Hey friend,

How’s it going? 🌻

As promised, let us kickstart this Content Marketer Challenges series with the #1 edition: How to create and document a content strategy.

Stay Tuned For Next Ones....

To make things easier for me (and you), I will be discussing 4 cases here:

• Sales-led funnel (Early + Growth-stage)
• Product-led funnel (Early + Growth-stage)

Obviously, there will be further specifications based on your industry, product, and ICP. And that's what 1:1 calls are for:).

#1 Sales-led funnel

EARLY STAGE

Step 1: Focus on learning the product very well

Brands that opt for a sales-led funnel usually have a heavy-tech, high-value product. And once you learn those specific intricacies of the product, you can create a high-intent content strategy easily. This learning should involve:

• Talking to sales folks (they are the ultimate advocates in a sales-led funnel)
• Talking to customer success
• Getting product demo + tutorials (if you can get access to the product, that's awesome, but generally that doesn't happen)
• Studying competitors' content strategies very well

Step 2: Focus on Thought-leadership content

In sales-led funnels, awareness is largely lacking. Many potential users rely heavily on legacy tools and don't realize simpler alternatives are available. However, thought-leadership content based on original research and SME interviews works wonders for this funnel type. Some examples would be:

• Podcasts
• Product webinars
• Thought-leadership articles
• Founder of LinkedIn posts

Step 2: Double down on BOFU content

Pick your top 5 competitors and start creating detailed BOFU articles for them. These should be authentic and must highlight the real differentiators. If this works, move on to other BOFU content types.

📚 Suggested Further Read: 10 BOFU Blog Examples That Actually Drive Pipeline (and How to Reverse-Engineer Them)​

GROWTH STAGE

All of the above +

Step 3: Check attribution and plan actions

If it's a growth-stage brand, you have the advantage of analyzing what works and what doesn't. Go back and analyze previous content types and find out their performances:

• Which blogs brought in the most leads
• Break down these blogs into further categories like products, features, and use cases
• Identify which lead magnets are most downloaded
• Now refresh the blogs that did well + match user intent. Rewrite if needed
• Create more lead magnets on proven topics. Even better if you have the logistics to run surveys and publish original reports

#1 Product-led funnel

EARLY STAGE

Step 1: Focus on USING the product + mapping the “aha moment”​
Brands that opt for a product-led funnel usually depend on self-serve adoption. So your content strategy must mirror how users discover value inside the product. This learning should involve:

• Signing up and completing onboarding like a real user
• Identifying the “aha moment” (the first clear value win)
• Mapping the activation path (signup → key action → repeat use)
• Listing the top 5 “stuck points” (where users drop off)
• Reviewing in-app messages + onboarding emails + help docs

Step 2: Focus on product education content that drives activation (not awareness)​
In PLG, awareness alone doesn’t fix growth—activation does. Early-stage PLG content should answer “How do I do this?” and “Is this possible with your product?” Some examples would be:

• Setup and onboarding guides (first 15 minutes)
• Use-case tutorials (specific outcomes, not feature tours)
• Templates/playbooks/checklists that work inside the product
• “Common mistakes” and troubleshooting content
• Short how-to videos + docs-style posts

Step 3: Double down on BOFU content that supports self-serve buying​
Even in PLG, users compare tools before committing. Pick your top 5 competitors and start creating detailed BOFU articles for them—focused on real constraints and real differentiators. If this works, move on to other BOFU types:

• Alternatives pages
• Pricing & packaging explainers
• Migration/switching guides
• Security + compliance pages (if relevant)

​📚 My BOFU E-book Updated covers it all!​

GROWTH STAGE

All of the above +

Step 4: Invest in founder personal branding + LinkedIn influencer marketing (PLG-specific)​
In a product-led funnel, a founder's personal branding is more about showing how the product thinks. Unlike sales-led funnels where founder content often focuses on market POVs, big bets, and deal stories, PLG founder content should be deeply product-adjacent. This can involve:

• Founders sharing real workflows, experiments, and product decisions
• Explaining why certain features exist and how users should think about solving the problem
• Partnering with LinkedIn creators who already teach the same workflows your product enables
• Co-creating tutorials, teardown posts, and honest “how I use this” content

When done right, founder branding + influencer marketing drives trust, product curiosity, and faster self-serve adoption—without sounding like sales.

Step 5: Build programmatic pages to scale high-intent discovery​
Once ICP, use cases, and activation paths are clear, programmatic SEO helps PLG brands scale discovery without heavy content overhead. Focus on pages that map directly to how users search and adopt the product:

• Integrations pages (Tool A + Tool B)
• Use-case libraries (by role, workflow, or industry)
• Templates and examples tied to in-product actions
• “Alternatives” and comparison page clusters
• Glossary pages that connect concepts directly to product features

At this stage, growth content should compound—programmatic pages drive intent, and founder- and influencer-led LinkedIn distribution builds trust and accelerates adoption.

🗃️ More resources for content marketers from SaaS Splash Bulletin Archive

• ​What metrics should you track throughout your blog lifecycle?​
• ​Five different types of custom GPTs for content marketers (+Privacy Tips)​
• ​How to avoid being boxed into content-only roles​

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Onwards and upwards,

Sreyashi

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