Developing a content strategy for product marketing is similar to product positioning. It’s about connecting with your target customers by providing meaningful content that resonates with them on an emotional level. The main objective is to generate higher quality leads and increase sales opportunities among decision-makers and influencers, thereby avoiding the typical complaint that marketing leads are subpar.
Purpose of a Content Strategy for Product Marketing
As a product marketing manager, your goal is to attract a more engaged following by connecting with economic buyers and key influencers. To achieve this, your content must go beyond just high-volume SEO optimization. It has to be unique, educational, and thought-provoking. Additionally, capturing the emotions of your audience is crucial—write from the customer’s perspective rather than focusing solely on your product and its solutions.
5 Steps for Creating a Winning Content Strategy
1. Create a Partial Customer Org Chart:
Start by mapping out the organization chart for the departments that use your products directly. Include departments that benefit indirectly from your products. This expands your audience reach. For instance, if your products are used in nursing, the compliance and patient billing departments would also benefit from accurate patient information provided by the nursing staff.
2. Create Department Personas:
Develop personas for each department identified. Simplify this by defining the ultimate goal of each department. For example, the main goal of the nursing department is to ensure patients get as well as possible during their care. Understanding these goals helps you identify the challenges each department faces, which provides endless topics for content creation.
3. Create a List of Obstacles:
Identify obstacles preventing the achievement of each department’s ultimate goal. Use these obstacles to engage the various roles within the department. For instance, in nursing, staffing issues concern nurse managers, while charting issues affect nurses. When describing obstacles, focus on the employees’ perspective to make your content more relatable and engaging.
4. Create Best Practice Content Around the Obstacles:
Use your list of obstacles as a basis for creating content. Be conversational and use familiar language to your audience. Start by discussing current problematic practices, then vividly describe the effects of not changing. Conclude with best practices that offer solutions, reserving product mentions for the call to action.
5. Determine Distribution Platforms:
Understand where your target customers spend their time and what captures their attention. Avoid a scattergun approach; instead, use platforms where you can measure engagement. Be mindful of SEO repercussions when posting the same content on multiple sites.
Bottom Line on Content Strategy for Product Marketing
Rich, quality content can significantly grow your audience and fill your sales pipeline with high-quality leads. Utilize various content forms like articles, eBooks, videos, white papers, webinars, podcasts, and more. Decide which content will be freely available and which will require sign-up to capture contact information. Prioritize quality over quantity, ensuring your followers eagerly anticipate your next piece of content.
The key takeaway: A strategically developed content approach can greatly enhance your product marketing efforts, increasing engagement and generating better leads.