The problem with transactional content
The more I’ve worked on content marketing for B2B software, the more uncomfortable I’ve become with the typical approach. Many marketing teams feel like they just need more content to break through the noise. So it’s a constant search for more ideas to write about, more posts that mention popular search terms and more ploys to get buyers’ attention. The goal is first to post more, second to make it relevant to the ICP. Quantity over quality at a time when AI is creating even more noise.
And sure, I know posting content is the whole game: You can’t do content marketing without content. But it also feels like a lot of investment without a lot of strategy. A giant missed opportunity.
In particular, the blog posts that have become table stakes for any B2B SaaS company seem very transactional: They’re designed to get a potential buyer's attention once, deliver a quick jolt of information and possibly a Call to Action (CTA), then send them on their way.
This is motivated by an idea called the "7-11-4 rule" that Google published in 2011. This rule claims that before a buyer will reach out to a company, they typically engage with its content for at least 7 hours, through 11 touch points and 4 separate locations.
The research behind the 7-11-4 rule appears to have been taken off Google's website, but others have published results with similar numbers. The goal of transactional content is to get those 11 touch points one at a time.
But what if there was a better way?
I’ve been studying an emerging trend where B2B SaaS companies are starting to publish more in-depth, interconnected resources designed to encourage readers/viewers to interact with multiple pieces in a single visit, return later and share it with others. These include things like knowledge hubs with multiple related and deliberately organized articles, online courses and even online communities.
I call these resources relational content and I believe they’re win win for both readers/viewers and the companies that publish them: Readers/viewers get a source they can trust for guidance on their most pressing problems, including things they might never ask Google for. Companies get more engagement with the content they’ve invested in, and ongoing relationships with prospective buyers. It accelerates the 7-11-4 rule and removes their reliance on SEO.
I want to help as many companies as possible adopt relational content strategies. So that’s what I’m going to cover in this newsletter going forward.
I also created my own relational content about relational content: A Marketer's Guide to Relational Content. This is still a work in progress and I’ll be adding and updating articles every week or so. I’ll announce these changes on this newsletter, so if you want to keep up as the guide evolves, you can subscribe below.
Thanks for reading the Relational Content newsletter! I help B2B SaaS companies adopt relational content strategies to maximize the ROI from their marketing. To see what this might look like for you, check out merelogic.net.