If you’re in the early stages of developing a content marketing playbook for your organization or business group, then you know it requires a lot of research. You’re probably spending hours identifying best practices that align with your organization, checking out what other companies are doing in your industry, and forming a data-driven strategy with clear-cut goals and KPIs.

That’s no small feat, but it’s worth it. The returns on a buyer-centric content strategy are huge, and aligning around content is key for getting the most out of your marketing investments.

So to help you build your content strategy playbook, we’ve compiled a list of helpful resources, broken out by topic.

Why Content Marketing

Content is now at the center of marketing. A new buyer journey and different expectations for marketing/sales communications have led to the need for buyer-centric content.

• Content at the Center of Marketing [Blog Post]
• Why a “Challenger Sale” Sales Team Needs Content Marketing [Blog Post]

Why We Need a Content Strategy

But just creating MORE content isn’t enough. In fact, 60-70% of content in B2B enterprise companies goes unused. 

• It’s Time to Come Clean About Our B2B Content Marketing Strategy [Blog Post]

A unified content operation/strategy is required to create content that will feed the inbound channels buyers use to discover solutions and fuel the outbound channels you use to communicate with those buyers. Your content should also be the kind of material your sales team will actually use.

• Marketing’s Missing Link: Why Marketing Investments Fail Without A Content Operation [Downloadable Report]

How We’ll Build and Implement a Content Strategy

You have to build a content operation internally. This isn’t about a complete restructuring, but rather, it’s about implementing best practices on how existing teams can collaborate and be accountable to one another.

• What Is Intra-Marketing Alignment? [Blog Post]

This includes creating an editorial board, getting internal thought leaders involved in the content process, and hiring freelancers when necessary.

• Using Internal Resources to Build Your Content Marketing Operation [Blog Post]

If you don’t currently have the right people in your organization, hire to fill your content and marketing needs.

• Recruit the Dream Team: The Content Marketing Hiring Handbook [Downloadable eBook]

Additionally, align your content initiatives with your personas and buying stages. Make sure you’re focusing on the needs, interests, and problems facing your buyers, not necessarily on the benefits of your products and services.

• Getting It Right: Aligning Content to Buyers Up & Down the Funnel [Kapost Academy Online Class]

You don’t have to be on every new channel to make an impact. Choose the channels and tactics that are the most strategic for your company. This depends on where your target audience gets their information.

• 3 Essential Tactics to Infuse Distribution Into Your Content Marketing Strategy [Blog Post]
• How to Bake Distribution into Your Content Production Recipe [Blog Post]

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty details of how to execute your content-centered campaigns, build out processes and workflows for your content, including ideation, production, distribution, and analysis.

• The Complete Guide to Building Your Content Marketing Workflow [Downloadable eBook]
• The 6 Most Common Content Marketing Workflow Templates [Downloadable Templates]

Create large pieces of content, called content pillars, then break them down into smaller assets to fill your content calendar and fuel all of your marketing channels, such as social media, marketing automation, blog and website, etc.

• A Real Life Example of a Content Pillar [Blog Post]

Set KPIs and goals. This requires understanding the metrics and analytics to track. But it takes time to truly see the results of a content strategy. Start with vanity metrics and engagement. Then move to metrics that matter, for example, performance, leads, and revenue impact.

• How to Tie Content Marketing to Revenue Impact [Blog Post]
• Content Analytics for Dummies: The Metrics That Matter [Blog Post]

Get your marketing technology investments working together—including social media tools, marketing automation, CRM, and content marketing software. If you’re looking to invest in these tools, understand why they’re important for executing and measuring the success of your digital marketing strategy. This will help you make your case.

• Marketing Automation Runs on Content [Downloadable eBook]
• The 5 Essential Tools for the Modern Marketer [Blog Post]
• An Introduction to Content Marketing Software [Downloadable eBook]
• The Content Marketing Platform: Why Kapost Is Critical to Content Marketing Success [SlideShare Presentation]

Make sure you know how to use the technology to it’s maximum capabilities. This may require tapping the vendor’s services team. Get the most out of your investment.

• Thinking About Buying Marketing Software? Make Sure You Know Who Has Your Back.

Resources, Data, and Statistics That May Be Useful to Selling Your Strategy

To sell your strategy, you may need data and stats to back up your decisions. Here are a list of resources to help you out.

• Content Marketing Facts [Microsite Full of Marketing Stats by Category]
• What’s the ROI of a Content Operation? [Infographic]
• Overcoming Content Chaos [Infographic]
• Marketing’s Missing Link: Why Marketing Investments Fail Without A Content Operation [Downloadable Report]
• The Art & Science of Content Marketing [Infographic]

If you don’t see what you need above, we may have what you’re looking for on our content marketing resources page. It’s broken out by category. Still looking for help? Tweet at us (@kapost) and we’ll get you what you need.