Expert Q&A: Irene Triendl on turning marketing strategies into standout content plans

The most valuable B2B content is closely aligned with the strategy of your business. Your marketing strategy helps bridge the gap between the two. But there’s a subtle art to translating a marketing strategy into a strong content plan.

To get some expert advice on how to do that, we recently sat down with Irene Triendl, one of the smartest marketing and content strategists we know. In Irene’s own words, she helps B2B companies figure out what to say, to whom, and in what order.

Here’s a quick look at our conversation.

Radix: Hi Irene, great to speak to you again! If marketers are creating content plans from scratch, where should they begin?

Irene: It might seem a bit obvious, but the first thing you’ll need if you want to deliver great B2B marketing content is a clearly defined marketing strategy.

You’d think that’s a given, but in a lot of technology businesses, there’s little trust placed in marketing teams. Technical decision-makers may want to sign everything off themselves, and, while they might have an idea of the kind of marketing strategy they should pursue, this is often only in their minds – not shared with the marketing team. Naturally, that’s a major hindrance to marketers’ effectiveness and ability to deliver great results.

With no strategy, everything you do will be ad hoc and in response to short-term needs. That pushes you into a loop of continuous firefighting, so major overarching goals like creating awareness or driving demand for specific solutions go unaccomplished.

Radix: So, if a marketing strategy is incomplete or non-existent, what should marketers make sure they clarify before they build a content plan?

Irene: Frustratingly, it’s often the most important elements of a marketing strategy that go overlooked or under-defined. It’s all too common to find that strategies don’t clearly define marketing goals, target audiences, or common objections and blockers, for example. Why people don’t buy is at least as important as why they do.

Value propositions are another area with a lot of room for improvement. Leaders often define them from a product perspective, but don’t explain why a customer should care. If your value propositions talk about you or your products more than what you do for customers, something has gone wrong.

If any of those things aren’t immediately obvious and available to you as a marketer, you’ll need to ask the right questions to establish them before you jump into building a content plan.

Radix: Once a marketer has finally got all of that defined, what comes next? How does their content plan start to take shape?

Irene: Your marketing strategy lays out what you want to achieve. So, the first thing you need to do is work out exactly how content can help you achieve that. For example, if your goal is for decision-makers in your target industry to recognise your name, your content might be a highly visual, targeted brand campaign; if the goal is to build authority, it might be a series of in-depth blog posts co-authored with subject-matter experts from your business.

Next, you’ll need to do some prioritising. If you’re starting from scratch, it’s worth focusing your efforts and budget on content that tells your core story in a clear and consistent way before you move onto more trend-based content, or content that speaks to just one of your audiences. Get your foundation in place and then build around that.

With a clear view of how content can help you achieve your marketing goals, and a prioritised list of the initial content you need to tell your core story, you’ve already got the makings of an effective and actionable content plan.

Radix: Content plans must vary a lot between teams and organisations. How can a marketer tell whether theirs is ‘correct’?

Irene: As you say, what’s right for one organisation won’t necessarily be right for another. But invariably, the best and most effective content plans are clearly mapped to marketing and business strategies, make it clear how they’ll deliver value, and are realistically deliverable with your budget and resources.

Radix: Obviously you’ve got a lot of experience creating content plans that meet those criteria. Do you have any top tips to share with our readers to help them do the same?

Irene: Sure, I think I’ve probably got a few to share.

Number one, if things feel overwhelming, break them down into manageable chunks. Starting from scratch is a daunting prospect, but you really can start very small. Just focus on telling your most important stories – things like who you’re for, the problems you solve, and how your approach is different – in ways that support your biggest goals and take things step by step.

Number two, make the most of the expertise in your business to make sure you’re going to the right people with the right messages in the right way. Build relationships with key SMEs early, and use content to build their profile in your industry. If you do that well, you can turn them into valuable advocates for your content and wider marketing plans.

And finally, it’s also important to connect your work to business results and think about how you’ll define and measure success. And don’t forget to celebrate your successes loudly to make sure people understand the value you’re delivering, so you can maintain buy-in for your content efforts.

Also in the series

We spoke to Stephanie Wisdom about how to keep your B2B content fresh, agile and focused on what really matters – your customers. Read the Expert Q and A with Stephanie.