Friday Deep Dives (Expert Tips On Taking Advantage Of Brand + SEO Content)

Welcome to the 13th issue of Friday Deep Dives, a monthly newsletter by Dozie Anyaegbunam, where an industry expert or I go all in on one question on content marketing from you all. I'm glad you're here.

Hello rockstars,

It’s that time of the week when we go on another content deep dive. Leading today’s dive is John-Henry Scherck. Some background…

So, John-Henry (JH) penned this thought-provoking article a month or so ago on where SEO is headed and how B2B content marketers can play the new game 👇🏾

It resonated with me. I spent the first part of my career in B2C Marcomms. And it’s beautiful to see some B2C marketing principles take root in B2B marketing.

I then sent him a couple of follow-up questions. JH was gracious enough to share detailed answers to all my questions.

Enjoy!

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 31 seconds.

1. Brand and SEO are quickly merging to become one in some form. How do B2B content marketers prep or take advantage of this shift? What sort of skills do we need to learn? How do we position ourselves as authorities who can help willing brands make the jump?

Not to not answer the question, but this idea that we should position ourselves as “authorities who can help willing brands make the jump [to combine SEO and brand marketing]” is, from my perspective at least, a little hollow.

Most people in performance marketing, the really skilled ICs that can put numbers on the board, are not brand builders.

They're ad console jockeys and content optimizers.

They don’t have track records of building brands - it hasn’t been their focus. It definitely hasn’t been mine. We’re probably not the guiding lights that enable companies to layer SEO or performance marketing on top of brand marketing.

For a long time, performance marketing worked in a silo. You could buy traffic and convert it on a single landing page to create pipeline.

With the consumerization of the enterprise and the majority of our buying experience moving online and on the buyer’s terms, I don't think performance marketing or performance content (as Anthony Kennada calls it) works in a silo anymore.

Brand is now a step function that enables performance marketing and performance content to function efficiently.

So, again, not to not answer the question, but I don’t think it’s really about positioning ourselves to have the answers and tell companies how it should be done!

It’s more about taking our skills as performance marketers and content creators and integrating brand initiatives and messaging into our campaigns.

Speaking for myself, I’m not the brand expert. And I don’t plan on trying to paint myself as one anytime soon. Brand marketers are cut from a different cloth and approach problems with another lens - and that’s why I’m always down to learn from them and work with them. They see things I won't.

2. Does the ability to take advantage of brand + SEO give small brands a chance, or they'll still need to feed off the scraps from the more prominent brands?

If you want to build pipeline quickly, I don't think SEO is the right starting point for most new brands.

It can be a part of the go-to-market motion.

But I don’t think it should be a primary focus or a major bet.

If you're seed stage, you’ll probably want to lean into building an audience on social first because you don't need much-existing authority to take off potentially.

If an individual post resonates and picks up engagement, it can really rocket around on a platform.

The same isn’t true for SEO. It gets easier the longer you wait. And gets more efficient as your messaging becomes more and more dialed in.

I tell most early companies to pick something that doesn’t reward incumbents by default.

3. Do you have any examples of brands ahead of the market shift and any lessons one can learn from them?

I think Lattice is probably my biggest content crush.

If you look at their content, they do SEO well. But it’s clear SEO isn’t the driving force behind their content strategy.

Their content is always very timely and seems to be focused on what their buyers and end users are currently dealing with.

Lattice’s content is also just excellent. It’s written and informed by experts who can support readers through challenging management and HR scenarios.

Their content is valuable - whenever I’ve needed help with people management or enabling team members to be more successful in their roles, I don’t go to Google for advice - I go straight to the Lattice site. That’s how you know they are winning.

I’m going to spend all weekend internalizing these insights. What about you?

Please feel free to connect and ask John-Henry Scherck any questions you have on LinkedIn.

If you found it helpful, let me know in the comments or by email.

Thanks for reading to the end. You all make writing this newsletter worth the trouble.

Be good out there. If you can't be good, be careful.

Dozie.

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