Content strategy red flags: What B2B marketing teams get wrong and how to course-correct
By Devin Reed
I see a lot of marketing teams stuck in the same cycle: They believe in content. They’re creating constantly. But, they’re just not seeing the results they want. Add that the CEO is asking why the competitor is “suddenly everywhere.”
Oh, and internally, there’s no real alignment on who you’re talking to, what you’re trying to say, or how you’re measuring success.
That’s usually when I get the call.
I’m Devin Reed — former head of content at Gong and Clari, now working with B2B marketing teams through my company, The Reeder. I’ve helped scale brands from $20M to $ 200M+ ARR, and I’ve worked with companies like Notion, Wiz, and FloQast to build content engines that drive tangible pipeline.
When I run a content audit, I’m not just skimming through performance dashboards. I’m digging into what’s broken, what’s missing, and what it’s going to take to turn content into a real growth lever.
In this piece, I’ll walk you through how these projects usually start, the most common mistakes I see, and what teams can do to course-correct.
Why Companies Reach Out for a Content Audit
Before I begin working with clients, a CMO or VP of marketing already has had a long-time conviction that content is important. But, they’ve had a recent realization that it’s no longer something they can take lightly. Put another way, they know they can’t afford not to invest in quality content marketing.
Usually, something went spectacularly wrong recently, or the CEO said something like, “It’s time to get our act together.”
Other times, they’ve realized there’s not one growth number they can look at confidently and say, “See, it’s working!” And even more often than ever, it’s a bigger strategic play, like launching new products, especially now with AI.
So the question becomes: How do we get our name and our product story out there in a way that makes it radically clear that we are different than our competitors?
Sometimes, it’s just competitive pressure. The CEO of their biggest competitor is active on LinkedIn. Their whole team is posting. It feels like they’re eating up all the attention. So, they start thinking, “We’ve got to do something.”
That’s where my Content Design process comes in, which always begins with an audit. Because if I were stepping into the Head of Content role at a company, that’s exactly what I’d do before publishing a single word. I’d want (and need) to know:
- What have we been doing?
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- What are our competitors doing, and what seems to be working for them?
From there, we can build something off their strengths, avoid weaknesses, and, most importantly, create something that actually stands out.
The 5 Most Common Content Marketing Mistakes I See
I’ve done a lot of these audits, and there are a few mistakes that come up over and over again, regardless of company size or industry. Here are the …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
