🕵🏻‍♂️ 0 to B2B Content Strategy

Feb 23, 2022 1:00 pm

Hi


Did you know the 2021 State of Inbound report found that content creation is the top priority of 80% of marketers?


image


Reason being, content marketing addresses your audience's concerns and helps you establish trust, build relationships, improve conversions, and generate more qualified leads. 


In this day and age, customers expect consistent and high-quality content from their favorite brands.


Even so, 64% of marketers said they have a hard time developing a scalable content strategy. Don't take it from us, check this report from the Content Marketing Institute (CMI).


In today’s newsletter, we’ll reveal the wisdom of Erin Balsa, Marketing Director @The Predictive Index. 


Here’s what you’ll learn:


I. The minimal viable content team: roles and functions you need

II. How to hire great writers and content marketers?

III. How to develop a great content strategy especially if your market is boring and conservative

IV. Four (04) most common content marketing mistakes B2B companies with a high ACV make


Before we dive into it, here are some remote positions from our job board that might interest you or someone around you.


TRENCHES JOB BOARD

FILEBASE IS HIRING A SENIOR DIGITAL STRATEGIST (REMOTE), $75-125K


Here are some of the things you can expect to do:

  • Develop, test, and iterate on the company's digital content marketing strategy;  
  • Work collaboratively with other departments to create a regular cadence of content for lead generation (ebooks, webinars, blog posts, etc);
  • Plan and manage a promotional calendar across all content assets to ensure a high level of activity.


Learn more about this offer and apply here. 


ORBIT IS HIRING A SENIOR GROWTH MARKETING MANAGER (REMOTE, US), $150-175K                          


Here are some of the things you can expect to do:

  • Day-to-day management and execution of ongoing programs. Optimizing them by reviewing analytics, customer journeys, and content to identify growth opportunities;
  • Plan, implement, measure, and improve marketing campaigns to reach quarterly goals by driving new customer signups;
  • Report on growth initiatives, including signups, traffic, and conversion rates.

Learn more about this offer and apply here. 


P.S. If you’re on the lookout for B2B marketers with proven experience, submit a job offer here. 


Now let's get to the meat of the matter. 


I. THE MINIMAL VIABLE CONTENT TEAM: ROLES AND FUNCTIONS YOU NEED


Whether your content strategy is based on videos, podcasts, ebooks, or blogging, at the heart of it all is WORDS. So the most important skill out there is writing. You need to have a strong message. 


Start with making sure that you have a strong brand positioning and a strong documented brand narrative that show how you differentiate from other players within your space and category. That should come before you even bring on an in-house writer. 


And the first person you want to hire for your content team is someone who is not only good at writing but also has excellent editing skills. 


Mind you, editing here doesn’t just mean line editing. We don't need that anymore. We have Grammarly and Hemingway Editor and all these great AI tools that can easily pick up a quick mistake. 


Instead, you need developmental editors who can dive into a content piece, restructure the flow of the story, and show you areas that need to be revised and made more clear. Such editors will help you keep the brand voice and brand narrative at the forefront. 


Also, make sure the person you hire knows some basic go-to workflows they can use to onboard freelancers and get your content engine ripping and roaring. 


Last but not least, they should be pretty good at harvesting (in a scalable way) all of the knowledge from subject matter experts inside and outside the company.


II. How to hire great writers and content marketers?


Content is king, we’ll never say this enough. Producing value-packed content results in better lead generation, more effective sales copy, and improved online visibility. 


Therefore, it is essential to onboard great writers and content marketers. Below are a few strategies you can use.


Strategy 1: Let’s say you’re the type of person who reads industry publications. 


If you come across an article that really struck a chord with you, try to find out who wrote it. Look them up and see if that person is open to coming in-house. 


There are tons of talented and bright writers out there working on their own who wish they did have a team and could contribute to one organization's growth. It doesn't hurt to contact them, make them an offer, and entice them to join your company full-time.


Strategy 2: Join marketing communities or associations and ask around.


Ask people you trust to put you in touch with top gifted writers they know and then do your best to entice the person they recommended. Never be afraid to go (HARD) after those people you really want. Give them an enticing offer and you’ll see the magic. 


For what it’s worth, keep in mind that this isn’t always about money.


Strategy 3: Use job boards’ superpower


Here are some examples of great job boards for marketers: Hey Marketers, ProBlogger, Remotive, and Trenches Job Board


If you decided to leverage the superpower of job boards, it’s not recommended to hire for a full-time role without assigning a writing test first. 


That’s because the samples shared in portfolios usually look nothing like the unedited copies. More often than not, they have heavily been edited by someone very good. 


Here are 02 rules you can use for your writing tests:


Rule 01: If the test is something you could ever possibly post, you need to pay the candidates for their time. There are no laws. It's just best practice, right? 


You don't want to leave a poor taste in someone's mouth. Neither do you want to damage your brand and reputation because any time candidates are spending on your test could have been spent pitching clients or making money. 


Rule 02: If your company’s policy does not allow you to pay for tests, you can time the assignment to be no longer than 30 minutes and then you ask the candidate to write about something that speaks to your audience. But nothing that your company would ever publish. 


Quick example: write an article speaking to a C-level HR leader about your favorite website.


These are some good practices that will help you assess the unedited writing talent of your candidates.


III. How to develop a great content strategy especially if your market is boring and conservative?


There is always a way to inject fun into boring content.


Have an intake form and do in-depth research. Afterward, interview a lot of different people across your revenue team. Not just the sales team, but also the product marketing and customer success teams. 


Why?


Because the most important thing about content strategy is not just figuring out the type of content you’re going to create but also understanding how you are going to measure the results.  


Then run a competitive analysis. Look at the topics that are already trending. Check those that your competitors are already owning and figure out ways to speak about those topics and get attention. 


From there, you can develop a strategy using those pillars and topics. At the core of any content strategy is how you plan to change people's minds or behavior. 


IV. Four (04) most common content marketing mistakes B2B companies with a high ACV make


Despite the commendable content marketing efforts that B2B companies make, the result is usually a flop. Here are some common mistakes they make:


1- Lack of customer insights in their content strategy


Focusing on providing answers to the questions your target audience is interested in generates more opportunities than generic top-of-the-funnel articles for high-traffic keywords.


Companies miss one point:


The goal of the content is not generating traffic but generating demand and more sales-qualified opportunities.


Simple formula: in-depth answer to buyer’s questions + your expertise/examples = demand.


2- Copying B2C/e-commerce


More articles - more keywords + longtails - more traffic - more revenue works in B2C but not in B2B.


The quality of content in B2B overweighs the quantity.


3- Hiring cheap writers


Hiring cheap writers or writing content with an AI assistant is the easiest way to fall down. Your market will immediately recognize low-quality content and will ignore you.


4- Copying giants


Until you are building a new sales or marketing community like Sales Hacker, you don’t need to have a blog like HubSpot to generate quality B2B leads.


Otherwise, after 6 months of publishing dozens of blog posts, hundreds of social media updates, you’ll realize this has had a miserable impact on your bottom line.


P.S. Chances are you have 1 or 2 colleagues (well, maybe 03) who'd enjoy this as much as you do. Share it with them and earn some exclusive perks. 


Upcoming community events

Below is the list of the scheduled events. CLICK on the events you are interested in to save your spot. You're very welcome to join the conversations, ask your questions live, or share your experience.

 


 

Full-Funnel Summit (29th -31st March)

You can attend and learn from the best B2B marketers for free.

 

Save your spot here.


Best Shares From Trenches Community


Questions from fellow Trenchers

Let's help each other. If you can contribute or answer any question below, just click the link and share your thoughts.




NOTE: If you found this content interesting and useful, chances are you have 1 or 2 colleagues (well, maybe 03) who'd enjoy it as much as you do. Help them by sharing this and earn some exclusive perks.

 

See you in Trenches 😉

 

Adechina D. Odjo,

Content Editor @Trenches


Comments