Here is a depressing number for all B2B content marketers out there: 65% of all content created by B2B marketing goes unused. The data is part of a 2016 article by SiriusDecisions, which shows that 28% of the content is not used because it is hard to find or unknown to users, and 37% is considered unusable due to low relevancy or quality. 

And here is a depressing number for all B2B consumers out there: only 18% of marketers have strong or complete integration of the marketing funnel sections. The finding is on a report by Demand Metric and GetResponse based on a survey with over 260 companies, 74% of them focused on B2B.

The two numbers might seem unrelated at first, but their correlation is a warning to all marketers. A content strategy that does not consider the customer journey will result in ignored marketing materials, “holes” in the funnel, and a poor customer experience. To revert this scenario, platform marketing is a key skill to digital marketers.

Platform marketing as a content guideline

For a content strategy to be robust, it should be tailored to the consumer’s needs. Platform marketing is the approach of embracing data and the customer journey to ensure the customer experience is friction-free. Putting the two together, you can make sure you are offering the right message at the right time to the right person using the right channel. 

When content shifts from being a sales or promotional tool to being a marketing resource based on buyer personas at different stages of the customer experience, a content strategy reaches its full power. It is the difference between writing “Hello, Jane. This is a generic email that mentions your name” and “Hello, Jane. You are in the consideration stage of your journey. Based on your history, your data, and data from other customers like you, here is this helpful information that won’t go unused”.

The integration of the funnel stages and customer-centric content strategy creates a marketing narrative that supports customers in every step of the way. The result is a customized and engaging experience that coordinates content and the overall product strategy smoothly. In 1996, Bill Gates wrote that content is king. Nowadays, without platform marketing, the king is naked.