I talk with B2B companies who are on board with content marketing as a concept, but don't know where to start. What makes content "good" for their particular buyers? And how can their content be more compelling than their competitor's? They can brainstorm titles for white papers all day, but not be confident that one content theme will be any more effective than another.

Through content marketing, the buyer is gaining control of the process. Buyers "discover" content (which we have cleverly placed in their path), and take the next action to move themselves through the buying cycle (see also "The Call to Action has Become the Call to Knowledge").

We structure our content marketing plan according to where the buyers are. And, we know a good content idea from a bad one by judging how the content moves the buyer along.

There are four major stages of the buying cycle, each of which requires a wholly different content approach.

• Unaware: Buyer is not explicitly in the market, but should be.
  Content should be interruptive.
   
• Tentative: Buyer is standing at the edge, or quietly wading into the market.
  Content should be educational.
   
• Engaged: Buyer is in a dialog with your company.
  Content should be validating.
   
• Invested: Buyer is a customer.
  Content should be exclusive.