Map how your buying committee actually researches and decides, then assign content to every stage so no buyer ever hits a dead end. Built from your own deals, not funnel theory; six weekly working sessions and your team owns the architecture at handoff.
Content gets created when someone has an idea: a product page here, a one-off blog post there. Nobody knows which stage of the buyer's research it serves, so the engineer doing six months of homework finds two thin pages and moves on to a competitor who answered the question.
A complete map of how your buying committee researches and decides, with content assigned to every stage of awareness. Built from your own deals in six weekly working sessions, written into one architecture document, and run by your own team long after the install ends.
Industrial purchases involve a committee: the engineer, operations, procurement, and the boss who signs. Each researches differently and worries about different risks. This playbook maps that journey stage by stage and builds the content architecture that meets every member where they are, from first search to final sign-off.
of a B2B buying group's total buying time is spent meeting with potential suppliers. The other 83% is research done in private, shaped by whatever content is there to be found.
of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers were projected to occur in digital channels by 2025. The journey runs on content either way; the only question is whose content it runs on.
of B2B buyers say they prefer a rep-free buying experience. If your content cannot answer their questions stage by stage, they will decide with content that can.
Content debt compounds quietly. Every quarter without an architecture, the same five things happen.
The Proximity Audit puts numbers on all five, then ranks what to fix first. That is the point of starting there.
An install only sticks when it has owners. Here is who this playbook belongs to inside your company, and what each of them walks away with.
An owner, GM, or VP tired of content that never touches revenue.
OutcomeA content plan defensible line by line with deal evidence.
Your marketing lead, who runs the six weeks and owns the architecture after.
OutcomeThe end of the random calendar, and a build list sized to real capacity.
Your sales leader, who supplies the deal evidence and corrects the maps.
OutcomeContent addressed to the deals sales actually fights, stage by stage.
A friendly customer, needed for one 20-minute interview.
OutcomeA supplier that finally publishes what buyers like them actually need.
An illustrative composite drawn from real engagement patterns. Company details invented; the shape of the change is the point.
Journey frameworks, the asset matrix, and the gap analysis.
Asset inventory, production scheduling, and creation from the architecture.
Every journey stage covered by at least one working asset.
Architecture fails when the plan comes before the evidence. Each week produces the input the next week cannot run without, so the sequence is fixed and the scope is too.
Five real deals reconstructed step by step; the research your buyers did without you, measured.
Why firstEvidence before architecture. Every map and every build decision traces back to what these deals prove.
A role card for every seat that decides: what they protect, what they ask, what they veto, where they read.
Why before the ladderThe autopsies say which roles exist. You can only map awareness for people you have proven are in the room.
Five levels of awareness in the buyer's own words, one move per level, roles placed on the rungs.
Why before the auditRole plus level gives every asset an address. Without addresses, no existing asset can be judged fairly.
Every existing asset placed on the map and honestly judged: working, parked, or outdated.
Why before buildingMost companies find a pile-up at one stage and empty cells where deals are decided. Reuse beats rebuild.
The minimum matrix that covers the journey; builds ranked by deal impact; the decision-maker signs off.
Why before the calendarCoverage is a set of decisions, including deliberate gaps. Ranking by deal impact keeps the plan honest.
Four buyer-problem themes, one anchor asset each, follow-on pieces scheduled to measured capacity.
Why lastA schedule is only safe to write once coverage, capacity, and priorities are decided. Now it compounds.
Six journey stages scored: live, in production with a date, or uncovered. The first quarter's rhythm checked.
Why it mattersCoverage, not output, is the success measure. The before and after makes the work undeniable.
Every week compiles into the Content Architecture Document: the named product your team owns, reruns, and defends long after the install ends.
This playbook lives in System 01: Clarify, the part of the method that answers one question: What do we say, to whom, and why us? Most companies install it alongside one or two related playbooks in a 90-Day Install.
Share this page with your leadership team. If it names your problem, the Proximity Audit will tell you whether this playbook should be your first install or your third.
Installed on one product line first, then yours to rerun across every line you own. Not sure it's the right first move? Start with the Proximity Audit ($7,500, credited toward an install): all fifteen areas scored and a ranked roadmap.
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