top of page
Haris Spahic

Why standout content matters at the top of the funnel

Memorable and standout content helps buyers remember you for the right reasons. When they enter the market, they come to you first before looking at competitors.


I believe standout content is made of 3 ingredients: unique insights, creative framing, and distinctiveness. Let me explain why B2B SaaS companies should prioritize creating standout content over the generic, acquisition-focused SEO content they've been pushing so far.



Generic SEO content wastes TOFU revenue potential


How B2B buyers buy doesn't fit how B2B SaaS companies prefer to market. Few B2B buyers ever Googled a query like "What is ABM?", landed on a generic article, and decided to buy $40,000/yr software. That's not how high-stakes B2B buying decisions work.


If the company's lucky, about 5% of organic TOFU search traffic will convert. Everyone else will read the content they came for, close the browser, forget this company, and go about their lives. The company will convert the 5%, but waste the chance to engage, influence, and ultimately convert a chunk of the other 95% into customers over time.


Still, most B2B SaaS companies run this playbook. They hire an army of freelance writers, pick the keywords to rank for, and crank out generic content for Google Search. Then they optimize everything around converting that traffic.


I call this "quick snack content". It works like an internet gas station. It attracts a stream of one-off visitors who pass through the website to fill up their gas tanks.


You can argue quick snack content (1) doesn't influence demand because potential buyers consume it on a one-off basis, and (2) doesn't capture much demand because it reaches buyers early in the journey. At best, it's a gateway into the company's brand. That makes sense for companies that sell inexpensive products. I don't think it makes much sense for products with long sales cycles, where building relationships, trust, and educating buyers over time is the key.

Forgettable SEO content wastes TOFU revenue potential

SEO content was never built for standout content


SEO content satisfies the search query, but that's also a curse. It can't stand out. If it tries, it will disappoint the searchers who expect to get exactly what they asked for. What's more, standout content ingredients (unique insights, creative framing, and distinctiveness) go against what Google's algorithms reward. No wonder we see so much formulaic content. You can't blame companies for this, it's just how the system was designed. Google was never meant for memorable and standout content, but for utilitarian content that best solves the searcher's momentary problem.


(1) This content is neither memorable enough to make the buyer think of you when they're ready to buy months later, (2) nor can it be differentiated enough to make the buyer crave more of your content and keep coming back. It's a commodity. Buyers can find dozens of identical pieces on page 1 of the SERP.


If you think I'm wrong, use yourself as an example. You've probably Googled hundreds of things in the last few months. How many of those content pieces stuck with you? And if you remember the content, can you recall which companies published it? Probably not!

Two content consumption realms


Get on your buyers' day-one consideration lists


According to research by Bain & Company, 80-90% of B2B buyers have a list of vendors in mind before doing any research. 90% of them pick a vendor from that day-one list. The vendors they remember, like, and trust. This is why companies invest in standout content and audience-building: to win a spot on buyers' day-one lists!


It works by consistently engaging future buyers with your content, making them come back for more. This creates a virtuous loop of content consumption, memorable experiences, and relationship-building.


Value Loop Marketing
How building an engaged audience works and drives business outcomes

Alice de Courcy, CMO of Cognism calls this "Value Loop Marketing". Tyler Lessard, Vidyard's former VP of Marketing calls it "Systems of Influence". No matter what you call it, the idea is the same.


The obvious place to start experimenting with standout content and building an audience is on low-intent channels like social, podcasts, and newsletters. Unlike Google Search, buyers consume content open-mindedly here. They'll be more receptive to standout content ingredients — unique insights, creative framing, and distinctiveness — instead of dismissing anything that doesn't neatly fit their search query. Plus, these channels are made for always-on content consumption, instead of one-off consumption that happens on Google Search.



Helpful content isn't enough to create long-term influence

To influence buyers over the long term, our content must be impactful AND memorable.

Impactful in the sense that content adds value beyond just utility, which is the traditional idea of "helpful content" (e.g., "How to do X?" articles). For example, content can also have emotional value (e.g., your video alleviated the buyer's fears). All these different forms of value-adding comprise impactful content. And if this impact is to mean something, then it has to be memorable.


If your content positively impacts buyers, but buyers don't remember it — or worse, remember it but don't associate that impactful content with you, then what's the point? You won't reap any goodwill. For that to happen, buyers must remember it was your content that impacted them, not some generic resource they vaguely remember seeing somewhere. This is the whole point of standing out.


Unfortunately, many companies insist on replicating that SEO content playbook on every other channel. It leads to generic content that revolves around sharing facts, best practices, and popular ideas no one would disagree with. A recent survey by John Collins and Organic Growth Marketing supports this. Among 558 surveyed US software buyers, 55% agree that B2B content tends to look and feel the same. This kind of content can and probably will be replaced by ChatGPT.


The AI Shark
The AI Shark devours generic content



Standout content is powerful, but SEO isn't dead


SEO content isn't dead. It's essential for driving organic traffic, building initial credibility, and satisfying buyers who are searching for answers. Claiming one type of content is "better" would be ignorant. If anything, they complement one another when SEO content goes for lower-funnel queries instead.


As far as the top of the funnel is concerned, it's time we invest more effort in creating memorable, standout content. Being helpful is great. Having strong distribution is great. But none of that matters if the content fails to make a memorable impact — especially in an era when anyone can churn out a lot of generic content.

コメント


コメント機能がオフになっています。
bottom of page