The Path to Mature B2B Content Marketing

b2b content marketingWhen it comes to achieving business results, “process maturity” is a term many people know, but few get excited about. Evaluating processes and taking steps to change them may sound as fun as going to the dentist – but for B2B content marketing, it’s essential.

Maturity is the trek from ad-hoc to established, repeatable, reliable processes.

It’s important for content marketing for many reasons:

    • Content combines creative and data-driven approaches in unusual, even unique ways;
    • Content’s ROI and customer impact is tough to measure without high analytical rigor;
    • Content teams can easily suffer from “scope creep,” undermining their main mission.

Five Stages of a Content Organization – Which is Yours?

Reactive

A reactive organization typically has no strategy – it exhausts its time and effort on day-to-day issues. It deals with immediate needs, like internal content requests or the moves of its competitors.

Proactive

Proactive organizations have a strategy but are challenged to execute consistently and win buy-in. It’s hard to marshal resources and get commitment because game-changing wins are rare.

Correlative

A correlative team has crossed the watershed and proven value to others in the enterprise. A growing level of cross-functional collaboration with sales and marketing is mutually beneficial.

Adaptive

Adaptive teams consistently and reliably deliver content with direct impact on outcomes. A focus on buyer personas has matured so content can engage leads and retain loyalty from customers.

Predictive

At the predictive level, content doesn’t just identify or strengthen the brand, but serves as a major competitive advantage. The team can recognize and capitalize on emerging content trends.

b2b content marketingHow to Improve Process Maturity – No Matter Where You Are

Build a Vision for Your Web Content

Web content has to start with driving ideas. Your buyer personas provide these as you learn which questions and pain points motivate your prospects. Think: How can content meet their needs?

Develop a Consistent Editorial Calendar

Content will never move the needle unless it is being produced regularly. No matter what size your enterprise or what industry it serves, consistent weekly production of blog posts is essential.

Use Analytics to Gain Focus

Analytics is key to figuring out where content is engaging users – and where it’s losing them. It lets you refine your strategy and develop content journeys for different personas.

Reformat, Reuse, and Share Content

Social media should amplify your content whenever possible. Reformatting content can make it more effective, too. For example, a blog post could become a video, and the video script reformatted into a slide deck.

Process maturity makes content marketing more effective. It all starts by taking stock of where you are and which attainable, meaningful step you can take to make your content truly consistent.