Planning content – a basic framework

Developing content for a B2B business needs a fair amount of planning. This is because the facets for the business are many. Each of them when addressed comprehensively and with a method, can deliver substantial engagement for the business. There is a lot of noise on the role of content around us. Marketing and branding departments across organizations are under immense pressure to get aboard the content bandwagon and create magic. This piece tries to demystify the content approach for businesses and offers a framework to approach content in a way that aligns with your business obejectives.

Content is a very broad term and there are a variety of content creators that you may have interacted with. Advertising agencies, branding agencies, film and video makers, infographic designers, social media writers and an ever growing list of content champions offer a variety of content options. Even a smart GIF is content as much as an emotionally charged commercial which births memory burrs for the relevant audiences.

Content is a large subject area which demands a comprehensive understanding of the landscape. From both the business and the creation of content sides. It is akin to matching the pieces in a jig saw. Ask us and we would say that content is like the lynchpin or the corner stone for your brand narratives.

Occupying such a crucial position content merits a well thought and well executed initiative. So where do you start?

1. Begin with business objectives

The purpose of all assets – words, visuals, moving images, films and more is to ensure the core thought behind the brand is captured and conveyed in a clear and well differentiated manner. Plus, content as it is understood in today’s world has to stem from the business objectives.

Allow me to explain it with an example. Let us assume you are a cloud services provider and your specialty is well designed migration for small and medium enterprises. The objective here is to capture your unique approach and the outcomes that this approach has delivered to your customers. Within this overarching objective all your content efforts have to be designed. So you could begin with branding your migration service – give it a name. Then move into uncovering the challenges a small and medium enterprise faces in migration and provide answers to these challenges with your unique migration methodology.

It is evident from this example that you have three elements:

1. A core thought
2. A target group
3. An end objective of engaging with the target group by helping them understand the challenges and the answers

This first step is an essential one for any content effort. Loosely put a B2B player needs a short form content strategy in place, firmly located in the business context. The above three elements are the pillars of a sound content strategy.

2. Get Listening

The next step for the content is to get their ears on the ground. Listen, research, talk to the business leaders in the organization. Here is where one will do research about the category, competition and study the various content approaches adopted in the chosen space.

With this prior knowledge, the team ought to map the potential customer and their content needs from the lens of the business leader. What they think are the challenges, barriers, drivers and solutions. This is an important layer in the seed bed, before you sow the content efforts.

Good content creators reach out to customers too. Through involved conversations and sometimes even structured interviews, they are able to uncover the complete decision making pathways. They probe, coax and make the customer describe and reveal their own experience they have got from the solution offered by your business.

Some of the teams push themselves hard to make the research and homework robust. They talk to customers who have chosen your competitor over you. That gives them another, insightful side to the ‘why’ story.

In the experience we have, the more information and details one has the more focused the content and its expression will be. To sum up, mapping the views of the business leader/s, studying the customer and competition, uncovering the decision pathways are the foundations for the next leap – content strategy.

3. Articulate a content strategy

A useful and result oriented content strategy has the following:

• Jot down your business objectives
• Define the role of the content – how will it enable the fulfillment of the business objectives
• Describe the target audiences in detail
• Do a content audit to understand the state of content in the organization
• Map the content that has to be created under broad headers
• Work out how content ideas will be sourced
• Ask and detail what are the content formats best suited for the content headers and their related clusters
• Put in place a method for governance of content creation, curation and scheduling
• Well-designed modus operandi for distributing the content is mandatory

4. Into execution

The devil lies in the execution. Why do we say that? Because that is where all the challenges are in terms of getting the appropriate creative ideas, resolving the best fitting creative grammar, and more importantly arriving at the right creative expression. Add to this the complexity of different media. Words, pictures, moving images all have to be in sync. to elevate the strategy to a robust engagement.

Here are some tips:

Translate the strategy into a resonant brief. Explain to the teams in as much detail as possible what the end goal is. If necessary show examples, illustrate the outcomes and choose the benchmark models.

Encourage ‘concept thinking’ not post and email thinking. How does the strategy manifest as a concept across the various mediums? In a blog, eBook, social media post, email, boiler-plate decks and more. In fact, a good content strategy can find robust collateral gains in public relations and sometimes attract potential employees.

Create a content kit. The typography, visual style, copywriting style – all of which add to the brand voice.

Onward to actual execution with orchestration. Awareness that all elements are a part of the same whole. So there is oneness across the content when a first time viewer sees it. Or for that matter when one receives an email, how smoothly it flows into the related social media page or the eBook illustrates – all of this demonstrates the competency of the content creators.

Evaluate the work against the brief and competition. Constantly evaluate the work against the brief you set out to execute and the work of the immediate competitors. 

Evaluate the work against the benchmarks. Evaluate your work against that of the industry benchmarks and the ones you set up for your own inspiration. Their work can give you insights into salient topics of conversation in your industry.

Seek feedback at frequent intervals. Make it a point to hear from your audience on the content aspects. If you can afford it, commission formal surveys to assess the efficacy of your content and consequently of your brand too.

Co-opt the business leaders into the process. Business leaders and vertical owners are some of the best feedback voices you could ask for. They understand the subjects in detail and are in touch with customers and end consumers day in and day out, becoming perfect proxy for your audiences.

Correct, modify wherever necessary. Pay attention to what is being said. By your audiences, your business leaders and your customers. Make adjustments where necessary and be prepared to pivot your strategy and get back to the drawing boards if necessary.

Before you dive more into the details, remember to always go back to basics. It always helps a B2B business to keep it simple, detailed and approach the content canvas in a stepwise manner.

Author : Raj Mohan Tella. August 17, 2021