♾️ The Punnett Square approach

When you’re working with GTM teams, you’re constantly swinging between two extremes while planning content. 

Product teams want the content to focus only on features, while content marketers live on the other extreme of “let’s not mention the product at all.”

Both approaches won’t get you anywhere because now your audience can’t place your product in the context of their problem.

That’s why you need to be more intentional and strategic about how you incorporate your product.

After almost four years of working with B2B SaaS clients, I’ve found a framework that always works:

The feature-use-case-audience matrix.

This matrix was inspired by the Punnett Square method created by Reginald Crundall Punnett, a British geneticist. 

At the time, he wanted to explain the genetic inheritance model created by Gregor Mendel  (Father of Modern Genetics). So, he used the “square” or matrix to do that.

For the uninitiated, here’s what this square looks like:

Now, I’m not going to give you a biology lesson—but the main idea is that you can mix and match different parameters to find the answer you need.

In our case, that’s the content topic we’re planning.

How the 3x3 content matrix works

First, list all your product features in a spreadsheet—one per row.

Next, identify the primary use cases each feature supports—one per column.

This creates a grid where each intersection represents a potential content opportunity.

For each intersection, ask yourself: “What problem does this feature solve for this specific use case?”

That question becomes your content angle.

Let me break down how this works with DocuSign as an example.

DocuSign offers electronic signature capabilities, but that’s not what customers buy.

They buy solutions to specific problems:

• Healthcare providers need HIPAA-compliant patient consent forms.

• HR teams need secure, legally binding employment contracts.

• Retail businesses need verified identity authentication for online transactions.

When we map these elements into a matrix, we get intersections that can result in their own topics.

When we analyze the DocuSign matrix, each intersection reveals distinct content opportunities:

As a result, you get topics like:

• The Healthcare Administrator’s Guide to HIPAA-Compliant Digital Patient Consent Forms (brand awareness/problem awareness stage)

• Paper vs. Digital: The Real Compliance Risks in Patient Documentation (problem aware)

• How XYZ Hospital Reduced Patient Onboarding Time by 72% While Maintaining HIPAA Compliance (consideration and decision stage)

• Setting Up Compliant Patient Signature Workflows: A Step-by-Step Guide for Healthcare Administrators (decision and retention stages)

Each piece connects back to the feature (eSignature), use case (HIPAA compliance), and industry (healthcare).

How do you prioritize content topics?

I’ve found three ways to do this (and you can use them in tandem with each other):

1. Category entry points

Focus on the core problems people search for when entering your product category.

For DocuSign, “electronic signature solution for healthcare” represents a critical entry point. 

When healthcare administrators search for any digital tool, compliance is the first thing that comes to mind. Getting the signature on the dotted line is just one part of the equation.

Create content like “HIPAA Compliance Checklist for Patient Consent Forms” or “The Legal Standing of Electronic Signatures in Healthcare: What Administrators Need to Know” to drive that point.

2. Content strategy goals

If your goal is increasing user adoption or upsells/cross-sells, focus on content that would highlight those features.

Everybody knows DocuSign for their signature solution but document generation might not be top of mind. 

So, you can create content on topics like “X Ways to Reduce Time Creating Consent Forms for New Patients.”

3. Target segments 

If you want to focus on a specific segment, create content to serve that audience.

Since DocuSign caters to large enterprises in the healthcare segment, they know that integration, interoperability, and scalability are important.

They might create content like: “DocuSign + Kno2: Integrating EHRs for Care Delivery.”

Ultimately, you can be more intentional about which topics to publish and even audit your existing content library to see where the gaps are.

Have questions? Reply to this email and let me know—always happy to elaborate.

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