Editorial strategy
B2B content strategy: produce less, establish more
B2B content is often managed like a production line: publishing volume, frequency, impressions and average engagement. These metrics show that the machine is running. They do not show whether the company is becoming a reference on the issues that matter to its audiences.
Brand experience
A perspective grounded in practice.
Throughout my career, I have worked with organisations across different sectors and cultures, including:
- Capgemini
- VINCI Energies
- Groupe Atlantic
- BNP Paribas
- Bouygues Construction
- Orange Wholesale
Editorial strategy starts less with “what should we publish?” than with a harder question: which idea do we want to make consistently recognisable and credible?
Diagnosis
Frequency never compensates for the absence of a point of view
Publishing consistently can build an audience. It does not guarantee consideration, preference or influence. A brand becomes identifiable when it returns to a limited number of subjects with a coherent interpretation, credible evidence and a willingness to articulate what others avoid.
Generic pillars such as innovation, transformation or sustainability describe semantic fields, not an editorial position. A useful territory defines what the company observes, what it challenges and how its experience allows it to illuminate the issue.
Architecture
Connect position, evidence, voices and distribution
The position defines what the company wants to become known for. Evidence gives that position substance. Brand, executive and expert voices make it credible. Distribution ensures that it reaches the audiences that matter.
Treating these four dimensions separately produces isolated content. Connecting them creates a system: a study feeds an executive perspective, that perspective becomes a video, and paid media then extends its visibility among a precisely selected audience.
- Choose three to five editorial territories the company can genuinely defend.
- Connect each territory to evidence, experts and formats.
- Define the role of each channel before setting its publishing frequency.
- Measure signals of consideration, not activity alone.
Prioritisation
A strategy is defined by what it allows you to decline
Organisations receive a constant stream of content requests: internal news, launches, events and institutional announcements. Everything may be publishable. Not everything is strategic.
Declining a request does not mean the subject has no value. It means it does not deserve the same investment, format or exposure. Without that hierarchy, the calendar becomes the sum of the most urgent requests and the editorial direction disappears.
Measurement
Measure what content establishes over time
Reach and engagement remain useful indicators of circulation. They should be complemented by quality signals: the profiles reached, progress on priority topics, citations, reuse, influenced commercial conversations and the ability of a piece to remain useful over time.
Not every asset plays the same role. Authority content, consideration evidence and conversion activity cannot be assessed with one KPI. Measurement begins with the function assigned to the content.
Frequently asked questions
What needs to be clear before taking action
What is the difference between content strategy and an editorial calendar?
Strategy defines subjects, audiences, evidence and influence objectives. The calendar organises production. A calendar can exist without a strategy; the reverse cannot remain sustainable for long.
How many editorial pillars should a company have?
Three to five is usually enough. They must be precise enough to guide an angle and rule out subjects, yet broad enough to sustain long-term exploration.
Does generative AI make editorial strategy less important?
It reduces the value of generic content. Proprietary observations, evidence, experience and conviction become even more important as sources of differentiation.
Sources and further reading