The Evolution of B2B Content Marketing - Ashley Faus

Jul 17, 2024

Ashley Faus, Head of Lifecycle Marketing at Atlassian and a B2B content marketing expert featured in TIME and Forbes, shares her insights on the changing landscape of B2B content. She introduces the concept of a 'content playground' for non-linear engagement and challenges traditional sales funnels. Their discussion includes the need to understand varying content intents, the rise of authenticity in content creation, and the evolving role of AI while stressing the importance of human creativity in marketing strategies.

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Intro

00:00 • 4min

The Shifting Landscape of B2B Content Marketing

03:53 • 5min

Navigating Intent in B2B Content Marketing

09:03 • 28min

Navigating B2B Content Marketing

37:03 • 13min

Embracing Buyer Centricity and Holistic Value Exchange

49:41 • 3min

The Shift Toward Authenticity in B2B Content Creation

52:29 • 3min

Navigating AI's Role in Content Marketing

55:34 • 5min

Content has been the lifeblood of how B2B companies go to market for at least 20 years, since Hubspot pioneered the concept of Inbound Marketing.

We make content, we drip it out, we nurture people with it, we align it with our funnels, and we have a conviction that it makes people buy things—although that's also quite difficult to prove.

The content game is not going anywhere, but it IS changing. And to guide us through those changes, we're chatting today with B2B content expert Ashley Faus, Head of Lifecycle Marketing at Atlassian.

Ashley challenges traditional content mapping to the B2B funnel and introduces the idea of a "content playground" where people engage with content in a way that suits them best in a non-linear, non-standard journey.

She also delves into the different intents behind content (buy, use, help, trust), the different levels of content (conceptual, strategic, tactical), the nuances between individual and brand-led content, and the growing role of B2B creators.

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About Today's Guest

Ashley Faus is a marketer, writer, speaker by day, and a singer, actor, fitness fiend by night.

She's a leading content marketing expert who loves telling the high-level stories that resonate with an audience and connecting the dots between types of assets and distribution channels. For the past seven years, she's been the Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Portfolio, at Atlassian.

Her writing has been published on TIME, Forbes, MarketingProfs, and The Muse, and she's spoken on various marketing topics for INBOUND, Harvard Business Review, and MarketingProfs.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyfaus/

Key Topics

[00:00] - Introduction
[01:17] - A brief history of content marketing
[04:41] - Over-indexing on attribution
[08:55] - Different types of content intent
[15:42] - Individual vs. brand-led content
[19:12] - B2B creators
[29:24] - The content playground
[45:52] - Email as a consumption channel
[49:02] - Treating people as a whole human
[51:47] - Content formats
[54:54] - AI

Resource Links

Create a “Content Playground” that’s Fun for Buyers (and Lucrative for You)

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