top of page
Anchor 1
iStock-1244936752-1.jpg

Content Marketing

Are We Telling Lies About Telling Stories?

Content Marketing 101

Marketers of all stripes say they want storytelling—that content marketing should (show and) tell, not sell. The word ”story” rings out at most marketing campaign meetings. Indeed, look at any LinkedIn posting for a content marketer, and you’ll likely find, ”We want a storyteller” somewhere in the job description. But, do they really?

 

In the journey from brief to draft to approved B2B content, much of the creativity—that is, much of what makes something a good read—is often purposefully wrung out.

​

The reasons are many: Writing by committee. A C-suite’s lack of faith in their own brand voice. An insistence that listicles are the greatest content format since the sonnet. Prioritizing bots and spiders over (human) readers to appease the gods of SEO. A content strategy that favors quantity over quality. Demands that content focus exclusively on the product, pain points, and benefits. The list goes on. 

 

So final versions become as dry and flavorless as a stale cornflake and therefore go unread. That’s unfortunate, because content marketing is only valuable if people actually read it. Downloads may boost website stats, but they don’t sell products.

Downloads may boost website stats, but they don't sell products.
People should see themselves in the stories you tell.

Create content your readers can relate to

I’m a storyteller, by training and by trade: I began my career as a journalist. I know firsthand that people read to the end of articles that tell a story vividly. Articles congealing with statistics and offering a recital of facts? You're lucky if your reader gets through the lede and skims the rest.

​

The most vivid, most authentic stories are those in which consumers of content marketing can see themselves. Their needs, aspirations, and interests include but go beyond the solutions your company provides—and so should the stories you tell if you want people to read them.

​

Write for your readers, not for your colleagues

Content marketers must juggle competing priorities. Demand gen wants to showcase the company’s market prowess. Lead gen needs gated snacks for extracting MQLs. Product wants each feature to make a cameo. Sales may be over-eager to tout nascent functionality, while engineering may prefer to wait until the software really works. “How Many Times Can You Use This Keyword?” feels like a game show you’re losing.

Your audience is your prospects and clients—not your colleagues.
Content should accommodate
all types
of readers simultaneously.

Ultimately, your audience is your prospects, clients, and if you’re PR-minded, industry movers and shakers—not your colleagues. The best content marketers can navigate those competing priorities and turn them into interest-piquing amuse-bouches, a twelve-course tasting menu, or a guilty fast-food pleasure. A content writer’s job is to serve up whatever’s of most interest to the target audience at that moment in their journey from prospect to customer—while always keeping the product on the table.

​

So we must tell not only good stories but the right stories. To do that, content marketers must first ensure they understand what internal stakeholders want to say and what potential customers want to read about. That process involves equal parts interviewing, investigation, and instinct so you can marry customer personas to market priorities. (This is why I've yet to see generative AI spin a good yarn. But that's a subject for another time.)

​

Write the way your audience prefers to read

Do people really have the attention span of gnats and read at a ninth-grade level? Some do, some don’t. But marketers repeat this old saw as if it’s gospel. In the secular world, the best content is shaped to accommodate all types of readers simultaneously. Long-form stories (like this one) should have

  • subheads, 

  • callouts, 

  • bite-size chunks to skim and digest,

  • a bullet list or two, and

  • overviews for readers who prefer short to long. 

​

Successive subheads should either tell a story without reading the copy underneath them—or provoke your reader to read it. Short blog posts should always include a sales-related CTA and links out to longer, more informative articles. Data and statistics shouldn’t be mere numbers—they’re a story about the world they quantify.

​

If you have a good editor, listen to them. If you don't, get one. You’re too close to your own work to know if it can be bettered. Presented properly, content that tells stories converts more leads than a presentation of facts about your product.

ContentStrategy_istockphoto-670621562.jpg

Don’t be afraid to change your mind

Content must be scalable for different formats and platforms. It should be refreshed regularly to improve SEO and keep site visitors engaged, updated with new product info, and distributed via the most impactful channels. Most of all, its cadence must be regular and sustainable.

​

That’s a big ol’ ask of any content team. 

​

Some of the heavy lifting can be offloaded by building messaging platforms and style guides; they will help harmonize the language that sales, marketing, and product use to describe your technology and its value props. That, in turn, enables those teams to create their own materials without turning to the content marketing team—or turning your branding inside out. 

​

But if your original content calendar turns out to be untenable given available resources and budget, change it, don’t chase it: A content strategy you can’t deliver on is the wrong content strategy and won’t let you do your best storytelling. A less aggressive strategy executed well is always more effective than a sprawling strategy you can't fulfill on.

If your content strategy is untenable, change it, don't chase it.
Set KPIs based on campaign goals, not vanity metrics.

How’m I doin’?

Ultimately, the content you create—which stories you tell—should be guided by data and qualitative market feedback. Writing successful content goes beyond developing accurate target personas. It’s shaped by prospect preferences, the performance of previous content, and a competitive analysis of competitors’ messaging and content programs. Put more simply: You need to know what your audience likes in order to write stories they want to read.

​

I’ve gathered information through site analytics, interviews with friendly clients and prospects, market research, competitive intelligence, and by speaking with marketing sales, and product colleagues. But KPIs should be based on specific campaign goals, not vanity metrics. Page hits may not be relevant to a customer loyalty campaign; open rates may not be an appropriate gauge of lead-gen campaign success. 

​

Don’t put away your crayons

“Mommy, one day I want to be a B2B content marketer and sell software to huge companies,” said no five-year-old ever. 

​

Content marketers began life as aspiring creatives—writers, photographers, artists, and filmmakers. We bring that creative mindset to our profession. And I bring that sensibility to whatever team I’m working with. I also make sure we all understand the project goals and have the tools we need to execute the assignment. Among the tools I bring are my editing, good humor, and creative guidance, which is informed by a long career as a journalist, ghostwriter, book doctor, copyeditor—and marketer. 

​

Helping creative people translate their talent into effective marketing materials yields stories people actually read. It also makes the entire content creation process more enjoyable for everyone. Happy content marketers create more interesting, more readable stories—and more effective content. 

​

And that’s the best content marketing any CMO can ask for.

Happy marketers tell effective stories.
A 6-point content marketing credo
 

  1. Tell, don’t sell: Tell stories about your audience, not your products. Your reader is the protagonist—not your company or your software. People want to see themselves, their challenges, their wants, and their needs in the stories you write and the photos you choose.

  2. Who cares? Your audience won’t necessarily know (or care) about your product. Show them what’s in it for them, and make sure the message is easy to grok.

  3. Make data-driven choices. Content marketing campaigns are only as good as the performance data informing next steps. Good design and good writing are subjective. The measurement of marketing and sales performance? Not so much.

  4. Content must be scalable and evergreen-able to be successful long term. ”Tentpole” content like data-driven reports can be updated and re-released annually. Long-form content should become a source for blogs, webinars, infographics, LinkedIn carousels, social media posts, videos, and even product marketing materials.

  5. Listen to your editor. If Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, and Stephen King could take their editors’ suggestions, so can you.

  6. Play to your audience’s aspirations. Tell stories that

    • ​make the work they do more enjoyable.

    • honor their interests and keep them informed.

    • help them distinguish their work from others’.

    • improve their work/life balance.

    • jibe with their values.

Anchor 2
bottom of page