The No-BS Guide to B2B Blog Posts: From Strategy to Publishing (and Beyond)
If I’m being completely honest, I have days just like everyone else where I just stare at the blinking cursor with an empty mind. But we both know that blog posts that truly align with your target audience’s journey aren’t born from staring - they’re born from a kick-ass plan and execution.
You are not your audience so who are you writing for?
Step away from the keyboard and get crystal clear about 2 things:
Who your ideal customer is
Problems they need solved
A lot of the time, businesses like yours will use their competitor’s audience as a guide for their own. Or, even worse, you write what you like reading. Neither your competitor’s audience nor you and other leaders in your company are who you should be writing for.
Then for who? Let’s figure that out.
Creating your buyer personas
‘Buyer personas’ sounds like the ultimate marketing jargon, but they’re not that complicated. The buyer persona is a snapshot of your dream customer and isn’t just about their job title but goals, pain points, and struggles.
You need to define this so you’re not writing for everyone, because ‘everyone’ isn’t your customer.
A solid buyer persona helps you:
Choose topics that will hit the mark
Speak the language of your target audience
Be the calm in the content chaos
But don’t overthink this. You’re not trying to write a 20-page novel for each persona! Keep it simple:
Give each persona a name “Dave the Data-Driven” or “Marion of the House of Marketing” (…sorry might have gotten a bit carried away with Game of Thrones).
IT manager or Head of Marketing is not memorable.Add a few key details like industry, company size, and their biggest challenges
Figure out where they hang out online
Here’s what it could look like:
Download a blank version of this template.
I recommend using Canva to edit this.
But don’t pick up the phone or hit send on an email just yet. Knowing who you’re writing for doesn’t mean you need to start bombarding them with random content.
You need to focus on creating value. But ‘value’ is such an abstract concept and means different things to different people.
You need to hone in on being their go-to problem solver.
99 problems but your content ain’t one
Think of your content like a Swiss Army knife–it’s most valuable when it provides a solution, not when you’re just waving it around showing off how many tiny tools it has.
Your product or service might be amazing, but if your blog reads like an endless instruction manual, you’ll be driving prospects away instead of attracting them.
Look, your prospects honestly don’t care about your fancy features. They care about results. Instead of listing those features, address the pain points you uncovered when you were building your buyer personas.
For example:
time saved
revenue gained/money saved
frustration eliminated
Here’s how to shift your mindset:
→ Stop the “Look at me!” approach
Instead of a post titled “Our 10 Best Features,” go with “How to Solve [customer pain point] in Half the Time”. One is a sales pitch disguised as content, the other is a promise of value.
→ Actionable, not just informational
Don’t just tell your prospects something, help them do something. Include step-by-step guides, checklists, or templates related to the problem you’re solving.
→ The power of ‘Because’
Don’t just stop with explaining how a feature helps, add ‘because’ to take it to the next level.
- Our software integrates with your CRM [🤷🏽♀️so what?]
or
- Our software integrates with your CRM because we know that manually updating data is a soul-crushing waste of time. [YES! Tell them you know what they’re going through.]
Always remember that your target audience is searching for answers, not just your fancy product demo. Be the solution and your content will start doing the selling for you.
Okay, you get how to solve problems, not just pitch your product. But to reach the right people, you need that content to be valuable and findable. Cue a bit of SEO magic...
SEO Keywords 101: A lesson in common sense
I like talking to myself as much as the next person, but that’s not going to help any of us generate leads or find paying customers. You need to sprinkle keywords over your content, whether that’s on your landing pages or your blog.
Simply put, keywords embedded in your content tell Google that you talk about certain topics so that when someone searches “Dog breeds”, and you’ve used that keyword in your content, you’ll be found.
How do you know which are the best keywords to use so your ideal customers can find you?
Tools for SEO keyword research
There are many tools out there but before you get overwhelmed, here are some options to get you started.
Free options
Google Keyword Planner: Part of the Google Ads platform, it’s freely accessible and gives valuable data on search volume and related keywords
AnswerThePublic: Visually maps out questions and phrases people are searching for, providing excellent insights into search intent.
Ubersuggest: There are free and paid versions. The free version is still quite robust, offering keywords suggestions, difficulty scores, and competitor analysis.
Paid options
KWFinder: A favorite for the easy interface and focus on long-tail keywords. Usually, these kinds of keywords are less competitive for SaaS brands. They offer short free trials and pricing starts at USD $29 per month/$19.90 per month, annually.
Semrush: This is a powerful suite of tools, and they offer limited free searches and a few basic features without a subscription. Lots of add-ons to grow with your needs. Pricing starts at USD $129.98 per month/$108.33 per month, annually.
The lure of content scoring apps
Many content marketers love content scoring apps like Clearscope, Frase, or Surfer.
These are tools that help assign a “grade” to your content to let you know how well you’ve optimized it. So, scoring grades A or B (or 70% and above) means your content will be well-optimized for Google searches.
Here’s the issue: You’ll feel compelled to score as high as possible which usually means adding as many of the tool’s suggested keywords as possible - aka, keyword stuffing.
Content scoring pitfalls
These tools focus on keyword density and sentence length, none of which tells you if your content is useful or engaging for your audience.
Chasing a high content score can lead to writing that sounds robotic, causing you to sacrifice your brand voice for the algorithm.
A high score doesn’t guarantee your content will get results.
A high content score is meaningless if the rest of the piece is garbage.
Search engines are getting smarter, and so are your potential customers. They can spot keyword-stuffed fluff a mile away. Your most powerful SEO weapon is to understand your audience and create genuinely useful content.
Pro tip: Google and friends aren’t just going to look at how often you use a keyword; they’ll analyze how well-written, informative, and engaging your content is.
Okay. You’re honed in on who you want to write for, you know what they’re searching for, and you’re armed with a keyword strategy that helps put you on people’s radar.
Let’s turn all of that into a compelling blog post and break down how to go from strategy to finished product.
How to actually write real content for real people in 4 steps
The pressure to crank out amazing content is real. And it can feel like your competitors have already covered it all. But don't stress – there's room for your unique voice on even the most common topics.
Focus on finding your tribe with great content. Let's break down how to do it, step by step, so you can hit publish with confidence.
Step one: The power of the outline
Your outline is the map for your blog post. Without it, you’ll get lost, wander off and get eaten by bears, or end up feeling like you wasted hours with nothing to show for it.
Why you need an outline:
Staring at a blank page is intimidating. An outline gives you the starting point and breaks the task into smaller less daunting chunks.
It’s easy to get distracted by shiny new ideas mid-writing. Your outline keeps you focused on the core message you want to deliver.
In SaaS, you need to produce content quickly. An outline will keep the process zipping along so you can spend more time writing and less time panicking about writing.
📝 Example blog post outline
You’re not writing a romance novel. Your outline should be the skeleton of your post which includes 3 basic things:
The main idea: one sentence summary
Key points: 3-5 supporting points you’ll expand on
Call to action: What do you want the reader to do after they’re done reading? This doesn’t have to be a “buy our software now” CTA, by the way.
Here’s what your outline could look like:
Title: “5 ways customer success software can boost customer retention”
Introduction: Opening hook on the cost of churn and why retention is crucial.
Point 1: Improve onboarding (+ sub-topics on how your software helps)
Point 2: Identify at-risk customers (data-driven insights)
Point 3: Proactive outreach & support
Conclusion: Tie everything together. Increased revenue = happy customers.
(If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll be able to see the outline I used to write what you’re reading now 😉)
Remember, an outline isn’t a fixed “thing”. It can evolve as you write. The goal is to start with a framework so you don’t get stuck in your own head.
Step 2: Headlines that hook
Your headline is the sales pitch in a single sentence. This is your chance to craft something so the reader decides your content doesn’t suck. Here’s how to approach this…
→ Ask a question
Struggling to convert leads? The fix might be simpler than you think.
→ The classic how-to
How to write blog posts that rank on Google
→ Benefit focused
5 Easy strategies to boost customer retention
These aren’t perfect, but it gives you an idea of how to adapt the strategy to what you do. Be sure to read the headline out loud and ask if you’d click on the title if you saw it in your search results or social feed.
Step 3: Tell the story
You’ll need to emotionally connect with your target audience, and this is where your buyer persona comes in. Here are some tips on how to flesh out the body of your piece with storytelling:
Start with a relatable problem: What is the reader’s struggle or what is it they’re trying to achieve? Now open with that.
Use anecdotes or case studies: When you talk about the experiences you’ve had with previous customers, you’re putting a real face to your reader’s pain points. They know they’re not alone and that you’ve helped others before.
Conversational is still professional: I’m not sure why the world of B2B SaaS decided that robotic = professional. Your prospects are real people, so treat them like that. Talk to them like a trusted colleague or advisor.
Inject your personality: There might be similar offerings like yours on the market, but what is it about your brand that makes you different? Don’t be afraid to show that in your content.
Step 4: Hit publish (but not blindly)
I love the saying “Done is better than perfect” because I’m focused on delivering as I’m sure you are. But that doesn’t mean you’re publishing without a last check.
So, before you publish, here’s a checklist to make sure it’s as good a version as possible without the perfection:
☑ Read it aloud: This will help you find clunky phrasing that you’d miss by reading silently.
☑ Proofread: Typos happen to all of us, and in my case, usually after I hit publish 😅. Grammarly can help clean up the issues, but I wouldn’t just rely on tools here.
☑ Fresh eyes: Get a colleague’s fresh perspective for clarity. Sometimes I work on something for days and it all starts looking the same!
Never too late to update: You can and should always revisit older posts to improve, update, and refresh.
There are actually five pre-publishing steps. But one of them was so important, I gave it its own section because if you leave this out, you may as well use an AI tool to write your content.
Subject matter experts: Your ticket to delivering real insights
More than likely, the content writer you’ve hired isn’t a subject matter expert on the topic they’re writing about, and that’s ok.
So far, your blog post cocktail consists of:
the structure (the outline)
the kick (your catchy headline)
the story (the heart)
the polish (your pre-publish checklist)
But you’re missing the one special ingredient that will make your content cocktail truly unique: Your subject matter expert (SME).
An SME can come from your sales, customer success, or product team as they have deep understanding of customer pain points, deep industry knowledge, and real-world experiences.
But don’t just keep it in-house. A great way to get exposure is to reach out to SMEs outside of your company and do a content collaboration.
This is'n’t an interview in the classic sense, it’s a conversation!
Focus on the following:
Give your SME a few guiding questions in advance, not a blank slate.
This isn’t an brain dump. This should be a 15-20 minute focused chat about the subject.
Offer them the opportunity to review the content so they can ensure their insights are presented clearly.
I’ve created an example “interview” template for you to use in your next SME chat:
🧐 View the Google Doc - You’ll need to make a copy of the doc to edit it.
Pro tip: If you have lots of SMEs, create a doc with their bios, headshots, and blurbs to use over and over.
Put your content to work!
Congrats, you’ve published your blog post. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet because there’s so much more to do now that it’s online.
Repurpose like a boss
Time to take that blog post and pick out all the good bits. Can you turn one of the sections into an infographic? Take SME insights and turn them into a great LinkedIn post. Maybe you can summarize all the main points and create a download for lead capture.
Shout about your content
Don’t be shy about sharing your blog but be intentional about it. Make sure your target audience is actually hanging out on the platforms you want to publish on. If they’re not on Instagram, don’t bother!
Measure what matters
Are you aiming for leads or brand awareness? Knowing what you want to track will determine the date you choose to analyze. I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it, it’s not only about the vanity metrics like page visits. Engagement like comments and shares will tell if if your content resonated.
You have all the elements to put together a blog post that truly serves the tribe you’re trying to attract and build relationships with. It’s over to you.
Your no-BS challenge
You’ve got the tools, know-how, and enough of my advice to last you a while, so it’s time to stop overthinking and start doing.
To recap:
Know your tribe: Stop writing for everyone and start obsessing over the specific problems your dream customers desperately need solved.
Help, not hype: Your offering is awesome, we get it. But if your blog reads like a never-ending sales pitch, you’ve already lost.
Progress, not perfection: Done is always better than some half-finished masterpiece gathering dust in your drafts folder. Tweak as you go.
SME spotlight: Find colleagues who work closely with the customer and/or product. Time to tap into their insights goldmine.
Strategically repurpose & promote: Your amazing content deserves to be seen. Get it in front of the right people, in the right places.
Changing your mindset and strategy doesn’t happen over night, so don’t stress about this too much. And if you do start losing your way, book a call with me - I’m always here to help!
Now go out there and kick ass. You got this!
