Content marketing doesn’t just happen; there’s a hierarchy of vital needs that make for a successful content marketing strategy.

1. The Content Marketing
Hierarchy of Needs
Discover how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be applied
to inbound marketing for a successful content strategy.

2. Physiological or Basic
Needs: Content

3. Physiological or Basic Needs: Content
This is the staple of content marketing,
obviously. Without it, there would be no
blog, no point in social media and no way
of establishing your brand’s reputation -
to put it bluntly.

4. You need content that:
• Provides actionable advice
• Answers your prospects’ business pains
• Takes your prospects on a journey
• Promotes your services or product
• Provides technical know-how and expertise
• Promotes your business proposition What does this
mean for me?
Content that at least
keeps me in my job
for a good few
months!

5. 78%
of CMOs think
custom content
is the future of
marketing 91%
of B2B marketers
use content
marketing

6. Safety: Evidence
and ROI

7. Safety: Evidence and ROI
Okay so you’ve been blogging and maybe
produced some infographics and other
rich media, but this doesn’t mean you’re
safe! Even a few social media shares
won’t cut it, not just yet anyway.

8. Your content needs to:
• Drive truckloads of the right traffic
• Generate an army of relevant leads
• Deliver massive returns on investment
• Provide evidence of your proposition’s success
Basically, is what you’re talking about:
a) Making you money?
b) Supporting your wonderful claims?
What does this
mean for me?
Content that might
keep me in my job
long enough to look
for another job!

9. Inbound marketing costs
62%
less per lead than
traditional outbound
marketing
41%
of marketers confirm
content marketing’s
positive ROI

10. Social
Needs:
Social Media

11. Social Needs: Social Media
If you’re not on social media then firstly,
where have you been? And secondly,
where have you been?! Social media is
becoming the new homepage for brands;
instantly accessible and used by 74%
of all internet users. So we suggest
snapping up a Twitter handle sharpish.

12. What does this
mean for me?
Content that is at
least liked by one
person!
For any level of brand advocacy,
you’ll need your content to:
• Encourage people to share it with their following
• Focus on what your audience is talking about/
wants to read
• Get the attention of industry influencers
• Create interesting conversations
• Maximise and extend the reach of
your audience

13. 78%
of small businesses
attract new customers
through social media 50%
of marketers see
improved sales
from social media

14. Esteem:
Brand
Reputation

15. Esteem: Brand Reputation
This is sort of related to Social Needs
but a bit more egotistical. Your content
should not only appeal to what the people
want, but it should feed the needs of your
own brand too - although the people are
awesome and it’s all about the people
really… We love the people.

16. Is your content:
• Driving publicity?
• Maintaining consistent brand messaging?
• Building a strong brand reputation?
What does this
mean for me?
Content that at
least I like
to produce!

17. “A brand for a company is like
a reputation for a person. You
earn reputation by trying to do
hard things well.”
- Jess Bezoz, CEO, Amazon
72%
of people trust
online reviews as
much as personal
recommendations

18. Self-actualisation:
Best in Class

19. Social Needs: Social Media
You can’t really get much better than
this. If you’ve reached this point you can
kick back with a Tequila Sunrise and
bask in your success. But only for ten
minutes, there’s still work to be done.

20. Does your content:
• Provide a unique content experience?
• Move your prospect into the white space and
above all the noise?
• Deliver above the expectations of the
consumer?
What does this
mean for me?
I have a content
strategy that
f*#%ing rocks

21. 84%
of marketers who said
their content marketing
is ineffective admitted
to having no strategy 44%
of marketers have
a documented
content marketing
strategy

22. Self-actualisation:
Best in Class
Esteem:
Brand
Reputation
Social
Needs:
Social Media
Safety: Evidence
and ROI
Physiological or Basic
Needs: Content
If you want to be best in class - who
doesn’t? - and deliver a content strategy
that encapsulates all elements of The
Content Marketing Hierarchy of Needs,
then get your hands on:
‘The Key Characteristics of
High Performing Content’
and channel your inner Maslow.