Content Marketing Strategy Template

In the inbound marketing era, content was queen. In the AI era of marketing, yes, content is still queen. Last week, I spoke to a CMO whose content marketing strategy revolves entirely around SEO. After years of solid growth, her company’s traffic is declining. It’s a familiar story in 2025. She asked: “Now that SEO is less effective, is content marketing less important?” I told her the opposite is true. Content is more important than ever but a few things are different. 1. Content needs to be specific. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), or how your brand shows up in AI-driven responses is becoming important. The difference between being cited or invisible often comes down to one thing: specific, high-quality content. Marketers leading in AEO are seeing 3–4x higher conversion rates, but only when their content goes deeper than surface-level keywords. Authority, clarity, and originality are the new ranking signals. 2. Content needs to be multi-modal and multi-channel. Buyers no longer follow a linear journey. They read, watch, listen, chat, and scroll, often in the same hour. AI makes it easier to meet them in those moments, but you still need powerful assets to show up well: Video and interactive demos for discovery, Long-form explainers for education, Bite-sized insights for social. The format changes, but the foundation doesn’t: clear, helpful, human content. 3. Content needs to be dynamic and personal. AI gives us the signal—who’s interested, what they need, when they’re ready. But only great content makes the connection. Dynamic, intent-based content can turn data into meaningful engagement. That’s how you create moments that feel personal instead of programmatic. The tools have changed. The algorithms have changed. The constant is content. It’s still queen – because it’s still how trust, engagement, and growth begin. Ps: Huge shoutout to our HubSpot partner Mole Street, who’s all-in on helping customers grow through great content. Whenever I speak with Brendan Walsh or Brian LaPann, “Content Hub” comes up within the first two minutes. Last week they released a fantastic whitepaper on it, link in the comments if you’d like to take a look.

After decades of working with leaders at companies like Apple, Salesforce, and Cisco, we've identified 4 storytelling techniques that consistently work to deliver important messages in high-stakes settings: 1. Start with the unexpected Don’t begin your presentation with context. Instead, begin with the moment that makes people think, “Wait…what?” Instead of something like: “Here’s an update on our September campaign…” Try starting with the most interesting detail: “I broke our biggest marketing rule last month, and it worked.” Lead with the surprise. You can add context later. 2. Let people feel the tension After the surprise, don’t rewind to the beginning. Take your audience to the moment where things weren’t working. Flat numbers. Missed goals. Stalled progress. Instead of: “The campaign was underperforming, and our team went back to the drawing board.” Try:  "We were two weeks out from the end of the quarter. The campaign wasn’t producing results, and the team was out of ideas. That’s when I decided to take a risk...” You don’t need to explain the problem. You need to make people feel it. 3. Use real dialogue When your audience hears what was actually said, they stop listening to you and start visualizing the moment. This helps them connect emotionally with what you’re saying. Instead of: “The campaign manager said team morale was low and they were struggling to find a solution.” Try: “My campaign manager pulled me aside in the hallway and said, ‘We’ve tried everything. The team has been working overtime, and we don’t know what else to do.’” Dialogue brings listeners into the moment with you. It makes the story real. 4. Share the lesson Never assume people will infer the meaning you intended. End your story by answering: - What does this mean? - How should someone act differently now? Example: “Breaking our biggest marketing rule helped us turn this campaign around and hit our numbers. I strongly suggest we revisit our marketing guidelines. We could be leaving a ton of revenue on the table.” Without the lesson being clear, even a good story feels unfinished. These are the same techniques we teach to our clients at Duarte. Try them out during your next presentation and watch how people lean forward and tune in to your message. #ExecutivePresence #BusinessStorytelling #PresentationSkills

The B2B Marketing playbook is broken. It's never been harder to grow demand. Where I'd invest for 2025: 1. Example-Driven SEO: AI will cannibalize informational content. Keep your organic traffic with unique, research-based content 2. Diversified Paid Media: Direct response is saturated. Diversify your budget by spending across Direct (Return on Ad Spend model), Indirect (Incrementality model), and Brand (Awareness model). 3. Lightweight Tools: Move from text-based offers to code-based offers. With tools like Replits AI agent, building lightweight tools has never been so easy. Take advantage. 4. Personality-Led Content: Your content needs to be unique, say something, have a personality—leverage creators for authentic engagement. Better yet, hire them. 5. AI Agent Optimization: Traditional search is being disrupted by AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Ensure your product visibility in these results by increasing mentions of your products with relevant words (co-citation). This is your new brand/product marketing. 6. Multi-Modal Chat: Use AI to turn text-based chat into AI-powered text/video experiences. AI will turn your chat into a visual experience with an avatar doing demos, product walk-throughs, and visual presentations. If your B2B marketing playbook looks like it did two years ago, you're in trouble

You’re not losing leads because of LinkedIn’s algorithm. You’re losing them because your ideal clients don’t see you as the expert they need. Most B2B founders make the mistake of thinking: ❌ “Posting daily will bring inbound leads.” ❌ “Going viral will grow my business.” ❌ “More content = More sales.” 🚨 That’s not how LinkedIn works. 🚨 I built my B2B brand WITHOUT ads, WITHOUT cold DMs, and WITHOUT chasing engagement. Clients came to me because I focused on the right things. Here’s how you can do the same. 1️⃣ Nail Your Positioning Before Posting Anything Before you create content, ask yourself: 💡 Who exactly are you speaking to? (If you target everyone, you attract no one.) 💡 What urgent problem do they have? (No problem = No attention.) 💡 How does your offer solve it better than others? (Positioning = Trust + Demand.) 2️⃣ Stop Educating. Start Addressing Business Pain Points. Most B2B founders create generic content like: 🚫 “5 Tips to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile.” But what actually works? ✅ “Why Your LinkedIn Profile is Costing You 50+ Leads Every Month (And How to Fix It).” 3️⃣ Build a 3-Layer Content Strategy for Maximum Impact 🚀 B2B growth isn’t about engagement—it’s about trust & demand. Here’s the framework: 🔹 Thought Leadership → Industry insights, predictions & bold opinions. 🔹 Solution-Based Posts → Frameworks, case studies & client transformations. 🔹 Conversion Content → Storytelling, pain-point narratives & strategic soft sells. 4️⃣ Turn Your Profile into a High-Conversion Landing Page Your LinkedIn profile isn’t just a bio—it’s a sales page. 🔸 Headline → Clearly state the problem you solve. 🔸 About Section → Tell a compelling story (not a boring resume). 🔸 Featured Section → Showcase case studies & authority-building content. 5️⃣ The 80/20 Engagement Strategy to Boost Visibility Most people post and pray for engagement. Instead, be proactive: 📌 80% Engagement → Comment on high-traction posts in your industry. 📌 20% Posting → Focus on high-impact, lead-generating content. 💡 Your comments should be mini-posts, not just “Great insights!” 6️⃣ The DMs That Convert Without Being Spammy Use The Insight-First DM Approach: 1: Engage with their content before DMing. 2: Send a short, value-driven message (no pitch). 3: Open with an insight, not a sales script. Example: “Hey [Name], saw your post on [Topic]. You’re spot on about [Key Point]. Have you considered [Unique Insight]? Happy to chat if you ever want to brainstorm!” 🔥 This starts real business conversations—not ignored messages. LinkedIn isn’t about just posting—it’s about positioning, strategy, and smart engagement. When you get these right, inbound leads become a natural result. Follow Shraddha for more insights. P.S. That’s me in ghibli version professionally.

Complexity beats simplification in beauty; that's L'Oreal's masterclass. And they make it look so easy. While we're crunching the numbers and gathering more input for 2025, here's a holiday treat from our team: some headlines from our growth playbook. 💡L'Oréal has achieved what most CPG brands aspire to: 7X growth over 30 years, $47B in revenue in beauty (76% larger than Unilever), and category dominance representing 33% of the Top 8 global cosmetics market ($141.2B). The playbook summary below synthesizes L'Oréal's proven strategy with emerging competitive dynamics. 𝗣𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝟭: Portfolio Architecture & M&A Mastery Your Strategic Principle: Complexity as a competitive advantage through strategic optionality at scale You need to build a portfolio across all price tiers, no exception. 1. Mass Market (Volume drivers): Maybelline, L'Oréal Paris, Garnier 2. Professional (B2B + loyalty): Matrix, Kérastase, Redken, ColorWow 3. Active Cosmetics/Dermocosmetics (Medical credibility): La Roche-Posay, CeraVe, SkinCeuticals, Vichy 4. Luxury (Margin maximizers): YSL, Lancôme, Kiehl's, Urban Decay, now Creed + Gucci/Balenciaga licenses Each tier serves different channels, price sensitivities, and consumer occasions—creating portfolio resilience against market volatility. 𝗣𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝟮: Channel-Specific Optimization - Cerave dominates Amazon 1P - Lancôme owns Sephora counters - Kérastase Paris leads salon professional - La Roche-Posay USA controls pharmacy 𝗣𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝟯: Retail media leadership will give you wings, so you should implement category-leading retail media investment. 2025 Benchmarks (Beauty & Personal Care) from ecommert Navigator Global Retail Media Benchmark Allocations Report (you can find it in the comments) 👇 - 22.7% of total ad spend (US: 23-27%, EU: 18%) - 2.35% of net revenue on average - $6.60+ ROAS when executed well 💡Beauty leads ALL #FMCG categories in retail media maturity—treating it as core infrastructure, not experimental spend. 𝗣𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝟰: You must master consumer behavior and data-driven personalization. Step 1: Build the first-party data ecosystem to capture first-party data from minimum 30%+ of your consumers within 18 months. Step 2: Leverage AI for hyper-personalization, use LLM beauty assistants, predictive replenishment and launch conversational product discovery. Step 3: You'd better master the "Niche-to-Mainstream" funnel 🚨Old Model: Mass production → broad distribution → heavy discounting 💡New Model: Limited drops → atelier collabs → data-driven micro-batches → TikTok → Duty Free (in weeks, not quarters) 𝗣𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥 𝟱: Digital excellence requires robust organizational design, so revamp your org. Investment benchmark: Winners invest >10% of revenues in digital technologies and #eCommerce. Size doesn't guarantee growth; omnichannel execution + retail media optimization does. More to come, stay tuned. #FMCG #Beauty #Growth #Strategy

Your PMM role isn't a support ticket queue. 🎫 'Hey, quick q about competitor X' That Slack message means your battlecard already failed. Here's the playbook to make Sales actually use them: 1. Kill your 12-page battlecards. Sales people will usually take the path of least resistance. And nobody reads War & Peace during a deal. Structure each card with 3 sections: 'They say/We say/Proof.' That's it. No need for them to message you about the details. 2. Add deal-specific positioning to your CRM. When Sales pulls up a prospect, they see the relevant competitive cards right there. No more 'Where was that doc again?' 3. Build them live in sales calls. Nothing beats real-time objection capture. 'Hold on, adding this to our playbook' should be your favorite phrase. 4. Get them wins, not just content. Start tracking deals won in battlecards. Switch from the 'PMM with docs' - to the 'PMM who helped close $2M' Your battlecards shouldn't be documents. They should be weapons. And yes, maybe you’ll still get Slack messages. But HOPEFULLY now they're: 'This card helped me win' instead of 'What do we say about X?' Thoughts?

I built one of the UK’s fastest growing B2B marketing agencies by simply applying B2C principles to B2B. B2B companies are still marketing like they did 10 years ago… - Big sales team. - Marketing is all outbound. - Paying £10,000+ to go to trade shows. That approach to marketing is dead. Here are 4 simple B2C principles all B2B companies should be adopting: 1/ People-Led Marketing B2C brands leverage influencers and creators because people trust people, not faceless logos. In B2B, the answer lies in employee-led marketing. - Pick 3-5 employees with diverse perspectives. - Encourage them to share their expertise online. - Support them with resources & help them share ideas. You’re probably already seeing a bunch of companies dominating their industry by doing this. ——— 2/ Campaign-Based Strategies > Content Cycles B2B marketing often gets stuck in a content cycle. - Post 2 social media posts. - 1 blog post. - Send 1 newsletter. Then they repeat it every week. But none of it moves the needle. This is where campaign-based launches come in: - Identify a key problem your ICP faces. - Create a solution or resource for it. - Launch it across LinkedIn, email, and even ads. It’s campaigns like these that actually build pipeline. —— 3/ Emotional Storytelling You’d be surprised how deep a story can resonate with people. I’ve posted 1000+ times on LinkedIn over the last 4 years, yet every time I meet someone they reference 1 or 2 deeply personal stories I shared. No one will remember this post, they will remember the stories I tell though. The same applies to every business or founder. —— 4/ LinkedIn As Your No.1 Platform B2C understands that you have to meet your target audience where they are. If you’re in B2B LinkedIn is that place. - Your prospects are spending hours a week scrolling LinkedIn. - It’s easy to get attention here. - You can openly sell your service/products here. We’ve now driven close to £2M in sales (just for our agency) through LinkedIn. B2B companies that dominate LinkedIn now will own the next decade of lead generation. —— The bottom line: B2B brands need to think more like B2C in 2025. We’re in a new digital age of marketing. P.S. Follow me for more B2B marketing Niall Ratcliffe

the person killing your marketing-sourced deals has never spoken to your sales team. they're the "hidden buyers". finance, legal, procurement folks who influence purchases but fly under your marketing radar. and they're torpedoing 40% of b2b deals due to internal misalignment. LinkedIn and Edelman just dropped research that changes how we should think about b2b marketing. surveying 2,000 management-level professionals, they found these hidden buyers are way more active than we assumed. 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 1/ 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 📚 55% of hidden buyers use thought leadership as part of their vetting process (vs 56% of target buyers). they're not passive box-checkers... they're actively researching and forming opinions about vendors. 2/ 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 🎯 64% of hidden buyers trust thought leadership content more than marketing materials when assessing capabilities. 3/ 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 💡 73% say thought leadership is one of the best ways to get a sense of the type and calibre of thinking you'll deliver to clients. they're evaluating your brain, not just your features. a takeaway: your content strategy needs to serve two masters. write for the technical expert who'll use your product, but also for the finance director who'll approve the budget (cue "CMO and CFO needs to be besties" argument). plus point: focus on thought leadership from your people (ie, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴). not from the corporate account. show expertise while staying human. remember: that hidden buyer you've never spoken to? they might be the one who kills your deal in a meeting you're not invited to.

Most sales teams don’t “run out of market.” They run out of attention. They hit a ceiling. Revenue stalls. Meetings flatline. More activity = fewer results. Not because the talent isn’t there. But because the system never evolved. Buyers have changed. Their Attention is at an all time low and an all time high demand for it at the same time. They see hundreds of touches per week. Reply rates on cold outbound? 2–3%. And the only thing they engage with consistently → educational content . That’s why I believe every rep and org needs a pillar piece. One flagship asset that proves you know their world, builds instant credibility, and earns attention before the cold call. The reps who win are the ones sending: ✅ Checklists ✅ Playbooks ✅ Guides ✅ Calculators Instead of “just following up.” All of these types of pieces can be sent email, social, covered in video, literally even printed out and mailed! I’ve built my career on these. They don’t just generate pipeline—they build authority. That’s why I created the Content Factory Blueprint and partnered with HighLevel to make it plug-and-play. You don’t just get the framework. You get a ready-to-go HighLevel snapshot with: Pre-built funnel Opt-in workflows Email templates Tracking baked in All you need to do is drop your content in Every rep should have a pillar piece. Every company should have a pillar piece. Even the exercise of creating one is very educational and worth while. 👉 Grab the template here - https://lnkd.in/ecwy-PJv Your team’s pillar piece is overdue.

My agency has sent 10,000+ emails for our clients. We've developed a simple framework to help you write emails that crush ALL industry benchmarks. Here's the Anatomy of a Profitable Email: 1) Subject line The subject line is one of the most important parts of your email. It's what gets people to open (or ignore) your email. Make sure yours is: >> Catchy >> Intriguing >> Informative >> Benefit-oriented >> Personalized (if possible) Make it impossible to ignore. 2) Preview Text Your email has 2 "subject lines." The 2nd one is the preview text. This short text is used to create curiosity in the reader. For this text, you can use anything related to your subject line. Just make sure it sparks curiosity in the reader. 3) Branding Branding is very important for Email Marketing. After all, people buy brands, not products. Your emails should be an extension of your website & other assets. Make sure to develop a few core, onbrand templates. These will help convey familiarity and build trust. 4) Headline/Header The goal of your headline is to get people's attention. You accomplish this by making people interested. There are multiple ways to do this: You can mention a discount, promotion, or even ask a question. Regardless of what you do, it HAS to be interesting. 5) Intro / Sub Header This section is also known as the lead. Its sole purpose is to keep people reading. Here are some ways to do that: >> Tell a story >> Agitate pains >> Empathize with them >> Explain what the email is about The shorter this text is, the better. 6) Content / Body This section will vary depending on the type of email you're sending. Some recommendations: >> Speak in their language >> Make use of the whitespace >> Get to the point >> Sell benefits, not features >> Mix images and text The goal is to make it engaging. 7) CTA CTAs must stand out, otherwise, people won't click them. Here's how to do that: >> Be concise >> Use active voice >> Use action verbs >> Tell them what they're getting >> Use a high-contrast color The more they stand out, the more clicks you’ll get. 8) Footer The footer is an often overlooked part of emails. Here you can include some relevant information/links for the prospect. For example: >> P.S. >> Another CTA >> Social media links >> Testimonials >> Unsubscribe link You'll be amazed by the number of clicks you get. To summarize, here are my 8 components for a profitable email: 1. Subject line 2. Preview text 3. Branding 4. Headline / Header 5. Intro / Sub Header 6. Content / Body 7. CTA's 8. Footer  Thank you for reading this! I’ll keep sharing content with you on: - Copywriting - Email marketing - Ecommerce - Building an agency - Entrepreneurship So follow me Chase Dimond to keep learning! #email #emailmarketing #copywriting