If you’re reading this, I assume:

1. You’re a B2B business

2. Your prospects use LinkedIn

3. You understand the opportunity in reaching them there frequently

Perfect. Let’s tuck into the steak.

First of all, you’re gonna need a strong POV. This will instruct every character typed into every post. To make them provocative. So your prospects notice, care, and adopt your perspective — instilling buying behaviour.

Anything else is ignorable sameness.

Once you’ve nailed that down, I have a simple framework to select what to write about.

Let me introduce you to the three Ps:

• Presence

• Problem

• Prescription

Each post should fall into one of these three categories.

Here’s what they mean:

👁️ Presence: Building awareness & favour through a differentiated lens

⚠️ Problem: Defining and articulating a differentiated problem 

🦄 Prescription: Declaring your unique approach and differentiated value (USP)

They each map to specific areas to talk about:

You can think of this like a funnel.

At the top (Presence) there are more things to talk about and you reach the most people. The trade off? It’s the farthest away from the unique proposition you provide for prospects. How to consider it: this is where you sow the seeds to orient prospects to think like you think. It’s subtle and compounds in the unconscious over time. Pointing towards what makes you different and why that’s valuable, so prospects lean in further.

In the middle (Problem) there are less things to talk about than Presence, reducing your reach on average. But, you’re actively creating demand by declaring a differentiated problem that prospects now need to solve. Other words: it’s time to water and nurture those seeds. Posts of this type can spread far and wide amongst your prospects. To achieve this you will need to dramatise the problem situation. Either by agitating an insecurity, or, connecting to a burning motivation (likely both).

At the bottom (Prescription) there is the least amount of subject matter you can discuss. Well, that’s the way it should be. Most B2B content falls into this category and is met with the sound of silence — hello darkness my old friend 🎵. Why? Here you are talking about yourself. Your company, your approach, your product, your proof. You earn the right for prospects to give a sh*t about this by building trust, interest, and conviction before the fact. This is where you are harvesting the crops that grew from the seeds you previously laid and nurtured.

Note: The above graphic is not representative of the exact ratios you should do for each post type. It depends on the circumstances (i.e. the levels of problem awareness, prescription awareness, etc).

If you’re just starting out, get on your soapbox and start with Problem. Hit hard with that. Test talking about it through different orientations, conceptualisations, and vectors to see what resonates the most — but keep the message the same for the purposes of the experiment. For example: what caused the problem, implications of the problem, how the problem is growing, big companies affected or complicit in the problem, graphics, metaphors, analogies, etc.

From there, work-in Presence posts until you hit a productive balance between reaching new prospects and generating demand. Occasionally, mix in Prescription posts. If they perform well, add more. If they don’t, double down on Presence and Problem.

Bottom line: People know you’re on LinkedIn to shill something. Assume they’re default skeptical and apathetic. Therefore, you can’t start a conversation by talking about yourself.

You start by acting as a guide, helping them navigate a situation or broader context with a fresh perspective. Sometimes you’re adding an extra dimension to their understanding, as if the wool has been pulled over their eyes up until now. Other times you’re surfacing a buried frustration. The overall aim is to frame the situation in a way that makes people pay attention, because they feel it helps them.

Your POV is applied throughout the entire 3 P’s funnel. This distinguishes you from the flock in the LinkedIn feed (yes… you’re the shepherd). Remember: perspectives have a memetic quality that spreads person to person. Baa baa.

Warning: flip this funnel upside down and your f*cked.

You don’t need to be the Mr Beast of LinkedIn, but you do need to be bold.

Let’s take a look at what each of these post types look like…

Presence

(Using your POV as a differentiated lens to help prospects see their professional lives more clearly)

At any one time there’s a ton of topics to weigh in on that relate to your prospect’s reality. Some are dramatically more potent than others because they are mid-news cycle or prevalent in industry discourse. This is your opportunity to appear in front of prospects outside your 1st-party LinkedIn connections circle more predictably and regularly.

You do not need to be an expert on everything you post about. Your POV is a licence to weigh in on topics that do not overlap with your core competency.

Having said that, don’t try to be a subject matter analyst. Remember: you are writing about the topic from your POV. There’s a difference.

How to approach it…

Key requirement:

⚠️ Applying your POV to a topic should create a fresh or contrasting insight. Or, it should amplify a little-spoken but potent view.

Other words: you’re bringing something new to the table, that works to your favour.

Look for topics that:

➡️ Affect buying decisions → If people perceive it differently, it shifts behaviour

➡️ Are widely considered now → Actively in your audience’s consciousness

➡️ Are long-standing triggers → Evergreen topics that cycle back around

➡️ Adjacent to your category → There’s an intuitive connection between the topic and what you do (i.e. not… “Here’s what Operation Barbarossa taught me about B2B sales”)

What generally works:

🔸 Marketplace shifts → What’s changing in your space?

🔸 Industry assumptions → What are commonly held beliefs?

🔸 Buyer motivations → What keeps your prospects up at night?

🔸 Unspoken realities → What’s happening that no one is acknowledging?

🔸 Trends & debates → What are people talking about? What’s being hyped?

🔸 Economic & market forces → What macro trends affect decision-making?

Presence posts do not have to be conclusive arguments. They can be on the other end of the scale (inquisitive) or anywhere in between. Example: raise a question that gets people thinking inline with your POV.

“Why do divisive LI posts get more engagement?” —> they have a strong POV, which triggers both those that agree and disagree with it to engage.

Tip: Tagging influencers from your industry (who are experts of the topic in question) will dramatically increase the post’s visibility. But, don’t just tag them for the sake of it. Add quotes… things they have said elsewhere online in social media, podcasts, interviews etc. Bring these together to form a narrative that supports your POV. This builds distribution potential into the post.

Example of Presence post:

In this post the CSO of Raptive — Paul Bannister — provided a (very timely!) take regarding 3rd party cookie deprecation in Chrome.

It met the bar because it:

1. Provided fresh insight on a hot digital ad industry topic

2. Nodded towards Raptive’s differentiation, which is the leader of its category

Problem

(Defining a differentiated problem that highlights a category failing you exist to solve)

The objective of a Problem post is not just to describe a problem. It’s to describe a problem you are uniquely solving in the prospects mind.

This is a differentiated problem, which I previously wrote about.

Unique problem = unique demand. Define this first.

How to talk about a differentiated problem:

🔸 Connect the dots → Point out how changes in the ecosystem have created a new context that negatively impacts the prospect.

🔸 Problem outcomes → Characterise how the problem works against the objectives of the prospect.

🔸 Quantify, quantify → State the results of the problem in numbers.

🔸 Make it personal → How does the pain the problem creates show up in the lives of prospects?

🔸 Show, don’t tell → How can you evidence the problem with data, proof, research?

🔸 Dramatise the stakes → What happens if this problem goes unsolved? What is the “true” cost?

🔸 Point at the enemy → Who or what is perpetuating the issue? A big company? A misguided industry norm? Changing behaviour? Regulation?

🔸 Use imagery, analogies, or lived experiences → Make it visceral. If people can picture it, they’ll remember it.

🔸 Tap into a universal frustration → Frame the problem in a way so that it connects to broader and deeper motivations. Why is it unfair?

This is not an exhaustive list, but provides a flavour.

Example of Problem post:

In this post Mike Follett — CEO of Lumen Research — uses legend-status psychologist Daniel Kahneman (RIP) to highlight the problem his company solves.

Which is: digital advertising is broken due to how the industry approaches measuring its success (it’s flawed).

Prescription

(Why your approach is best-suited to solve the problem and the unique value it delivers)

This is where you show up with the cure.

But here’s the catch: before you pitch the product, you first need to pitch your approach.

A strong Prescription isn’t just a product pitch — it’s a philosophical pitch. You’re not just selling what you do. You’re selling why your way is the right way. This should contrast with your competitors, depicting you as clearly different.

You can compliment this with posts highlighting what your product does and proof it delivers.

3 post types:

🔸 Approach — why your way is the right way

🔸 Product — what your product does and how it does it

🔸 Proof — evidence your product achieves what it claims to

Answer these questions:

• Why does your approach have any legitimacy, at all? Why now?

• Why is your product suited to resolving the new problem context you defined?

• Who vouches for you? What did they say or do to signal this?

These 3 post types combine to convey your proposition: the overall value you provide to perfect-match prospects.

Much B2B content I see falls into the following categories: case studies, product launches, feature releases, partnership announcements, awards, event attendance, company milestones, funding rounds, team culture, and humble brags.

These are all cool, but keep in mind they sit at the bottom of your POV funnel — in the Prescription tier. This is where you’re mostly attract confirmation bias from existing customers and supporters, and tease out prospects you have already warmed up.

Sharing your differentiated approach will attract more eyeballs.

Example of Prescription post:

In this post CEO Lauren Wetzel laid down how InfoSum’s approach to data collaboration is different to its chief competitor and category leader, LiveRamp’s.

Lauren stated that LiveRamp encourages CMOs to “share and hand over control of valuable data”, whereas InfoSum believes data collaboration should champion consumer privacy by “eliminating data sharing” between companies.

↔️ This creates a clear contrast in philosophical approach. Forcing a choice.

Person

Disclosure: I haven’t shared the full framework with you!

There’s a 4th “P” and that’s Person. The stronger your IRL network is, the more effective your LinkedIn posts will be. They feed each other in a symbiotic loop.

If you are new to an industry, building and growing your initial set of groupies is critical. These are connections that engage with most posts you put out, just like a punk rock band starting out with a handful of fans who show up to every gig. A critical mass for momentum to build from.

On the flip side: if you are already established in your industry, this means harvesting existing network equity and continuing to build upon it in a compounding fashion. Often, this requires sharpening the message in order to focus more attention on the POV and less so the person — the difference between “I like Steve” vs. “I like what Steve stands for”.

What about being personal? Like sharing personal stories on LinkedIn

Absolutely. This falls under the 4th “P” for Person. Sharing this type of content will help you build familiarity with those you have already met, and, foster a human connection with those you havn’t yet.

What about commenting and DMing?

Yes, that is important too. It builds your online following and acts as a bridge between social media and IRL relationship building.

TLDR

• Presence posts → Plant the seeds. Get people thinking like you do.

• Problem posts →  Create demand. Call out a different problem.

• Prescription posts → Cash in your equity. Show your unique approach & value you deliver.

That’s it for today. I’ll be back in your inbox soon. 🤘

Martin

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