B2B SaaS Content Marketing Strategy That Converts: A Step-by-Step Guide

There are not a lot of marketing strategies that offer results as consistent and long-lasting as quality content. For B2B companies, this is especially true, as reaching their audience isn't as straightforward as it is for B2C brands.

After years of creating content for various B2B SaaS companies (content writing, SEO, content strategy, ROI marketing, etc.), we've learned a trick or two about developing a successful content marketing strategy. In this article, we will share a high-level overview of a step-by-step process specifically tailored to early-stage B2B SaaS companies that are just getting started with their content marketing strategy or looking for guidance on building one that converts.

We are going to cover topics such as:

• What is a Content Marketing Strategy Anyway??
• Why Content Versus Other Marketing Formats?
• How Do Agencies Do Content Marketing for B2B SaaS??
• How to Create Your Own B2B SaaS Content Marketing Strategy?
• Measuring and Analyzing Your Content Marketing Strategy's Success.

What Is a Content Marketing Strategy Anyway?

A content marketing strategy outlines how a company will use content (texts, PDFs, videos, podcasts, infographics, etc.) to reach and engage its target audience, build brand awareness, drive conversions, and finally generate revenue. It's about creating and distributing valuable, unique, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.

Even though we can slice it up in a lot of pieces, from our perspective, a successful content marketing strategy will consist of three core elements:

1. The Goal: What are you trying to achieve? Brand awareness? Leads and conversions? Customer retention? Your goal will influence the type of content you create , where you distribute it, and how you measure its success.
2. The Content Focus and Distribution: What topics or themes will you focus on? What channels/platforms will you use to distribute your content ?
3. The Strategy Execution: How will you create and distribute the content? Which format will you use? Who will be responsible for what tasks, timelines, and budget?

Let's take a look at each of these elements in more detail.

What is the Goal of Your Content Marketing Strategy?

When we discuss content marketing strategies with new SaaS clients, the usual answer is, "We want to build brand awareness and get new leads." While these two goals may overlap, they usually require very different strategies.?

For example, if your main goal is to increase traffic and build brand awareness , there is a good chance the content you produce won't bring as much sales but will be more focused on building a solid and recognizable brand. For B2C companies the game looks a bit different – most content marketing strategies aim at increasing sales through content that engages potential customers and prompts them to purchase.

However, B2B companies have longer sales cycles and rely more on building relationships with potential clients. That's why some of our clients come to us fully prepared to produce content that won't necessarily bring in immediate sales.

Even though it doesn't sound logical at first, there is a common belief that brand awareness and building trust with your audience will usually lead to more conversions and sales in the long run. But is that always the case? Not really. For some companies, focusing on traffic ultimately drives very few actual customers.

However, for other companies, building brand awareness and trust with their audience increases conversions and sales, especially for more established brands with a loyal customer base. If we're talking realistically, companies that approach agencies for content marketing strategies usually want to see some kind of measurable ROI (most commonly leads) from their investment, and they don't want to spend the budget without the results they can show to their boss (or themselves).

What Topics Will You Focus On, and Which Channels Will You Use?

Your business goals will severely influence the type of content you produce and the channels you use to distribute it. For example, if your main goal is brand awareness, your topics should attract a broader B2B audience, have a high search volume, and be distributed on channels with a high reach.

On the other hand, if your goal is to generate leads and conversions, your content should be more targeted toward a specific audience, directly connected to your SaaS product, and have a clear call to action. This type of content is best distributed through high-conversion channels such as targeted email campaigns, PPC ads (Linkedin, Google, Reddit, etc.), and optimized landing pages.

The ultimate goal is to attract qualified traffic from prospects who are already in-market, interested in your SaaS solution and potentially ready to convert. Therefore, your content topics should be closely aligned with your business goals and your distribution channels should be carefully selected to effectively reach your target audience.

How Will You Create Content and Execute Your Strategy?

You have a goal, you have a topic, and you have your channels. Now, it's time to decide how you will create the actual content and execute your strategy. For B2B SaaS companies, this can include methods such as:

• In-house production: creating content within your own team.
• Freelancers: hiring external writers, designers or video producers with SaaS expertise to create your content.
• Agency: outsourcing your content creation and strategy to a specialized B2B SaaS content marketing agency .

Depending on resources and budget, companies usually use one or a combination of these methods to create and execute their content marketing plan . As long as you're aware that creating in-house requires time and effort, freelancers can be hit or miss, and agencies require collaboration and communication, you can choose the option that works best for your business.

Why Content Versus Other Digital Marketing Channels?

Another common question many SaaS businesses have about content marketing is whether it's worth the investment. With so many other digital marketing channels available, why should a company like your focus on creating content, instead of, say, investing in paid advertising or influencer marketing?

Here are a few reasons that will maybe help you see the value in content marketing:

Content Is Cost-Effective

Well-written content usually includes search engine optimization (SEO) techniques designed to drive traffic and help your website rank higher in search engines. If your content is optimized well enough, it can continue to drive traffic and generate leads for months or even years after it's been published, which is especially useful for long sales cycles and complex B2B buying processes.

That also means you don't pay for clicks. So, although investing in content creation upfront may seem like a higher cost than other digital channels, the return on investment (ROI) can actually be much higher in the long run, especially if you're using sales-driven content.

Content Builds Trust And Authority

B2B SaaS customers are generally more savvy and skeptical of traditional advertising and more interested in learning about products or services through educational content. Nowadays, not even B2C customers buy a product without doing prior research. Signing up for long-term subscriptions and going through the hassle of adjusting to a new software system isn't something people do without proper research and understanding of the product.

If your content is ungated, high-quality and informative , it will help your target audience build trust in your brand and consider you a thought leader or industry expert. This, in turn, can lead to higher conversion rates and more loyal customers.

Search-based Traffic Is More Targeted

Compared to display ads or social media ads, search-based traffic is usually much more targeted. People don't just passively see your information; they're actively looking for it. If you're using sales-focused content , you're showing up for terms that are most likely to lead to a sale.

Because of these reasons and more, content marketing has a massive advantage over traditional forms of advertising. It's often a one-time investment that can continue to bring in results for a long time, ultimately leading to higher ROI.?

That is, IF you can get your content to rank and be seen by your audience. So, let's discuss five simple steps to creating an agency-like content marketing strategy for B2B SaaS.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a B2B Content Marketing Strategy (like an Agency)

As you’ve probably realized by now, at A88Lab, we create content strategies for B2B SaaS companies, and we ensure that we have a solid plan in place before we start creating any content. Whether it's blog posts, pillar pages, white papers, or case studies , each piece of content is SEO optimized, tailored to our clients' target audience, and aligned with the bigger picture—their business goals.?

Here are the steps (feel free to steal them) we take with every single one of our clients to ensure the strategy that will have our name in the signature will actually deliver results.

Step 1: Who Is Your Customer and Why Do They Need You?

We have already written about this multiple times, and from our experience, this is the step our clients dread the most. But nailing down your target audience is really important for any type of marketing, especially content marketing.

If you get your target audience or their pain points wrong, or if you simply ignore this step altogether and write based on... Well, your gut feeling or whatever the new trend in your industry is, you'll likely end up wasting time, money, and resources creating content that will never resonate with your potential customers.?

And that's a content marketing nightmare - having a ton of content that doesn't resonate or bring results.?

However, mapping out your target audience and its pain points doesn't have to be a traumatic task. Let's walk you through how we do it.?

Discover The Pain Points

This one is easy—list the challenges that you solve for customers. If you're familiar with the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) methodology, this step might ring a bell.?

If not, think about the problems your product or service solves for customers. Even better, gather a team from various departments and ask them this question. You will be surprised by how many different answers you will get, but that's okay. It means people look at your product from a unique perspective.

Here is how we do it:

After an initial discovery workshop where we get to know our client's business, industry, and offers, we usually organize a JTBD workshop next. For it to work, we use a Miro board with prepared JTBD templates, that looks something like this:

From a client side, it's good to have various team members join, with at least one person who talks first hand with customers. That could be a Customer Success Manager, Sales Representative, or the founder of the company. Ideally, we would have at last 4-5 people in the workshop to get a diverse range of perspectives and insights.

From our side, there is usually a content lead facilitating the workshop and taking notes. We start by introducing the concept of JTBD and its importance in creating effective content. Then, we ask each team member to write down their answers to the questions such as how would they describe their business, what customer problems do they solve, what impact do they hope to generate, and so on.

One of the key benefits of using the JTBD methodology is that it brings together different perspectives from various departments within the company and, if run correctly, it can discover pain points and goals that may have not been previously identified. The workshop usually lasts around 2-3 hours and by the end, we have plenty of valuable insights and information.

Next, use the JTBD board and the pain points client highlighted as an inspiration for the topics and keywords we will focus on. For example, we worked with a client who provided synthetic data solutions to businesses. One of their customers' biggest pain points was data security and privacy. Because we knew that many potential customers were looking for answers and solutions related to data security and privacy, we identified keyword opportunities around that and created content that addressed these pain points directly.

We continued to build on these pain points and create content that grabs the attention of potential customers, positions our client as an expert in the field, and explains how their product can solve those challenges.

Think About Unique Selling Propositions

Now, let's talk about the unique selling propositions (USPs) that make your product or service stand out from the competition. This is where you need to get creative and think outside of the box. Ask yourself, what sets your SaaS product apart? What makes it different from others in the market? What made you start the company in the first place??

Writing these advantages gives you another great bucket of ideas for your keyword research. More often than not, clients come to us with poor USPs, or none at all. The ones that already have a defined USP usually don't know how to express it in words or they use technical jargon that their audience may not understand. This is where we come in and help them identify and refine their positioning and messaging , so they can effectively communicate them to potential customers.

In our previous example, our clients' USPs was the fact that they provide a platform for cost-efficient and secure synthetic data generation. Even though it needed some refining, this USP helped us focus our keyword research around terms like "cost-efficient data generation", "secure synthetic data", "cost-efficient synthetic data", "secure data generation platform", and "synthetic data platform".

Write those keywords down and see if any of them can be expanded into a potential topic for content. Use them as inspiration for blog posts, social media posts, or even video content. If they have a high ranking potential, they will help you reach people who closely match your ideal customer profile.?

Is There Anything Else Your Customers Care About?

Before we move on to the next step, think of any other pain points or interests your or your client’s potential customers may have. These can be related to the product or service or the company, such as industry trends or company size.?

In our previous example, we could have used keywords such as "synthetic data for enterprise" or "data generation for the healthcare industry." These keywords could have led us to explore topics such as the benefits of using synthetic data in larger organizations or how the healthcare industry can benefit from using secure and cost-efficient synthetic data.?

The key here is to have a solid foundation you need to perform the initial keyword research and prioritize your content ideas.

Step 2: Keyword Research and Content Mapping

Once you have a list of potential keywords and topics, the next step includes conducting thorough keyword research and content mapping. How you go about this will depend on the business goals we've talked about before.?

If the goal is brand awareness, you may want to focus on high-volume keywords for your space, which will attract a broader audience that may not necessarily be actively looking for your product or service (yet).

If the goal is lead generation, you may want to prioritize long-tail keywords that are more specific and have lower search volumes but attract a highly targeted audience that is more likely to convert into customers.?

If your target customer's pain points and interests are not enough to guide your keyword research, there are plenty of other ways to come up with relevant keywords and topics. Some options include:

• Checking out your competitors' content and the keywords they are targeting.
• Looking at industry forums, discussion boards, and social media groups to see what topics are currently trending in your space.
• Visiting SaaS review websites like G2 or Capterra to see what features and solutions customers are searching for in your industry.
• Interviewing customers or conducting surveys to understand their language and what terms they use when discussing your product or service.
• Get a list of commonly asked questions your sales team receives on phone calls.

Finally, use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to gather data on search volumes, keyword difficulty, and potential topics to cover.?

Once you have a list of keywords and topics related to your business goals and target audience, it's time for content mapping. This means organizing your keywords into topic clusters or content categories that will guide the creation of your content strategy. There are a couple of ways we do that, depending on the client's goals and the strategy itself.

First thing you can do is divide the keywords based on the funnel stage (top, middle, and bottom of the funnel) they target. Top of the funnel keywords are broader and more informational in nature, targeting users who are just starting to research a topic or problem.?

Middle of the funnel keywords are more specific and intent-driven, targeting users who are actively looking for solutions or products related to their pain points. Bottom of the funnel keywords are usually brand or product-specific, targeting users who are ready to make a purchase decision.

Another way to organize your keywords is by topic clusters. This involves grouping together related keywords that cover a specific topic or theme. Let's jump back to our synthetic data example. Based on our research, we mapped the content around the following clusters: Industry-specific terms, pain points and challenges, benefits of synthetic data, use cases for synthetic data, and comparisons with other data generation methods.

Each cluster connected back to the pillar page about synthetic data, providing a clear overview of the topic. From there, we prioritized the topics and began creating content around them. Let’s take a look at two examples of how the content mapping based on topic clusters could look like:

On the graphic above, we can see four different topic clusters, connected to relevant keywords for each cluster. This approach gives you a better overview of the keywords you should keep in mind and allows you to create more targeted content around specific topics.

On the second graphic, we take things a step further. In the center, we have a main topic or pillar page, which covers the overall topic in-depth. Then, each surrounding circle represents a sub-topic or cluster, which can be further broken down into individual pieces of content targeting specific keywords. This way, each piece of content is still connected to the main topic, but can also stand on its own and cover a specific aspect in detail.

Step 3: Content Production

Let's move on to the most critical part of your B2B SaaS content strategy - content production. At A88Lab., we use a simple process that guides us through the production of high-quality, engaging content. It includes:

1. SERP and Keyword Research - Understanding what type of content is ranking for your target keywords, how you can differentiate, and what makes the most sense to write about. This part is usually covered in the keyword research and content mapping step, but we still make sure to sync separately for each content piece to avoid any missed opportunities.
2. Customer Interview - We bring the ideas back to our customers to validate that we're hitting the mark and adjust the direction if needed. After all, they are the subject-matter experts with first-hand experience.
3. Content Brief - Our team creates a content brief outlining the topic, target keywords, desired word count, main points to cover, and any accompanying graphics or visuals.
4. Content Creation - With all the necessary information in hand, our team begins creating the content based on the outlined brief.
5. Editing and Proofreading - Once a draft is completed, we send it over for review and editing. The goal is to ensure the content is clear, concise, and error-free.
6. On-Page SEO - Our team optimizes the content for on-page SEO by including target keywords, meta descriptions, title tags, alt text, and internal/external links.
7. Final Review - The final step is to review the content one last time before publishing to ensure it aligns with the client's brand voice and meets our quality standards.

We have written about this many times before, but let's mention it again - there is no successful SEO strategy without quality content. We may not know exactly what makes the algorithm tick, but we do know that it values relevant and valuable content. That's why our team takes a strategic approach to content creation, ensuring it is well-researched, customer-centric, and then optimized for SEO.

What works today may not work tomorrow in the SEO world, but if there is one constant - it's the importance of quality content. That's why we put so much emphasis on this step in our process. Whether it's creating blog posts, website copy, or social media content, we understand that every piece of content plays an important role in driving traffic and conversions for our clients.

Step 4: Content Promotion

After the content goes live, there are three main ways you can promote it: to your existing audience, through paid channels, and organically through search engines. Mixing all three together will give you the best results, but you have to make that decision based on your resources, goals, and budget.

Promotion to Existing Audience

This is the easiest way to promote your content because you already have a built-in audience interested in your brand. When you create and publish new content, share it on your social media accounts, send it out in your email newsletter, and promote it through any other channels you use to communicate with your audience.

Is this a sustainable way to grow your audience? Not really. It will give you that initial spike in traffic, but it won't consistently bring in new visitors. This is why you also need a plan B.

Promoting Content Through Paid Channels

While you wait for the SEO magic to happen, you can promote your content using paid channels. The goal here is to start with paid to drive some traffic or conversions from your targeted audience before the content starts ranking organically, then ramp down the paid spends. Ideally, the spending won't last forever, but you will have to play it by ear and see how things go.

Some of the ways we promote content through paid channels include LinkedIn In-Message Ads Conversation Ads, boosted social media posts, and Google Ads. You can turn your content piece into a downloadable resource, such as an eBook or white paper, and promote it using lead generation ads on social media.

Where and how to advertise, though, will again depend on your budget and target audience. Google Ads is great for search intent-driven content, sponsored content on LinkedIn is always a good option for B2B audiences, and Facebook Ads are perfect for targeting specific demographics. Keep some room for experimentation and see where your content performs best.

Promoting Content Organically Through Search Engines

This is what every marketer dreams of - having their content rank high on search engine results pages organically. If this happens, you won't have to spend a single penny on promoting your content and it will pull in traffic and conversions on its own, and hopefully over the long term.

What do you have to do to make that happen? First and foremost, we go back to high-quality content. Again, search engines have sophisticated algorithms that are constantly evolving, but ultimately, they aim to provide the best and most relevant content to their users. So, if you want your content to rank, it needs to be high quality and offer value to your audience.

Next, you have to optimize your content for SEO. As we discussed above, this includes keyword research, using optimized titles and meta descriptions, having a good URL structure, alt text, etc. The last step is link building - both internal and external. Internal links help search engines understand the structure of your website and the relevance of your content, while external links from reputable websites signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy.

Link building involves a lot of outreach and networking, and there are plenty of ways to get backlinks to your content, from guest blogging to creating shareable and valuable infographics or data visualizations to submitting your content to online directories. If you don't have the bandwidth or resources to do it yourself, there are plenty of agencies and freelancers who specialize in it.

Step 5: Finally, Measuring Content Performance

You've created, optimized, shared, and promoted your content - but it doesn't end there. Whether it is to yourself, your boss, or a client, you have to prove your content is actually doing what it's supposed to.?

Here is what we take into consideration when measuring content performance:

• Traffic: Is your content driving traffic to your website ? Are people spending time on the page or bouncing off? How many pages are they visiting? Set up reports in Google Analytics and keep an eye on what is going on. You can also monitor social media shares and referral traffic from your shareable content.
• SEO rankings: Next, we monitor targeted keywords to see where we rank for them. You can use tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, Moz, or some combination of these tools to track your rankings.?
• Conversions: Ultimately, the success of your content will be measured by conversions. Are people taking the desired action after consuming your content? This could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, filling out a contact form, or any other goal you have set.

If you see a particular piece of content is not performing well, don't be afraid to analyze it and make changes. Maybe the title needs tweaking, or the topic isn't resonating with your audience. Keep experimenting until you find a formula that works.?

Same, if you see a category of keywords driving more traffic than others, double down on that topic. Create more content, repurpose it in different formats, and promote it to reach a wider audience.?

Continue regularly monitoring your traffic, rankings, and conversions to see how your content performs over time. Use the gathered data to inform your future content strategy and continually improve your results.

Conclusion

This content strategy creation process may be tailored to B2B SaaS companies, but it is more or less applicable to various markets, audiences, and industries. It's a great place to start or get an overall understanding of what might need to happen if you want to get serious about your content strategy.?

Now, on to the bad news: content marketing is not a "one-and-done" tactic or a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Depending on the kind of business you run, you will have to adapt and tweak this process. You may also find that some steps are more important than others for your goals.?

But don't let that discourage you. Content marketing is still one of the best things you can do for your SaaS business, both in terms of brand awareness and lead generation. Keep a close eye on your metrics, be open to change and experimentation, and the results will follow.