Please define what is meant by 'Content Mapping'?

These are all good definitions. For me, content mapping is an effort to create hyper-relevant content for and audience. From a "how to" perspective, I would break content mapping into the following steps:

1. Develop a map of how the prospect makes purchasing decisions. A simple way to define this is: awareness - consideration - purchase. Awareness is when the buyer realizes they have a problem that they need to solve. Consideration is when the buyer starts looking for and comparing solutions to that problem. Purchase is when the buyer engages deeply with a shortlist of vendors and ultimately makes a purchase.

2. Define what buyers care about through each step in the process. For example, in the awareness phase, the buyer might prioritize requirements gathering, whereas during consideration, the buyer might prioritize comparing vendors against those requirements. The substance of your content should focus on these priorities. So, using the aforementioned example, you would develop a "Requirements Checklist" for buyers in the awareness phase.

3. It's also important to pay attention to how content is sourced. Our research here at Focus shows that during awareness and most of consideration, buyers prefer third party, objective content. It's only later in the considered purchase process that buyers want vendor created content. If you think about, that makes a lot of sense - objectivity and comprehensiveness are really important early in the purchase process.

4. Specify how content will be packaged across your content map. Will you utilize whitepapers, webcasts, tip sheets, demos, interactive tools or any other number of content types to deliver value to the customer. There are a lot of packaging options available, but remember that most buyers prefer short form content over long form content given how pressed they are for time these days.

5. None of the above matters if you can't distribute your content to the right people at the right time. Like packaging, there are any number of content distribution techniques you can use. To start, think about whether you are doing push based marketing or pull based marketing (outbound vs inbound respectively). Common push based techniques include email and the phone, while common pull techniques include search and branding.

Finally, the best way to develop a content map is to ask your existing customers what they would prefer. Works like a charm!

Scott