How to Navigate B2B Tech Startups As A Full-Stack Content Marketer

Part #1: The Full-Stack Content Marketing (FSCM) Playbook

Sep 29, 2023

∙ Paid

Captain! Atten-hut!

Welcome to a subscriber-only of the Content Captains Newsletter where I answer your questions about creating content, generating traction, and becoming a full-stack content marketer.

The Full-Stack Content Marketing (FSCM) Playbook:

Section I: Foundational Knowledge

Part #1: How to Navigate B2B Tech Startups As A Full-Stack Content Marketer (This Post)

Access Full Playbook

Key takeaways:

The B2B tech startup ecosystem is volatile, dynamic, and challenging, but if you’re willing to put in the work and learn on the fly, you will enjoy a legendary career.
Content marketers are responsible for creating go-to-market assets that engage, educate, and persuade prospects in your category to build trust and generate traction.
There are an infinite number of content marketing types and formats, and it’s your responsibility to understand what works within what channel and audience type.
The best content marketers are good at synthesizing large amounts of information and making smart decisions about the content they make, and how they make it.
Full-stack content marketers are tomorrow’s marketing leaders because they are the most dynamic, informed, and innovative marketers.

Introduction

Navigating B2B tech startups as a full-stack content marketer requires tenacity.

Startups are known for their volatility.

On one end, you have upside. There are countless learning opportunities at startups, and they typically pay well since the “risk” is built into your compensation. Plus there’s always the chance that your startup gets acquired or goes public, which is not only a great point to add to your resume, but also a potentially big payout depending on your equity situation.

However, it’s not all Silicon Valley-esque dreamworld. It’s hard work. It’s easy to get sucked into the strenuous grind of the startup world, especially in tech where the markets often shift, the products are complicated, and the need to “do more with less” is just par for the course. And it’s on you to embrace this work thoughtfully while remaining true to yourself and not burning out.

These dynamics are quite challenging for people to adapt to, especially those who prefer a more nimble, quiet life punching their time cards in at a 9-5 for five days a week. But for those who choose this life, there are a few fundamental things you need to understand to be successful.

Overview of the B2B Tech Startup Ecosystem

Tech startups are volatile.

Unlike mature companies, startups pivot forcibly.

Shifting market dynamics, evolving competitive landscapes, and high-stake cultures are some of the things you can expect while working at a startup. You’ll also be faced with resource constraints, long hours, and tight deadlines.

Tech startups operate within controlled chaos. They exist either within established categories fighting for their lives or within new categories fighting for their lives. The former requires fighting against competitors, and the latter requires educating people on a new problem, solution, and product. But if you read closely, you’ll notice that regardless, they’re both “fighting for their lives.” And things aren’t so black and white either; it’s absolutely possible to operate within a hybrid environment of both innovation and competition, which is brutal.

Tech products are complicated, which makes writing copy, positioning, and messaging quite challenging. And B2B messaging is challenging, too. Especially if your product helps a businesses’ customers, forcing you into some fuzzy B2B2C messaging situation that confuses prospects (and internal teams).

Then you have venture capital (VC), which is private investor dollars many startups rely on to establish and grow their businesses. This adds an additional layer of pressure on startup teams to not only perform well, but to exceed expectations while generating traction to attract further funding to survive a little longer. It’s an unpleasant flywheel. And very few make it out alive.

But it’s not all blood, sweat, and tears—startups are filled with boundless opportunities.

The benefit of working at startups is that every year is worth at least five years of learning.

At a startup, your organizational structure will be more flat—meaning the levels of hierarchy you’re used to from academic institutions or corporations will dissolve a little bit. You’ll get to rub shoulders with people way above your pay-grade. From directors and executives to the founders themselves, there’s no telling who you may find yourself working with on any given day. This grants you unmatched access to the top brass, exposing you to how decisions are made, how priorities shift, and how projects are delivered, all of which will develop your own leadership abilities and business acumen.

You’ll also get to learn what it takes to start, run, and grow a business. And if you’re a business fanatic like me (MBA ‘20, Go Wildcats!) then you’ll appreciate this aspect, too. Because it’s one thing to read, study, and learn about business. But it’s another thing entirely to actually build one. Or in this case, be a part of growing one.

All this to say, the exposure you'll get to leadership, business, and other functions is like getting a mini-MBA, except this is real-world experience (which is far more valuable). Of course, lucrative salaries and compensation are also a real part of this space because the work is highly demanding and requires top-notch talent to function. Lastly, from the content marketers’ perspective, you’ll have the chance to expand your portfolio ten fold, which will not only refine your skills, but also empower you to continue accelerating your career and earning potential.

Working at a tech startup is hard work, but the opportunity to learn, earn, and grow is worth it.

Introduction to Content Marketing: Definition, Importance, Benefits

Content marketing involves the creation and distribution of digital assets that engage, educate, and persuade a specific target audience within a given category.

Let me break this down:

“Content marketing involves the creation and distribution of digital assets”

This is the most obvious part about content marketing. You create content and you share content. Pretty straight forward.

“That engage, educate, and persuade”

You aren’t creating content for the sake of it. You’re creating to engage (drive traffic), educate (provide value), and persuade (offer solutions).

“A specific target audience within a given category”

This is the most important part most content marketers miss. You must create content for one audience type while simultaneously promoting your category.

A decade ago, content marketing was still an emerging field, most notably known for producing blog and social media content. But today, content marketing is the epicenter of marketing teams, because without content, there is no marketing. The content marketer’s role has expanded ten fold, and the reliance on content continues to grow.

There’s a lot more to do than just peddle a few blogs—there’s multimedia content for various marketing channels that fit into multiple distribution strategies all aimed at generating traction. Assets like one-pagers, blogs, ad sets, emails, case studies, white papers, ebooks, webinars, pitch decks, landing pages…the list is endless and growing.

In essence, content marketers are tasked with creating high-quality assets for both internal and external uses aimed at convincing prospects and customers alike that your product is the only solution to their specific set of problems in a given category.

That’s the job.

B2B tech startups cannot grow without content marketing.

There is no marketing function that can operate without content. And if a startup can’t market themselves, they cannot generate traction—the number one most important marketing metric they need to survive; because traction fuels growth.

Traction not only fuels marketing pipeline (adding prospects into your funnel) but it also improves brand recognition, thought-leadership, and investor interest.

How you catalyze traction will vary, but the underlying principles remain the same: create a category, educate your target audience, and deliver a great product experience. From a content marketing perspective, your role is to lead the front.

A typical startup marketing team will include various functions, all of which require content like:

Demand Generation - This function typically manages all digital campaigns and requires content like ad sets and gated assets like ebooks to drive pipeline.
Marketing Communications - This function typically oversees social media and public relations and requires content like social graphics and press releases to drive reach.
Customer Marketing - This function typically leads customer upselling and retention and requires content like case studies, emails, and digital reports to drive loyalty.
Product Marketing - This function typically manages product- and feature-led go-to-market strategies and requires content like demo videos to drive engagement.
Partner Marketing - This function typically oversees partner-forward co-marketing activities and requires content like one-pagers to drive leads.

As you can see, content marketing is an integral part of marketing teams.

Content marketing is distinct from traditional marketing because content is centered around building trust.

There are many key performance indicators (KPIs) content marketers need to track.

From organic website traffic and conversion rates to marketing pipeline and timely deliverables, these are all integral parts of marketing reports. But if you zoom out for a moment, you may notice that content marketing is built around trust.

You can’t build meaningful website traffic without creating web content that positions you as a helpful authority. You can’t convert prospects without writing copy that convinces them they need you. And you can’t drive marketing pipeline without consistently shipping content to all go-to-market teams on time.

In addition, content needs to be specifically created for a target audience within a given category and formatted in a way that meets them where they’re at. In other words, your content needs to consider the buyer’s journey, type of channel, and level of product knowledge your target audience possesses if it’s to resonate.

If you do this enough times, with consistent high-quality, you will eventually build thought leadership (authority). Your startup will be known as experts in a specific category, making you the go-to resource when someone finds themselves in need of your products. Overtime, you will be “easy to mind, easy to find” which will ultimately generate traction.

The common denominator here: Trust.

Role of Content Marketing in B2B Tech Startups

Content marketers create all the content necessary to go-to-market.

This is the most important role content marketers have in any given startup. Because without content, marketers and sellers cannot “go to market,” which is another way of saying marketing.

As such, your content marketing assets should not only aim at generating traction, but also support your go-to-market (GTM) teams in their respective activities. And there’s a number of ways to do this efficiently:

Content Captains