From Reads to Leads is a newsletter for writers who want more. It's about marketing. Strategy. Positioning. Operations. Results. And yes, it talks about writing too. But through a marketing lens. If this was sent to you, subscribe here so you don't miss the next email.
In today's newsletter:
The best-case scenario: An SEO specialist looks at what competitors write and copies the keywords they're targeting. Then the content team creates blog posts optimized for those keywords.
The worst-case scenario: The team spends months creating blog posts that don't get the traffic because nobody thought about distribution in the first place, and these blogs aren't even relevant to their target audience.
Both of these scenarios are bad. But in the first case, you might at least rank for some keywords, driving traffic to your website. The worst-case scenario, on the other hand, results in content born to die. This is how the story typically ends for teams producing random acts of content.
For content to work, you need to have a strategy that takes into account a bunch of things, including:
In other words, you need a content roadmap. Like a product roadmap, it helps you plan your work and get it done.
Let’s walk through exactly how to build a content roadmap aimed at achieving one common marketing goal: generating leads through the organic channel. I'll share a basic (but working) strategy you can use to achieve it.
Before you even start thinking about a content roadmap, you need to have your foundation nailed. I'm talking prioritized market segments or ICP and messaging. These two things. It's impossible to build a content roadmap without those.
You need to have prioritized market segments that your marketing efforts are focused on. Your content roadmap can be built for several segments, but make sure you know exactly who you’re aiming to reach before you start mapping out content ideas.
🍏Your prioritized marketing segment can sound like this:
Heads of marketing at mid-sized B2B tech companies who are investing in content marketing but not seeing results.
Once you have your segments, you need to define a message you want to communicate to them through your content pieces.
🍏Your main message can sound like this:
Most inbound content strategies underperform because they are too broad. We make them specific. And it works.
Defining your ICP and messaging is the most important part. If these aren’t clear, almost everything else you do in marketing is likely to fail.
I find the OKR (objectives and key results) methodology great for goal-setting in marketing. It gives you clarity around what you need to achieve.
For example, your objective is "Generate leads through the organic channel within the next 6 months."
Key result 1: Achieve top-3 Google Search results for the primary keywords, tracking progress on the keyword positions monthly.
Key result 2: Build credibility with site visitors
Key result 3: Capture leads
Key result 4: Nurture leads
Key result 5: Achieve top-30 Google Search ranking for secondary keywords, tracking progress on the keyword positions monthly
Tip 💡 Think backwards to come up with key results.
Now, let's define what you can put on your content roadmap to achieve the key results above.
Primary keywords target people in the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey. These leads have high intent and a greater likelihood of converting. Most of these keywords should map to landing pages, not blog posts. This type of content should be your top priority on the roadmap.
The sooner you create these pages, the sooner they can move through design and development, go live, get indexed, and start ranking.
To support rankings, you may also need to plan guest posts as part of your link-building strategy. Your guest posts are tied to your first key result.
🍏Your primary keywords can look like this:
Once you attract the visitors to your landing page, will they trust you? You need customer testimonials and case studies to build credibility. These should be on your content roadmap.
Keep in mind that case studies aren’t optimized for search, so you’ll need a distribution strategy. Plan to repurpose these into LinkedIn posts, emails, or short videos to promote them.
Don’t rely solely on SEO or assume visitors will find your case studies through your landing page. Actively put them in front of your audience.
🍏Your case studies can sound like this:
We helped a SaaS client revamp their blog strategy, resulting in 180K organic traffic and 3K product purchases per month. (read this case study)
We helped a new UI/UX design agency generate 20+ monthly leads with a focused content strategy. (read this case study)
We helped a software development company grow its visibility in search with expert content and zero SEO budget. (read this case study)
Once your landing pages are ranking and your credibility is established with case studies and customer testimonials, the next step is converting visitors into leads.
You need a strong lead magnet. I agree with Devin Reed here. For a lead magnet to work, it needs to be so valuable that someone would pay for it.
This could be a report, a template, a playbook, or a step-by-step guide tailored to your customer's pains. Gated assets let you track the numbers and measure ROI. This is exactly what you need to demonstrate impact (otherwise, you might get fired).
So, your lead magnet goes on the roadmap. But don’t stop there. Your asset needs a promotion plan. Support it with ad campaigns on Google and LinkedIn to drive qualified traffic and maximize lead capture.
🍏Your lead magnet can sound like this:
12 proven inbound campaign templates for lead generation in B2B – a detailed, 50+ page ebook featuring 12 tried-and-tested lead generation campaign templates: from LinkedIn ad strategies to mid-funnel SEO blogs to lead magnets to email nurturing sequences. Each template is backed with real-world examples and tips on execution.
🍏Another idea:
Quarterly B2B Tech Content Strategy Report. Publish this as ungated content to maximize reach and shareability. Include original insights drawn from interviews with marketing leaders at B2B tech companies. This unique data will help position your brand as a thought leader and increase the chances of earning backlinks and media mentions.
For example, Lattice’s ungated State of People Strategy report generated $1.2M in new business and renewals, NN, WSJ, and Bloomberg coverage, and 170+ conversions directly from the page. You can read more about it in our piece 8 Content Marketing Examples You’ll Want to Bookmark.
This one is straightforward. Once you've captured leads through your lead magnet, you need to nurture them. Add a drip email campaign to your roadmap for those who’ve provided their emails to access the lead magnet. These emails should be designed to gradually move leads further down the funnel.
This is the long game. And arguably the trickiest part of your content roadmap. The goal here is to build a content engine that helps you rank in the top 30 (the objective you should aim at for the following 6 months) for secondary keywords.
This means committing to a long-term content program with blogs, repurposed assets, reports, ebooks, newsletters, all that stuff. For 6 months or more.
Here is how to prioritize.
1. Optimize what you already have.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You can get great results by optimizing your existing high-performing content and finding ways to make it perform better. Update, expand, or even completely rewrite high-potential posts. Don't forget about distribution. Add lead magnets to those posts to convert visitors into email signups.
2. Find gaps in your funnel.
Map your content across the buyer’s journey to spot missing pieces. You want to make sure your entire funnel is covered from awareness to conversion.
3. Focus on bottom of the funnel content.
This content augments your first key result (rank for primary keywords) but in this case, we're talking about blog articles or comparison pages.
Bottom of the funnel content usually includes:
🍏One of your BOFU articles can sound like this:
Top Content Marketing Agencies for SaaS Companies in 2025
4. Build out MOFU content.
This content is aimed at helping your audience solve their problems and evaluate possible solutions:
🍏One of your MOFU articles can sound like this:
Free Content Calendar Template on Notion for SaaS
5. Address TOFU (if it makes sense).
Don't waste time on top of the funnel content if you can't convert someone already searching for what you sell.
By the time you get to the top of the funnel, you should already know if your content roadmap is working. And if it does, then it makes sense to target a broad audience with TOFU content.
🍏One of your TOFU articles can sound like this:
B2B Content Marketing Trends
Here are two more recommendations you should consider when building your content roadmap.
Once your SEO efforts bring traffic to your site, you need to keep that audience engaged. A weekly newsletter is an excellent way to deliver ongoing value and stay top of mind. Over time, it will become a key distribution channel for your content.
You need to see all your content ideas in one place with all the info you need. What kind of info?
Add all this information into a spreadsheet:
Now you're all set to execute your content roadmap!
When you're building a content roadmap, especially with limited time or resources, avoid trying to do everything at once. Instead, start with a focused project that’s small enough to execute quickly, but meaningful enough to demonstrate results.
This will help you validate your approach before committing to a long-term strategy.
Use these guiding principles:
Don’t try to serve multiple audiences at once. Pick one high-potential segment. Tailor your entire content approach (tone of voice, topics, use cases, examples) to resonate with this segment.
Why it matters: The tighter your focus, the faster they’ll convert.
Choose one core message that speaks directly to your audience’s problem, supports your value proposition, and is backed by proof (case studies, stats, testimonials). Repeat that message in every piece of content.
Why it matters: Clarity builds authority. You want to be known for something, so use a TV commercial principle: repeat the same thing over and over. Until is sticks.
Focus on BOFU (bottom-of-funnel) keywords. These are the search terms your target customers are using when they’re looking for a solution. Prioritize landing pages that convert over blogs that educate.
Why it matters: These are the visitors most likely to convert.
Audit your existing assets before creating new ones. Updating existing content delivers faster wins than creating from scratch.
Why it matters: You save time and see faster ranking improvements.
It’s tempting to chase high-volume TOFU content early on, but it won’t drive results if your site isn’t ready to convert the people already searching for exactly what you sell. Fix the bottom first. Then scale up the funnel.
Why it matters: You don’t want to pay (in effort or money) to attract people who won’t convert.
So there you have it.
Remember to regularly review and adjust your content roadmap based on performance and new insights, and keep experimenting with new ideas and formats to keep your strategy performing.
Watch it instead:
Every week I share my ideas and tips on content marketing and copywriting with writers, B2B marketers, and business owners. Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you never miss a new video.
We’ve already kicked off the beach season. Fingers crossed for no rain next weekend!
Kate
P.S. If we aren't connected already, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you like this newsletter, please refer your friends.
P.P.S. Need a hand with content? Fix your mediocrity problem with Zmist & Copy
Low-quality, keyword-stuffed, unreadable – no, this is not what SEO content should look like. Read on to discover how to write SEO-optimized content that works for both Google and people.
Most marketers focus on pre-sale, but post-sale strategies are just as important.
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