How To Create A B2B Content Strategy

Building Your Brand Through Storytelling and Innovation.

Founders are not just business leaders; they are storytellers with the power to shape industries and inspire audiences. Today I want to discuss and explore content creation through the lens of founders, showcasing case studies that demonstrate the power of strategic content, and weaving in valuable takeaways from award winning author Erwin McManus’ insightful YouTube video that I consumed earlier.

The Power of Storytelling:

Explained further in my ebook, McManus emphasizes the importance of storytelling in content creation. Stories are powerful because people always relate stories that resonate with themselves whether they know it or not. This is why we love movies and connect with certain characters inside of our favorite movie! If you would like to connect with your audience especially whenever you are addressing a problem, you want to tell stories.

Storytelling as a founder or business owner can come into many forms:

• Sharing your journey.

• Challenges that you have overcame.

• The Impact that you are seeking.

Case Study #1: Sophia Amoruso

Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal, leveraged storytelling through her book “#GirlBoss” to chronicle her rise from vintage clothing reseller to ecommerce entrepreneur. The book not only positioned her as an inspiration for aspiring female entrepreneurs but also established Nasty Gal’s brand identity.

Case Study #2: Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of VaynerMedia, is a content creation powerhouse. He leverages podcasts, daily video rants, and social media posts to establish himself as a thought leader. His content is candid, insightful, and action-oriented, resonating with a large and engaged audience.

Gary is one of those entrepreneurs that hired an entire content agency to follow him around all day and record his meetings and discussions, he takes it very seriously. He allegedly posts around 60–80 pieces of content each day & his team is very skilled at distributing content.

Finding Your Unique Voice

McManus highlights the importance of authenticity and finding your unique communication style which aligns with Gary Vaynerchuk’s emphasis on consistency and embracing multiple content formats.

By staying true to yourself and experimenting with different formats, you can connect with a wider audience.

There are 2 skills that you need to build in order to really build a strong unique voice on social media.

• Platform-Tailored Tone Recognition = In order to post on a platform and perform well, you have to know what type of posts on there perform well. Simple right? Well people don’t really execute this a lot of the time. Linked-in is a professional place so your tone of voice should be more serious, Twitter is a less serious atmosphere so you can be more vulgar on there and speak your mind. Instagram is an app ran by photos and showing you have the perfect life, Tik-Tok is a video app where people appreciate you being more authentic to your audience & showcasing your mistakes. You have to really know where you are and also you have to understand how to take one piece of content on one platform and shift it and tailor it to fit another platform. This is called content recycling & helps you save time from always having to create new content.

• Digital Self Expression = What do you say a lot? What are the key words you use? What is the slang you use? Do you curse a lot or are you well-mannered? Are you the king of being sarcastic? Are you the king of inside jokes? Are you pretty arrogant? Whatever it is, someone will hate it but someone will love it, become polarizing on the internet. Everyone on the internet that has a massive audience is Polarizing. Look at Andrew Tate and how he took over 2023, because 50% of America hated him then 50% of America loved him. If you want to constantly be apart of a conversation, you need to be polarizing, you need to catch attention from both sides so you have more eyes on what you are saying. This is not something that you have to try, you can simply do this by being your full authentic self.

Understanding Your Audience

McManus delves into the concept of “communication frequencies,” which represent different approaches to communication and their impact on the audience. By understanding your audience and their preferred frequencies, you can tailor your content to resonate with them.

You need to become a master of self regressing.

You need to actually repeatedly put yourself in the headspace of your audience. You can do this easily if you are solving a problem that you once had difficulty with. All you need to do is continually connect with that part of your old self and see what you really would’ve valued hearing at that stage in your journey of trying to figure out that problem.

For example if you are a person that gets online and trains executives on how to hire people, you can tailor certain questions to different stages that you experienced when trying to conquer this problem such as…

“At the Beginning of my journey when I was struggling with how to hire employees, what really made me confident in my decision making?”

“Who did I meet along my journey when I really got decent at hiring people, and made me great, through what advice?”

“What made me feel very confident about my decisions regarding hiring people along the end of my journey?”

Leading with Heart and Mind

McManus emphasizes the importance of avoiding manipulation and dictatorship in content creation. Authenticity and service should be at the forefront. This aligns with Michael Hyatt’s approach of using content to not only educate but also to build relationships and foster a loyal community.

You want to know how to be as authentic as possible when creating content?

Document, don’t create.

You want to build the skill of real-time documentation. You want to build the habit of getting out of a meeting, and then tweeting your notes right after, or discussing the conversation you had with your colleague on your Linked-in.

You want to talk about a problem that your client faced that day, and how you helped them solve that problem.

You turn it into a skill whenever you learn how to do all this within a few captivating words, a good hook, and a structured tailored format, every time. There is value in messing up and just being free because it really fosters authenticity but make sure it is on the right platforms.

Case Study: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, transitioned to become a sought-after productivity expert. He utilizes a blog, podcast, and online courses to share his insights and become a go-to resource for busy professionals.

Innovation and Problem-Solving. McManus argues that innovative content is the act of explaining how to solve a problem everyone experiences in a unique way. This echoes the approach of many successful founders, who identify a gap in the market and create solutions that revolutionize entire industries.

Innovative Content = Stop saying whatever the fuck everyone else is saying.

There was a time, when a lot of information didn’t exist on the internet. Over the years, the internet has grown and just like business there are certain markets that are saturated. If you are in the B2B space, you will also notice there may be old outdated information being discussed online that has flooded the internet.

The reality is people are tired.

One piece of advice doesn’t fit everyone.

People understand certain concepts better if they are spoken, shown or illustrated in different ways more than others.

We are now entering an age where people have heard it all, and people want to still solve a problem without hearing the solution that they have always heard. This is why people gravitate towards Reddit. Reddit has real people expressing an opinion that isn’t over saturated or discussed for views, likes, and validation. This is why Alex Hormozi blew up in 2023, he was on the internet saying non-conventional things.

Learn how to produce innovative content.

This is also the art of explaining something in a way that your reader can digest or look at & state “Wow, I’ve never heard put that way”.

Some common examples of my most recent “Wow, I’ve never heard it put that way” moments include a sales coach got on the internet stating that if you go the quick route towards success and want instant results, you’d be renting success. I have never heard someone say that you would be “renting success” by taking shortcuts. Another example of a “Wow, I’ve never heard it put that way” moment a founder gave me was when @avgvstine stated that “Maturity turns blessings profitable, immaturity turns blessings into curses.” I have never heard this phrase before, and @avgvstine and it explains why he is blowing up pretty fast on the internet. Learn how to think laterally with your current expertise and explain concepts in a unique way.

Embrace Challenges and Criticism

McManus acknowledges the challenges of facing negativity and criticism as a content creator. However, he emphasizes the importance of staying true to your vision and purpose.

Once you start having haters and trolls, you should know and acknowledge that you are on the right path. You are gaining and garnering enough attention that your content is running into people that will love it and people that will hate it.

Do not panic, do not worry, just know that this is all apart of the journey. Everyone doesn’t like Elon Musk, everyone doesn’t like Donald Trump, everyone doesn’t like Jeff Bezos and that is fine, embrace this path and keep going.

Building a Community

McManus highlights the importance of fostering a community around your content. This can be achieved through interactive elements, social media engagement, or even online Masterminds, as he offers through “The Arena.”

Once you get to the point of gaining consistent interaction from your audience, you need to capitalize by capturing the audience.

This either means having email addresses or phone numbers.

Either or.

Your audiences tag names of social content platforms isn’t enough information to keep, because social platforms are constantly changing, being banned, or eventually losing traction over a certain number of years.

To Conclude,

By incorporating storytelling, authenticity, innovation, and a community-driven approach, founders can leverage content creation to build strong personal brands and propel their businesses forward.

Remember, as McManus reminds us, true wisdom lies in “connecting the dots” and understanding the impact your content has on your audience.

Embrace continuous learning, cultivate your creativity, and strive to make a positive impact through your content, Good luck my fellow founder :)

If you would like to work with us :), check out www.meveagency.com