. To develop it, you need to know who your customer is, what his problems are and how your solution solves them. These are the basics. But the key to copy that really speaks to the heart of your prospect is understanding what will make them get off the fence and make a purchase decision.

A quick and very effective way to find out is to ask your sales team about what “buying questions” prospects ask. Buying questions are what the prospect asks at the very end of the sales cycle, and they can give you deep insight into both what drives decisions and what truly differentiates you from your competition in your customers’ eyes.

Stephanie

Think Macro

A content strategy is the blueprint for your content marketing initiative. In addition to capturing the micro information detailed by Jamie and Kate, your strategy should address macro issues, including:

• What are our strategic (and measurable) goals as tied to overall organizational goals (e.g., converting X% prospects to customers, increasing revenues in territory Y by X%, etc.)?
• What ideas/thought leadership and themes will we use as the basis for our content marketing?
• Who will head up our initiative and what's the plan for the next 6-12 months?
• How will our content marketing initiative filter across channels and throughout the organization so we get the biggest bang for the buck?



Michele

• What is my business goal? What specifically do I want to accomlish with my marketing? Build awareness? Get new leads? Retain customers?
• Who is my target audience? Create a buyer persona to help you stay focused. 
• What kind of content do I need  to create? Think about not only the topics your audience wants to hear about but the format in which they want to receive content. 
• What process will I use to create all of this content? Here you need to lay out a plan for getting all of this done. At the minimum, set up an editorial calendar to help you stay on track.