It’s hard to stand out among many similar companies and competitors. But image, messaging, and content are key to staying ahead of the curve. As a marketing manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your content resonates with your audience, supports your business goals, and reflects the latest industry trends. To help you evaluate and improve your content, here are 20 essential questions to ask yourself about your B2B tech company’s content.
1. Is My Content Aligned with My Business Goals?
- Explanation: Your content should directly support your company’s broader business objectives. Whether it’s driving leads, building brand awareness, or positioning your company as a thought leader, each piece of content should have a clear purpose that aligns with these goals. Beyond being informational, it should be captivating.
2. Who Is My Target Audience?
- Explanation: Understanding your audience is fundamental. Identify who your content is meant for—whether it’s IT managers, CTOs, or procurement teams—and ensure your messaging addresses their specific pain points, needs, and interests that will resonate specifically to your target personas.
3. Is My Content Addressing the Right Pain Points?
- Explanation: Your content should focus on solving your target audience’s problems. Regularly reassess the challenges your audience is encountering and adjust your content to address those evolving needs.
4. Is My Content Offering Unique Value?
- Explanation: With so much information available, your content needs to stand out. Ask yourself if your content offers unique insights, data, or perspectives that your audience can’t find elsewhere.
5. Am I Using the Right Content Formats?
- Explanation: Different audiences prefer different types of content. Consider whether you’re using the right mix of formats—such as blogs, whitepapers, videos, and infographics—to engage your audience effectively.
6. How Engaging Is My Content?
- Explanation: Engagement is key to content effectiveness. Assess whether your content is compelling enough to encourage interaction, such as comments, shares, or downloads. Use storytelling, visuals, and interactive elements to boost engagement.
7. Is My Content Optimized for Search Engines (SEO)?
- Explanation: SEO is critical for content visibility. Ensure that your content is optimized with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags, and that it follows best practices for search engine rankings.
8. Am I Leveraging Data to Guide Content Creation?
- Explanation: Data-driven content is more likely to resonate with your audience. Use analytics and insights to determine what topics, formats, and distribution channels are most effective, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
9. Is My Content Reflecting the Latest Industry Trends?
- Explanation: The tech industry evolves rapidly, and your content should reflect the latest trends and innovations. Regularly update your content to ensure it remains relevant and forward-looking.
10. Am I Maintaining a Consistent Brand Voice?
- Explanation: Consistency in tone and messaging helps build a recognizable brand. Review your content to ensure it consistently reflects your company’s values and voice across all platforms.
11. How Is My Content Performing?
- Explanation: Regularly review performance metrics such as traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. Understanding how your content is performing allows you to identify what’s working and what needs improvement.
12. Is My Content Accessible Across All Devices?
- Explanation: With mobile usage on the rise, it’s important that your content is accessible and readable on all devices. Check that your website and content are mobile-friendly and that multimedia content loads correctly on different platforms.
13. Am I Updating My Evergreen Content?
- Explanation: Evergreen content is valuable over the long term, but it needs to be updated periodically to remain accurate and relevant. Review and refresh your evergreen pieces to keep them current.
14. Does My Content Encourage Action?
- Explanation: Effective content includes clear calls to action (CTAs). Ensure your content guides your audience toward the next step, whether it’s downloading a resource, signing up for a webinar, or contacting your sales team.
15. Am I Utilizing a Multichannel Distribution Strategy?
- Explanation: Your content should reach your audience wherever they are. Evaluate whether you’re effectively distributing content across all relevant channels, including social media, email, and third-party platforms.
16. Is My Content Inclusive and Diverse?
- Explanation: In today’s global market, it’s important that your content reflects diverse perspectives and is inclusive in its language and imagery. Ensure your content resonates with a wide audience.
17. How Well Am I Measuring Content ROI?
- Explanation: Understanding the return on investment (ROI) for your content helps justify spending and resources. Track and analyze the financial impact of your content efforts to ensure they’re contributing to your business objectives.
18. Is My Content Tailored to Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey?
- Explanation: Different types of content are needed at different stages of the buyer’s journey. Ensure you have content that addresses awareness, consideration, and decision stages, providing value at each point.
19. How Are My Competitors’ Content Strategies Evolving?
- Explanation: Keeping an eye on your competitors helps you stay competitive. Regularly analyze what types of content they are producing and identify opportunities where you can differentiate your own content strategy.
20. Am I Ready to Innovate?
- Explanation: The content landscape is constantly evolving, with new formats and platforms emerging regularly. Be willing to experiment with new ideas and technologies to keep your content fresh and engaging.
Conclusion
Evaluating your content strategy is an ongoing process that requires regular reflection and adjustment. By asking yourself these 20 questions, you can gain valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your current content approach. This self-assessment will help you stay ahead of industry trends, better meet the needs of your audience, and ultimately drive more effective marketing outcomes.
If you found yourself with more No’s than Yes’s, reach out to us so we can help you put together a content strategy.
