The stair step approach to startup content marketing

A simple playbook to create your first content strategy.

I often get the same question from SaaS startups,

When I’m starting at $0 in MRR, how should I think about Content Marketing?

This post is an attempt to build a simple, step-by-step playbook to answer that question.

The five-step approach to startup content marketing.

• STEP 1: Questions as a growth strategy

• STEP 2: Bottom of the funnel SEO content

• STEP 3: Outsource content to customers

• STEP 4: Curation

• STEP 5: Thought Leadership

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STEP 1: Questions as a growth strategy

As an unknown startup, optimize your first content strategy for conversations. Your objective is to get responses from customers. This means you need to be open to listening and have a response strategy.

I’ve outlined the Power of Questions as a growth strategy; I’m bullish on this approach; especially for young startups.

To headline it,

"Can you lead with a question in every piece of communication you put out?"

This overarching communication strategy should be the first thing you should nail down.

Once you have this down, the next step is figuring out a short-term strategy. This should give you some traction to get you going; your first win, while you figure out your long-term strategy.

STEP 2: Brand-focused, bottom-of-the-funnel SEO content

If you want to get to the top; start at the bottom.

Optimize for the bottom of the funnel.

Grow & Convert has two fantastic guides:

1. Pain-Point SEO: How to Produce SEO Content That Drives Conversions

2. SaaS Content Marketing: Why You Should Focus on Bottom of the Funnel First to Drive Signups

This is a small excerpt from the two posts on what you should be focusing on.

1. Comparison posts – this framework objectively compares your product or service to your top competitors. 

Example: Hubspot vs. Marketo: A Side-by-Side Comparison

My take: Go one step further; objectively compare two competitors on your website; without promoting your product. Don’t think you can do it objectively? Get a neutral writer and publish their piece without any editorial intervention. Put out a clear disclaimer on how the piece was commissioned.

1. Best product or service lists – this framework helps searchers discover the best products or services in the category they’re searching for.

Example: The 7 Best Marketing Automation Tools & Platforms in 2020

My take: Don’t be an idiot and publish your tool as #1. People will read this on your website. Chill.

1. Alternatives to X – this framework helps searchers discover alternatives to your competitor’s products. Here’s an example

Example: 8 HubSpot Alternatives for Marketing Automation

My take: Double down on this approach. If Marketo is on this list of alternatives; publish a separate post on Marketo alternatives. Include tools that are not on the Hubspot list. This way, you’ll cover a wide range of brand keywords in a specific niche.

1. Articles that talk about pricing – This framework talks about the pricing of your own product or service (if you have this hidden) – you could also do this for your competitors if they’re not forward about pricing. 

Example: How Much Does Marketo Cost (And is it Worth it)?

My take: Clearly articulate the total cost of ownership of a competitor versus you. Use this to tell people why you are cheaper or more expensive with a clear set of reasons. Think of this as the call to close the deal; what would you say? Say it here.

1. Product or Service Use Cases – this framework helps searchers figure out how to solve a problem they have and presents your product or service as a potential solution  – ie. how to increase leads from content marketing (note the subtle tie-ins to SEMrush throughout the post).

Example: 7 Secrets to Increasing Your Lead Conversion with Content Marketing

My take: This is a great investment for retention and churn reduction as well. These posts will be a great way to pre-board and onboard customers. Convert these into a use-case library and drive your existing customers to it.

Use these tactics to create your first 100 posts with a high-velocity publishing pace. You’ll notice some posts perform better than others. Some brand keywords convert best for you. Double down on this again. Set up separate landing pages for specific keywords; run paid campaigns to drive traffic to these pages.

You also know which competitors’ customers or prospects are converting best. Use this information to bid on competitor keywords on Google and drive them towards the best performing landing pages.

Next: How can you get your small startup marketing team to punch above its weight?

STEP 3: Customer-generated content

Marketers can consistently punch above their weight and create the illusion of plenty.

1. Gong is a widely-talked about brand; but, has fewer than 15 marketers on the team.

2. OpenView's high-quality blog and newsletter are run by three people.

3. I was the only marketer on the team at my first job in SaaS until we were doing seven figures in ARR. This is true for many other SaaS companies.

It's common to still have single or double-digit employees, while you have hundreds, sometimes several hundred customers.

You don't always make the most of them.

In my startup marketing days as a lone wolf, my CEO and I would open our Trello board for our marketing activities and see how we could outsource as much as 50% of those to our customers.

Creating content was by far the most challenging and time-consuming. We decided to invest time to build a program to outsource it.

Our customer-generated content included; (at three levels)

1. Why do you exist? What problems are you solving? What's your story? (company level)

2. Webinar/podcast series with persona. (persona level)

   1. Have 100 CMOs (whoever your persona or champion is) weigh in one topic or question (easily automatable outreach)

   2. Use that as a "foot in the door" to set up an individual CMO interview series. Double down; have them curate book lists, podcasts, newsletters, etc)

3. How are you using our product? (product level)

   1. Repackage to 1-sliders, case studies, testimonials

   2. Templates, use-case library

These people further feed into your advocate program.

You can have these customers speak with other prospects; over email or calls. Heck, we've had customers send out proactive reference emails and join prospect demo calls.

You should have each logo refer to at least one other new logo.

My biggest takeaway in running advocacy programs for years is; JUST ASK.

People want to say yes; all you need to do is ask. You will not believe how many people will say yes.

Make it personal

Not everyone can end up writing for Forbes or Fast Company. A lot of people don’t have the time or incentive to publish on social media or their own blog.

But, they want to be heard. They have burning topics on top of their mind that they want to express.

Some of them just want to appropriate their space on the internet. So that they get that byline and their article is found when people search for them on Google.

Make it compelling

1. Your blog is visited more than 100,000 people or that you have x number of email subscribers.

2. Showcase domain authority or previously published authors.

3. Show overlap in prospects and customers. Show that you cater to a similar demographic. And, this is their opportunity to get their personal and company brand in front of them.

Get it over the line.

Most people will say yes, start a project, and abandon it.

It’s funny that people have so much trouble going from 0-10, and again from 90 to 100.

Help them with both.

Write out the headline. Figure out the angle for them. If need be, write out subheadings as well.

Again, finally when they’re ready to abandon. Do a final edit. Get the images. Make them sound good.

The only investment we made was to hire a professional editor to ensure the quality of the content was consistent.

The idea is to pitch 10 stories a week. Some will get stuck. But, your volume will ensure you’re consistently publishing to get value for your efforts.

At this stage, you’re leveraging:

1. The power of questions and conversations

2. The link juice and visibility of other brands and competitors

3. Your first 100 customers, your promoters; the people who are keeping you afloat

Next: A tactic that’s criminally underrated in marketing: Curation.

STEP 4: Curation

What happens when you curate?

You become a thoughtful and helpful brand. 

Curation involves doing the dirty work of going through tons of resources. You combine the intelligence of all those resources in a consumable format. This saves your readers time and effort and more importantly, from information overload.

You rise above petty competitive politics. 

You simply promote a viewpoint that enriches the debate in your industry, even if it comes from a competitor.

You stand on the shoulders of great content.

“Honor by association” is a strong psychological tactic. People automatically elevate your brand, because you associate with a brand or person who’s already known for great content.

• Maria Popova of Brain Pickings curates from 500 years of books, letters, anything she can get her hands on.

• The Daily Skimm and Morning Brew have curated the news to become million-dollar businesses.

• The Scroll’s weekend reads are why I look forward to Sundays. Pocket Picks is my direct go-to reading list. (I never have to go directly to say the NY Times, The New Yorker, or The Wire)

Value of Curation for you = Your brand value * sum of all brands you curate from.

The power of this formula drives rapid readership and conversion. But, curation isn’t just a tactic; it’s a reflection of how you think of delivering value.

Here are 5 simple ways to start creating by curating.

1. When you start a blog post, e-book, or almost any form of content, bring in historical context for your reader.

You’ll see a lot of journalists start their articles with,

“In 1996” or “On one sunny day in Maine”

They give the reader some sense of how we got here, through a story or a key historical incident.

Or, they start with the genesis of their idea,

“I was reading a book or article.” or “I was walking through the streets of a city.”

Your curation starts from here. After they’re done reading your piece, they’ll want to perform the same action you did; visit the city or learn more about the historical incident you quoted.

When they like it, they’ll remember it was recommended by you. And, they’ll come back for more.

2. Link both internally and externally.

Whenever you’re writing, heavily quote and reference other works.

The story becomes meatier. Your narrative will flow. Your reader will feel confident because they know you’ve done your homework. By extension, they’ll want to hear your opinion on the matter. Sometimes, they’ll even want to pass it off as their own.

One caveat: Distraction.

Linking too much can lead to distraction— so much so they may abandon you to read something you linked to.

1. Tell the reader at the beginning, that there’s a reading list at the end of the post

2. Don’t hyperlink all your sources; add them to the reading list

3. Make sure all links open in a new tab; simple, yet important

3. Industry News, Best Of, Listicles, News Jacking, Skyscraper

Pick your niche. Go to the top authorities in the niche and pick out what they’re saying. But, if you stop there, you’ll only be known as the mouthpiece of established opinions.  As a curator, go to individual experts, smaller companies who have alternate views. 

Combine these resources with your own storytelling. This balance you maintain is why your readers will come back to you.

Create “best of” posts or listicles; heavily feature independent voices. Your content has the opportunity to be shared widely and you’ll build partnerships for the future.

Newsjacking has been widely abused in the past. But, it’s a powerful tool.

“Today, as a brand, you need to pick sides. You need to show up. You need to tell the world who you are, and what you stand for. If you don’t, then you don’t exist.”

Pick a cause you care about or an issue that is impacting the world deeply, right now. Tell your readers where you stand. Be lavish in praise or sharp in criticism. Be emotional, yet thoughtful.

Thanks to Backlinko’s Brian Dean; the Skyscraper Technique is a great way to turn content into high-quality backlinks. Plus, AuthorityHacker’s Shotgun Skyscraper technique is a super-actionable method to automating backlink outreach.

Pick a popular topic or trend in your niche that’s fairly well covered.

Improve upon existing content; new format, updated numbers, added research.

Reach out to people who’ve linked to similar content and ask for a backlink.

Underutilized Tactic: Personally, I’ve also seen great results from updating and optimizing old blog posts. It’s a tactic that’s captured very well by Hubspot here: The Blogging Tactic No One Is Talking About: Optimizing the Past.

4. Publish Your Swipe File, Review Your Software Stack, Write About People Who Inspire You

A swipe file is a collection of things that inspire you, that you want to replicate or steal. Every brand should have this. If you’re a B2B brand and you notice a great B2C brand, talk about the perspective of what it means to your industry.

Great examples,

• Swipe Files run by Corey Haines

• Marketing Examples run by Harry Dry

Another great way to curate is through reviews. Even small companies today use tens of software tools. Pick out a few of them and write how a specific team in your company is using them.

This also means, the software/company you’re reviewing will also promote this content and would be open to co-marketing in the future.

Interview amazing people and ask those people to recommend great books or other people to follow. This network effect is powerful.

5. Hidden Channel: Bonus, Bonus, Bonus.

We waste hundreds of interactions with prospects and customers.

Did you send out a cold outreach to a prospect? The response said not interested, right now? Close the conversation with something useful to read.

If you’re sending a round-up of webinars or upcoming events; add a bonus section to include something interesting to read, listen to or watch.

Don’t let any open conversation; think website live chat, support interaction, social media, even invoices—end without recommending something to read or consume.

All your teams; from support to customer success, should have a ready list of blurbs and links to promote.

At this stage, your content engine should be fairly solid. You would have also found your tone, voice, and publishing cadence that’s bringing consistent results.

Next step? Level up to deliver thought leadership.

STEP 5: Thought leadership

In one of the companies I worked at, (<5 million ARR at that time), we wanted to create a benchmark report for an industry that had zero access to such data, in the past.

We had to put in resources to crunch data, write the actual report, get high-quality graphics; the outcome was a thin paperback book. It was a lot to pull off for a small marketing team.

We promoted the book as a free giveaway for our flagship user conference. We promoted the report extensively and gave people small bits of data that got them really interested. This meant, people paid for the event, just to get their hands on the report.

After the event, the word-of-mouth was so powerful that we started receiving inbound queries from companies who were not even our customers. They wanted to buy the report.

At this point, we decided to monetize the report. We were converting content into revenue, while also starting conversations with potential customers. How sweet is that?

“That was a big step for me towards discovering what thought leadership looked like—when people want to pay money to listen to what you have to say.”

1. In Rework, Jason Fried talks about how Basecamp generates over a million bucks in just book sales.

2. Drift and Gainsight; category creators in Conversational Marketing and Customer Success, respectively—use books effectively to evangelize their categories.

When you get thought leadership right—it can have a multiplier effect on your business.

What happens if you can’t get it right?

"27% of decision-makers said reading a company's thought leadership directly led them to not awarding business to an organization."

Source: Edelman- LinkedIn Thought Leadership Study 2020

Here are 5 key elements to deliver real thought leadership.

1. Create aha moments with your content.

Explore potential challenges or new opportunities that your reader had not considered before.

2. Become quotable.

Showcase deep thinking and intellectual rigor. Offer actionable competitive intelligence and thorough high-quality research.

3. Establish authority. 

Offer a new, substantial, and potentially game-changing perspective on a specific topic.

4. B2B doesn’t need to be boring.

Entertain. Use bold, imaginative, and visual storytelling.

5. Question everything. 

Play the contrarian or unexpected angle. Couple it with the challenger sales model and you have a winning formula.

If you’re a small brand on a non-existent budget, how do you get started with thought leadership?

Start small. Aim to create,

1. 10% thought leadership content

2. 50% or more on curation or co-marketing content

3. The rest should be your branded content that includes product marketing, tactical tips, and tricks

Remember, if you get it right—the 10% can create 60 to 80% in outcomes. If you fail, you still minimize your impact on outcomes, because you fall back on the 90%.

As you start to get it right, increase the % of little by little until half of your content mix is only thought leadership. This requires journalistic rigor, a clear voice, and a curious passion.

How to get started?

Tap into early customers.

Go to your early backers; first 10 customers. Get the leadership to throw their weight behind you. If you pick 5 large verticals; get each leader to verticalize their content, so that you get a foot in that domain.

Outsource a small piece of thought leadership.

Could be a long-form post that has the potential to rank high on google, an ebook, or a short video that can be a lead magnet.

Write your own story

You started your own business, and made it to 100 or 1000 customers—there’s a fascinating story in there. Get a professional journalist or editor to write an essay out of it. Or maybe even a small book—who knows, what it will lead to.

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Which step of the stair are you on? What’s stopping you from moving to the next level?