Your LinkedIn feed is a graveyard of dead B2B content. Generic "thought leadership" posts, AI-generated fluff, and corporate buzzwords that make everyone's eyes glaze over.
You're spending valuable time and resources creating content that isn't driving results. Your posts get likes but no leads. Your blog gets traffic but no trials.
Here's the thing: Most B2B content fails because it's built for imaginary readers instead of real people with real problems. This guide shows you how to fix that - no fluff, no "best practices," just practical approaches that work.
Let's dive in.
Your brand story is your company's heartbeat. It's what makes prospects lean in during meetings and nod along as they read your content.
For B2B founders, especially, a solid brand story transforms complex solutions into compelling narratives that resonate with decision-makers.
While consumer brands can play with emotional storytelling, B2B stories need substance. They build trust through authenticity and demonstrate a deep understanding of industry challenges.
Your story shows prospects you've walked in their shoes and found a better path forward.
At StoryAngled, we use the Story Cycle System™ developed by Park Howell (with a few minor changes to adjust it for our needs).
This system adds structure to this storytelling approach. Instead of random anecdotes, it helps you craft a narrative that moves from problem to solution and keeps your audience engaged.
Each time we host a workshop with a new client, we focus on three aspects of your story:
Remember, your brand story isn't static. Let it evolve with your company while keeping its core truth intact. The best B2B stories grow stronger with each customer success, each product iteration, and each industry shift.
Let's be real - you can't create killer content if you're just guessing what your customers want. A Customer Intel Workshop helps you create content that makes prospects think, "Wait, are they reading my mind?"
Most B2B content fails because it talks AT customers instead of TO them. When you truly understand your customers, you can create content that feels like a conversation they want to participate in.
You're not just pushing information - you're addressing real problems they face daily.
Here’s a step-by-step process to start gathering those insights using the data you probably already have:
Pro tip: Customer intelligence isn't a one-and-done exercise. Make it a habit to update your insights regularly as your market evolves.
Our client, a B2B software company, discovered through their workshop that customers weren't primarily concerned about price (as the sales team assumed) but about implementation time.
They shifted their content strategy to focus on quick deployment stories and implementation guides, resulting in a 40% increase in qualified leads.
Creating content that sticks isn't about one viral post - it's about building a reliable rhythm that keeps your audience coming back for more.
Let's break down how to make your B2B content as addictive as that first cup of morning coffee.
Think of it like building a gym habit: small, consistent wins that add up to major transformations. In B2B content, this means creating predictable value that your audience can count on. There are no flashy promises, just reliable expertise delivered consistently.
Here’s a checklist of things you need to add “habitual victories” to your B2B content:
Instead of random acts of content, create a steady stream of practical resources your audience can bank on:
Build trust gradually with small, valuable exchanges:
Turn one piece of content into a multi-channel narrative:
Create content your audience anticipates and plans for:
Pro Tip: Don't try to build multiple habits at once. Start with one consistent content type, nail it, then expand. Habitual Victory isn't about tricking people into consuming your content - it's about being so consistently helpful that checking your content becomes part of their professional routine.
Demographics: Knowing Who's Really Reading Your Content
Numbers don't lie - but they don't tell the whole story either. For B2B founders, demographic data is your foundation for content that hits the mark. Let's break down how to gather and use this intel without getting lost in spreadsheet hell.
In B2B, demographics help you:
At StoryAngled, we use 2 main sources of demographic data:
1. Statista
2. AI Tools for Quick Insights
Industry & Company Size
Job Roles & Authority Levels
Geographic Nuances
Raw data doesn't tell stories - but the DCI (Data-Context-Insights) framework helps you translate numbers into narratives that resonate. Here's how to turn audience information into content that hits home.
Think of DCI as your content strategy decoder ring. Instead of letting valuable audience data collect dust, this framework helps you understand what that information actually means for your content.
Here's how it works:
Let's break down a few key examples:
When your data shows your audience consists mainly of mid-career professionals (35-45), that's just a number. The context tells you these readers are juggling leadership responsibilities with hands-on work. Your insight? Create content that helps them look strategic to their bosses while giving them tactical tools for their teams.
Or take company size data. Seeing that 60% of your readers work at companies with 50-200 employees isn't just a statistic.
The context is that these companies are big enough to have real budgets but small enough to move fast.
Your insight? Create content that balances ambitious strategies with practical, resource-conscious implementation steps.
Start with one piece of audience data. Ask yourself:
Pro Tip: Create your own DCI table and update it quarterly. Let it guide your content calendar rather than guessing what might work.
Demographics tell you where your readers sit. Psychographics tell you how they think. This is where your content stops being just information and starts becoming influential.
Your readers aren't just "Director of IT" or "CFO." They're:
Your content should speak not to their official professional title, but who they perceive themselves to be within the company.
For example:
A CTO might officially oversee technology strategy, but in reality, they're:
Or take a Marketing Director who's technically responsible for brand and campaigns, but actually spends their days:
This matters because:
Pro Tip: Next time you're writing content, ask yourself: "Am I talking to a job title, or to a human dealing with real pressures and goals?"
The psychographics are all about meeting your readers where their minds are.
Let's turn these insights into practical content approaches that resonate with your readers' actual lives.
Instead of writing about:
Instead of:
1. For the Problem Solver
❌ Original title: "Cloud Migration Strategies"
✅ Better title: "Cloud Migration Without Disrupting Your Already-Stressed Team"
2. For the Career Builder
❌ Original title: "Quarterly Planning Guide"
✅ Better title: "Turn Your Next Quarter into Your Next Promotion: Planning That Gets Noticed"
3. For the Risk Manager
❌ Original title: "Cybersecurity Best Practices"
✅ Better title: "Sleep Better: Security Decisions That Won't Come Back to Haunt You"
Pro Tip: Before publishing anything, ask yourself: "Would this help my reader look good in their next meeting?" If not, revise.
Understanding what your readers actually consume versus what they say they want is crucial. Here's how to figure it out.
People leave digital breadcrumbs everywhere they go. Watch how content moves through LinkedIn - specifically which pieces get reshared with thoughtful comments rather than just mindless likes.
Pay special attention to what gets saved for future use. Your most downloaded resources, frequently bookmarked posts, and repeatedly referenced articles paint a picture of what your audience finds truly valuable.
When your content makes it into internal handbooks or wikis, you've struck gold - that's the ultimate sign it's solving a real need.
The gap between perceived and actual value shows up clearly in performance metrics. Your audience might claim they want comprehensive guides, but your data tells the real story.
Watch how different formats perform - short versus long-form content, video engagement, PDF downloads, and newsletter clicks all reveal what your readers actually find useful in their daily work.
Time investment patterns are particularly telling. Average time on page, scroll depth on longer articles, video dropout points, and multi-page completion rates reveal how much time your audience really has to consume content.
These metrics often tell a different story than what you hear in feedback forms or surveys.
Your readers' natural rhythms and preferences emerge through their access patterns. By analyzing when and how they consume your content, you can better match their actual workflow rather than their idealized version of it.
Understanding their device preferences, typical entry points, and navigation paths helps you format content for real-world use.
Pro Tip: Numbers don't lie, but they do need context. Combine your analytics with real user feedback to get the full picture of how your content actually serves your audience.
Now that we understand our readers' mental models, let's turn that knowledge into a practical content approach that fits their actual lives.
Traditional content marketing tells you to create polished, comprehensive pieces. But your readers often need quick, practical solutions they can use right now. A CFO facing a board meeting in 30 minutes doesn't want your ultimate guide - they want three solid talking points that will get them through the next hour.
Consider the CTO who's dealing with a system outage. They don't need your perfectly crafted case study right then. They need clear, actionable steps to get things running again. Once the crisis passes, then they might be ready for your deeper analysis of preventing future problems.
Your content calendar should reflect your readers' reality. If you know most security decisions happen during budget planning season, that's when your security-focused content needs to be ready - not when it fits your editorial calendar. If your readers face board meetings every quarter, time your strategic content to arrive two weeks before those meetings.
A marketing director struggling with attribution might not need another blog post about the importance of tracking - they need a simple spreadsheet template they can use today.
A sales manager trying to fix their pipeline doesn't want theory - they want scripts their team can use in tomorrow's calls.
Instead of writing another "comprehensive guide to digital transformation," create content that helps your reader survive their next steering committee meeting.
Rather than producing another "ultimate guide to team management," give them three questions that will make their next one-on-one more productive.
Your readers aren't sitting around waiting to consume content. They're busy people trying to solve problems. Your job is to help them do that faster and better.
Pro Tip: Next time you're planning content, ask yourself: "What immediate problem does this help my reader solve?" If you can't answer that clearly, rethink your approach.
Traditional marketing wisdom loves neat boxes. "C-suite reads this, managers read that." But real people are messier - and more interesting.
That CTO you're trying to reach is not spending their evenings poring over whitepapers.
They're probably scanning LinkedIn while waiting for their kid's soccer practice to end, looking for quick insights they can use tomorrow.
And while conventional wisdom says executives want high-level strategy, many are secretly devouring tactical content to stay connected to their industry's nuts and bolts.
Mid-level managers aren't just reading case studies. They're hunting for specific answers to today's problems, often bypassing your carefully crafted blog posts to find that one crucial detail in your technical documentation.
Why? Because they're preparing for meetings where they need to sound knowledgeable about the details, not just the strategy.
Your analytics tell part of the story, but watch for surprises.
That technical documentation you wrote for developers might be getting heavy traffic from sales teams who need to answer customer questions.
The "executive summary" you created? Your technical teams might be using it to explain concepts to their bosses.
Run a content experiment: Release the same information in three formats - a quick bullet-point list, a detailed guide, and a video walkthrough. Then watch who actually uses what. You might find your assumptions about audience preferences were wrong.
Yes, your audience is on LinkedIn. But they're not always in "professional development mode" when they're there. Sometimes they're just killing time between meetings, which means your heavy thought leadership piece might get passed over for something more digestible.
Email newsletters work when they solve immediate problems. Industry forums reveal what people really struggle with. YouTube isn't just for tutorials - it's where many professionals go to understand concepts they're embarrassed to ask about in person.
Pro Tip: Stop creating content for job titles. Create it for situations. "What to do when your cloud costs explode" will often outperform "Cloud Cost Management Strategies for CTOs."
SEO isn't about tricking Google anymore - it's about matching your expertise to your readers' actual problems. Let's break down what really works in B2B SEO, minus the usual fluff.
Your potential clients aren't typing "best B2B software" into Google. They're searching "why is my customer acquisition cost increasing" or "how to fix declining renewal rates." These searches might show lower volume in your keyword tools, but they're gold because they signal real problems that need solving.
A SaaS company I worked with stopped chasing high-volume terms like "marketing automation platform" and started targeting phrases like "marketing automation ROI tracking problems."
Their traffic dropped initially, but their lead quality shot up because they were attracting people with specific problems their product solved.
Not every piece needs to be SEO-optimized.
Sometimes, you need to write that industry analysis that might not rank well but positions you as a thought leader.
The trick is mixing both: Use SEO-driven content to capture specific problems, then link to your thought leadership pieces for deeper insights.
Forget vanity metrics. Check your Google Search Console to see what queries already bring people to your site - that's your foundation.
Then, use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to find gaps in your competitors' rankings for problems you solve better than they do.
The real gems often hide in "People Also Ask" boxes. These questions reveal the actual thought process of your potential clients. One B2B software company found their best-converting content came from answering questions they spotted in PAA boxes, not from traditional keyword research.
Structure your content around problems and solutions, not keywords. Start with the pain point, acknowledge its complexity, and then guide readers to solutions.
Use clear headings that match natural language questions - "Why Do Marketing Attribution Models Fail?" works better than "Marketing Attribution Best Practices."
Pro Tip: Before you write anything, search for your target keyword and study the "People Also Ask" section. That's your outline for comprehensive coverage.
A simple SEO funnel diagram showing how different types of content align with search intent (awareness → consideration → decision).
Stop trying to be everywhere. Be useful somewhere. Pick one channel, one content type, and one audience problem. Nail that first. Then, expand based on what actually works, not what you think should work.
And if you’d like our help building your B2B content strategy, book a free 30-min with me, using my calendar below:
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