♾️ Stop building your content strategy on shaky ground

The past few years of content marketing have witnessed a massive shift.

Previously, you could spin up 100s of pages using the Skyscraper technique and win on the SERPs.

Today? Your buyers crave more—and frankly, so does Google.

I remember a conversation I had over a year ago with a then-client. Months passed, and I wasn’t receiving any briefs from them.

I assumed other priorities took over, but when I launched my strategy service, they wanted to chat and diagnose why content wasn’t working for them.

They were struggling with pipeline issues and were close to shutting down.

Like many early-stage companies, they hit the holy trinity of problems:

• No strategic narrative

• No subject matter expertise

• No bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content

As a result, they were attracting too many top-of-funnel visitors who weren’t ready to buy and didn’t understand how the product helped them.

The real issue? They hadn’t conducted enough customer research.

They couldn’t pick a clear positioning statement and create targeted content for in-market buyers (MOFU/BOFU content).

What damage control looked like

We did publish enough product-led content, but mostly “What is X” topics brought in hand-raisers. A good portion of them weren’t qualified.

To tackle this, this company started doing more ICP interviews and even brought in an industry leader as an advisor to understand their prospects’ core challenges.

Turns out, they did 5 to 7 interviews and stopped there.

Their entire content strategy and messaging relied on that small dataset.

The data was skewed, biased, and lacked tangible insights.

In short, the content never reached the right people at the right time.

What they should have done instead

Whether you’re still in the early stages or are on the way to the moon—you have to stay close to your market.

You need to set up 10 or at least 20 interviews with your ICP and existing customers to understand:

• What problems do they have

• How are they currently solving it

• Why that approach isn’t working

• How your product fits into their problem narrative

I’d also recommend talking to all stakeholders involved in the decision-making process—especially if you sell into companies with larger buying committees.

Here’s who you need to consider:

• Decision-makers: The ones with the final say.

• Influencers or champions: Those who sway the decision-makers.

• Initiators: The people responsible for vendor selection.

• End users: The people who will actually use your product daily.

When you talk to such a diverse group, you’ll find out what makes them tick.

• Why are they reaching out?

• Why do they want to make a change now?

• What are they actually looking for?

That’s how you’ll know which topics to target and how to create conversion-focused content that drives pipeline and revenue.

Keep talking to customers until you hear the same things repeatedly. That’s when you know it’s a problem that needs solving.

As a result, you’ll be more confident—not only in your message but in the direction of your overall marketing efforts.

Here’s a recent post I wrote on what that means for your content.

Even though we didn’t work together because of the lack of a solid foundation (ICP + product-market fit), my ex-client is doing much better after they returned to the drawing board.

Their messaging is clear, and they revamped their entire website to lean in on the right issues and value proposition.

That’s the power of staying close to your customers and your market.

Over to you: Do you have enough data to make better decisions on what to publish in the next few quarters?

Reply to this email and let me know—always happy to troubleshoot any issues and unblock your strategy.

P.S. Liked the issue? Share it with someone who could benefit from it.

Read of the week: MKT1 Guide to Annual Marketing Planning (by Emily Kramer)

It’s 2025 planning season—I recommend checking this series out to get your ducks in a row. MKT1 is doing an excellent planning series, so check it out and subscribe!

That’s all for today! As always, if you have any questions or feedback, you can send it here:

Before you go…

Here are three ways I can help you:

1. Build/run your content strategy: If you’re struggling to create content that stands out, resonates, and converts, let’s chat.

2. Execute your content strategy: If you need help creating long-form content like blog posts, research reports, or case studies, let’s chat.

3. Solve one burning issue with 1:1 help: If a specific issue is currently bogging down your content marketing efforts, schedule a paid 1:1 session with me.

Reply to this email and let me know!