Template for Developing a B2B Content Marketing Strategy. Content marketing templates that I depend on Every B2B content marketer relies on differing processes. At Integrate, we rely on three primary templates to continually refine and execute our content marketing strategy: Quarterly Content Strategy Template (Worksheet C in Integrate’s demand marketing workbook) Content Map (Worksheet D in the workbook) Quarterly Content Calendar (worksheet E) In this post, I’ll discuss the first template, and will cover the other two another time. It has you describe the goals of that quarter’s content efforts as well as the keys to achieving those goals. The template helps you organize these arguments in a logical way that will guide your strategy. Look at the Content Strategy Template as a tool to outline each of your primary messaging stances (i.e., arguments). Developing your program/theme ideas For each program or theme, you should write a paragraph that outlines: your definition of the theme or program your organization’s point of view (POV) or argument on the theme and why it’s important the personas targeted (it can be more than one, with sub-themes addressing differing personas), and the key goals you hope to achieve with it (e.g., 500 MQLs from content developed on the theme). Supporting programs with sub-themes Sub-themes are more focused points of your larger themes or programs. A few extra notes Remember: it’s good to mix up topics – if you harp on the same themes and subthemes throughout a quarter, you’ll bore your audience. Further, keep in mind how you intend to repurpose individual pieces of content – for other content types (e.g., a white paper into an infographic) or at different places in the funnel (e.g., using a software guide for lead generation and in nurture tracks of an aligned theme or program.
Content marketing can be tough, especially if you’re as organizationally incompetent as I am. (Seriously, it’s bad). If you’re like me, this gives you two options for achieving your content goals:
- Rely on tools to help organize and support your efforts
- Rely on highly organized teammates to keep you on track…to the point that they daydream about hiring a contract killer to end you.
I prefer a healthy mix of the two.
But since my esteemed colleagues would be better suited to write about the second option, this post will focus on the first – tools to facilitate your disorderly, yet well-intentioned content marketing strategy efforts.
Content marketing templates that I depend on
Every B2B content marketer relies on differing processes. The key is to find or create the tools that are flexible enough to be tailored to your specific, and often changing, needs.
At Integrate, we rely on three primary templates to continually refine and execute our content marketing strategy:
- Quarterly Content Strategy Template (Worksheet C in Integrate’s demand marketing workbook)
- Content Map (Worksheet D in the workbook)
- Quarterly Content Calendar (worksheet E)
In this post, I’ll discuss the first template, and will cover the other two another time. (By the way, you can get all these templates and nine others by downloading the Demand Marketing Assessment Guide and Workbook…get the pdf here without providing any lead info.)
Quarterly Content Strategy Template
The first section of the template is straightforward and nothing special, but it’s important. It has you describe the goals of that quarter’s content efforts as well as the keys to achieving those goals.
Such goals can be incredibly varied, but you want to focus on your key departmental objectives that feed into sales, customer success and even product development.
Moreover, the higher up the demand marketing maturity curve you go, the more down-funnel your goals should be. For example, if you consider your organization to be pretty sophisticated, your goals should be focused on pipeline creation or even marketing-attributed revenue.
The second section of the strategy template gets into the strategy itself. It’s a theme- or program-based outline that leads from high-level concepts (themes or programs) down to various sub-themes and on to individual pieces of content. The idea here is forming a logical framework around your persona messaging.
Every content marketer should strive to make an argument. We’re all essayists in a sense, but our arguments are usually delivered in pieces – blog posts, industry articles, white papers, ebooks, case studies – all working together to substantiate our overarching arguments regarding why prospects should invest…
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