Template for Creating B2B Content
To better appeal to a target audience, content mapping backed up by research and data is essential.
Content mapping is the process by which a business identifies what information each buyer persona wants at each stage of the buying process. This process can be time-consuming but is nonetheless invaluable.
Here are the six main steps a business should go through to map out their content:
1. Identify the Buyer Personas
A business should have a buyer persona for every level of the decision making process. Most companies that engage in B2B interactions have multiple levels of authorization that a decision must go through before the final stamp of approval is given.
From there, every buyer persona needs to be fleshed out to feel as real as possible. Each buyer persona profile should have details such as their job title, level of experience, daily tasks, job responsibilities, likes and dislikes about the job, pain points of the job, and much more.
2. Find Out What Questions the Personas Have
When people are researching products or services for the business they own or work at, they will have different questions depending on what stage of the buyer process they’re in.
To uncover what types of questions each persona might have, a business can create studies or compile reports based on its target audience. Be sure to also look into these sources of information from other businesses that may have already done the footwork.
3. Answer the Questions That the Personas Have
Once you’ve compiled a list of the questions that buyer personas may have, it’s time to answer them and also track the preferred format.
It’s important to remember that different format types will be better suited for different stages of the buying process. Finding out the answers and the preferred format will help to define the overall content marketing strategy to employ.
4. Do a Content Audit
Next, a business should investigate whether it’s already published content answering some of these questions. A content audit will help a business to discover what holes it has and then fill them.
For example, maybe a business has previously published content answering a question that’s at a later stage of the buying process but failed to address any questions for the earlier stages. The business then knows it needs to backtrack and provide content for the beginning and middle stages of the buyer journey.
5. Map the Content
From here, mapping out all the content that needs to be created can help provide a consistent roadmap for content creation and the overall content marketing strategy to employ.
There should be plenty of content for each stage of the buyer journey. By mapping the content, a business will begin to see what types of content they already have a lot of for a specific stage or certain buyer persona.
6. Identify Content Gaps
After content mapping is completed, you should have a clear picture of where your content gaps are. Knowing what content gaps exist for the business gives a clear idea of what content to prioritize.
As content is generated to fill in these gaps, don’t forget to provide answers to a buyer persona’s questions and also provide the desired content format for each stage of the buyer journey. A business needs to understand not only what type of content to create next but also what the buyers want and how to deliver relevant, high-quality information they’ll find valuable.
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