There are few things more important than content for marketing if you’re an early stage startup.
Thus, hiring as many great content makers as you can afford is going to be critical to getting your marketing and sales efforts rolling.
When we think about content, we can roughly divide it into three categories:
A. Product
B. Technology
C. Company
Product content is the most important and serves as the core piece of the content mix. Product content is where rubber meets the road and serves as the base layer of the content food chain.
As such, product content has almost universal use across all marketing channels. It can be a lead piece or supporting piece since it underpins all other content types.
When making product content, try to emphasize the results or outcomes achieved with and through the product - instead of being description-centered. Think persuasive vs. descriptive.
Description heavy content belongs in another special category (technical documentation) and gets used far into the sales cycle (evaluation, PoC/trials).
Technology content is upstream to product content. In marketing lingo, upstream just means the “bigger picture” or a “long term” initiative. Downstream is the game plan or tactics for the immediate term.
Technology content is often referred to by tech marketers as “thought leadership” material. It attempts to establish leadership through knowledge over things that surround the product(s).
If product content is to convince a prospective buyer to meet with you, the technology content is intended to gain trust and credibility from a wider audience (e.g., those who influence or participate in the buying decision).
Therefore, the technology content should be designed to be repurposed and shared much more widely. For example, you would want a third party (e.g., tech media) to publish your technology content whereas you’d have no expectations of such from your product content (other than paid placements).
Company content also belongs in the category of trust and reputation building but it belongs to an even greater general purpose use. Company content goes beyond the target buyer or customer. It is also used to attract talent, inform business partners, and motivate employees.
The main difference is that company content supports the corporate or company brand-building efforts. The technology content supports the product category creation or category leadership efforts.
Here is a fictional company example:
Product content - describes Flexfire Flexwall Enterprise Cloud;
Technology content - explains Flexible Firewall Engine, the technology central to Flexwall;
Company content - positions Flexfire as the premier leader of the flexwall product category;
Now, the advice on how to prioritize and why …