Having a solid content marketing strategy in place is a must-have for great content marketing execution.
For some reason, only 42% of B2B marketers think their content marketing strategy is actually working.
That’s why we’ve decided to deep-dive into what good content marketing actually is. The result of that deep-dive can be found in our latest ebook: Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing.
In this blog post, we’ll go over the importance of an effective content marketing strategy and how you can create one yourself to build a strong brand story.
In this guide, we’ll explore:
✅ What content marketing is
✅ Why having a content marketing strategy matters
✅ The key elements of a successful content marketing strategy
What is content marketing?
Before we discuss strategy, let’s define content marketing.
📌 Definition: Content marketing is the practice of producing and distributing valuable content that attracts and engages your target audience without directly promoting your product or service.
Example: A prospect reads your blog, subscribes to your newsletter, and later decides to buy from you because they trust your expertise.
📊 Key statistics:
- Companies with a strong content marketing strategy outperform those that don’t by 54%
- Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing but generates 3x more leads
- Website conversion rates are 6x higher for companies using content marketing
Content marketing is the practice of producing and distributing content and media that doesn’t directly promote a business’s products or services but instead seeks to drive interest in those products or services.
Why having a content marketing strategy matters
Okay, now that we’ve covered the basics you might ask yourself: ‘So what? My current marketing strategy works just fine!’.
Well, as we said in the beginning, more than 50% of B2B marketers don’t think that their marketing strategy works.
There are actually a lot of statistics that prove the value of having a content marketing strategy over a more traditional marketing strategy:
- Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing while generating three times the number of leads
- Website conversion rates are six times higher for companies who do content marketing versus ones that don’t
- 28% of marketers have reduced their digital advertising budgets to produce more content
And there’s another big reason why marketing leaders choose a content marketing strategy over a traditional marketing strategy: return on investment or ROI.
Marketing leaders from top B2B and B2C brands keep finding that content marketing has a far better ROI than paid advertisement for example.
That in itself should be reason enough to prioritize it. But there are many other reasons. A few of them being that consistent content marketing:
- Builds trust and loyalty
- Works at every stage of the buying cycle
- Assists the sales team and process
- Compounds over time
- Drives evergreen content traffic
- Is more affordable over time
- Offers sharing and referral potential
- Builds relationships with partner brands
In many ways, content marketing is the future of marketing. Thanks to social media channels and online publications, we have direct access to our customers. This allows us to build a long-lasting relationship with existing customers and new leads without needing to pay for traditional media channels.
Create a content marketing strategy that works for your business
So, how do you create a content marketing strategy that works for your business? There are four essential parts of your content marketing strategy:
- Audience insights— Start with in-depth knowledge about your target audience(s).
- Format decisions— Choose the best content formats for your business.
- Content topics— Decide your topical authority as a brand.
- Goal setting and tracking — Determine goals and KPIs to measure as a team.
Audience insights
Begin your content marketing strategy by researching your audience. Spend a couple of days diving into their needs, pain points and what makes them tick.
This way, you remove all assumptions you have about your audience. For example, let’s say your ideal audience is property management companies. After doing defined audience research, you might be able to narrow that down to property management companies that employ leasing agents or property management companies with at least 200 doors.
Related read: How to Use Audience Insights for Better Content Campaigns
Here are some ways to get a deeper insight into your audience to build loyal customers:
1. Join communities
Communities can be a big inspiration for understanding your audience better, as people often share their tips and insights in these environments.
No matter what professional audience you serve, there is undoubtedly a community designed just for them. For example, if your target audience consists of sales professionals, join Sales Hacker. Are they content marketers? Then Growth Through Content is your go-to community.
Especially in forums, you can find out very detailed information about your audience’s priorities and challenges. If you can’t find a private community, you can always start your own Facebook group instead.
2. Read industry publications
Industry blogs and publications are a great way to learn what your target audience cares about. The biggest benefit of expert content is that it’s very in-depth and data-driven.
These insights can help you to understand your target audience better as you dive deeper into the research from industry blogs and publications.
3. Read your competitors’ blogs
Another great way to get inspiration for your content marketing strategy is by analyzing what your competitors write about. Think competitor blogs, competitor ads, competitor content campaigns, keywords, and more.
By looking at their content marketing strategy, you get to know which problems they’re trying to solve for their target audience. And more precisely: how they’re making these problems aware for that audience.
Now, don’t get us wrong: don’t simply copy what your competitor is doing. But rather, ask yourself ‘How can I make this content 10x better?’. If you want actionable insights on how to create 10x content, here’s a great article by Sujan Patel for Forbes Magazine on how to get started.
Related read: The Ultimate Guide to Competitive Content Analysis in 2025
4. Attend virtual events
With most events becoming virtual nowadays, it’s a lot easier to jump into a conference or attend a summit than in the past. You don’t have to physically be there and they always send a video recap in case you missed it.
By attending virtual conferences, summits, workshops, and other online events, you get to dive deep into industry challenges and solutions. These types of events are especially great for inspiration if you already have some knowledge in the field. This way, you can use the insights and trends to get inspired to create some new content and adjust your content marketing strategy.
5. Follow popular social media accounts
We all have smartphones and social media apps downloaded on them. Now, most people are using these apps to keep up with their friends’ and family’s lives. But you can also use social media to get inspired for your own content marketing strategy.
By following industry leaders, you learn what they’re talking about with their audience and which posts get the most engagement. A great way to get started is by finding social media accounts in your industry through key phrase searches and hashtags.
A great example is Dave Gerhardt, who is the CMO of Privy (and previously VP Marketing at Drift). He has a big social media following and posts a lot of valuable content on his LinkedIn page. Not only can you get inspired by his posts for new content ideas, but you can also connect with like-minded professionals in the comment section.
Best Format Decisions
Now that you’ve been inspired by which content your audience wants to see, you need
to determine the two or three content formats you’ll use. The smartest way to make these kinds of decisions is to use the ICE Method, which stands for:
- Impact — How impactful the format is likely to be.
- Confidence — Your confidence in executing on it well.
- Ease — How easy it will be to run.
For each content format you are considering, give a score of 1 - 10 for Impact, Confidence, and Ease. Then add up the scores to produce a total score for each format. Choose your top 2 and only add additional formats after you’ve launched these successfully into your content marketing strategy and seen results.
Related read: What are Content Types And Why Are They Important?
Content Topics
Before you start ideating individual content pieces and headlines, you should first determine your topical authority. Aim for 2 to 5 content buckets that every piece
of content you later create could reasonably fit into.
For example, the majority of our content is about the following topics:
- Content marketing
- Search engine optimization
- Social media
- Marketing automation
- Content collaboration
- Lead generation
These content buckets are so crucial because they can convert your content consumers into paying customers. Your topical authority is the bridge between your audience and your products or services. If your content buckets are relevant to your audience but not your product, you run the risk of creating content that doesn't turn into revenue.
Related read: Creating Content Pillars for Social Media
Leveraging Social Media Marketing
A successful content marketing strategy isn’t complete without social media. It’s one of the most powerful channels for distributing content, engaging with your audience, and driving traffic.
📌 Key Elements of a Social Media Strategy:
- Social Media Content Pillars – Organize your content into themes to maintain consistency and engagement.
- Social Media Content Marketing – Learn how to create content that performs well across different platforms.
- Boosting Social Media Engagement – Discover strategies to increase likes, shares, and comments.
- TikTok Marketing Strategies – Learn how to leverage TikTok for business growth.
- Developing a Winning Social Media Strategy – A complete guide to aligning social media with your business goals.
✅ Pro tip: Repurpose your content across multiple platforms to maximize reach. For example, turn a blog post into an infographic, a short-form video, or a Twitter thread.
Related read: 180 Days of Posts from Just 6 Pieces [Guide to Strategic Content Recycling]
Goal Setting and Tracking
Once you're clear on your audience, content formats, and overarching content topics, it's time to set goals that will guide your teams' effort. While doing research for our ebook, we found these to be the top types of goals for a content marketing strategy:
- Content production goals - How many pieces of content should you produce in a given period.
For example, one blog per week, one webinar per quarter, and one ebook per quarter. - Lead generation goals - How many marketing qualified leads should you generate from content and lead magnets in a given time.
For example, 150 MQLs per month. - Brand awareness goals - How many impressions, views, or reads your content should receive in a given period.
For example, 50,000 impressions and 20,000 reads per month for all content combined.
It's typically useful to have all 3 of the above goals because they keep your team on track and help you troubleshoot.
By setting your goals, communicating them to your content team, and tracking them regularly, you’ll quickly start seeing improvements in your content strategy plan. But your job doesn’t stop there. Make sure to revisit them on a quarterly basis and adjust the metrics based on your insights and results.
Next steps
Would you like to have a step-by-step guide on creating, distributing, and promoting content, including some templates? Then make sure to download our free ebook: The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing.
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