Image Credit: Dennis Hill via Flickr. 

According to B2B marketing research by CEB’s Marketing Leadership Council, 57% of the buying research happens before a prospect contacts a vendor. Who will ultimately discover your company and products relies on how and where your content is distributed online.

Greg Verdino’s blog on “If content is the answer, then what’s the question?” underscores how content marketing has become a more important component of marketing. Understanding  how to create and distribute content to answer these two key questions –  what value does your content have to the customer and your company – will better position your company, products and services to B2B buyers.

In no particular order, here are a list of 20 questions I’ve compiled to consider during the content strategy and creation process:

1. Who are your buyers?
2. Where do they get information?
3. What delivery medium do they prefer to consume this information, such as a blog posting, images, infographic, video, etc.?
4. What motivates them?
5. What pain points do they have?
6. How does your company solve these pain points?
7. How will this motivate buyers to change their process at this time?
8. What triggers a prospect to move to the next stage in the buying cycle?
9. What step backs will they have as they move through the buying cycle?
10. Why should they care?
11. How do they convince other influencers or decision makers that they should care?
12. How do you overcome common objections during the buying process?
13. What type of emotional response are you seeking to elicit?
14. What impression should a prospect or customer have when engaging with your brand?
15. Will this position your company, product and/or executives as thought leaders?
16. Why should they consider your product or services?
17. What differentiates your offerings from those of your competitors – whether that’s price, features, services, etc?
18. Who can testify to your claims?
19. What tangible ROI have you delivered for your customers
20. What is the action I want them to take with this content (aka what is the call to action)?
21. Bonus question – How do I continually delight my customers?

Conclusion – Always Ask

It’s tempting to develop and distribute content based on your assumptions of the market and buyer needs. As Greg pointed, always ask yourself what value does that content have to your customer and company. And be disciplined to discard a content idea if it doesn’t meet this criteria. The above questions will help you begin down this road.

What other questions should one ask during the content creation process?