Organize Content

Make Content Addressable and Trackable

The Problem

You create content. Lots of it. Blog posts, webinars, podcast episodes, guides, case studies, assessments, tools.

But in your CRM, content doesn't exist as trackable entities. It's just... stuff that lives somewhere else.

The consequences:

  • You can't see which content a specific person has engaged with
  • You can't measure which content drives progression
  • You can't associate engagement Signals with specific pieces
  • You can't analyze content performance through the relationship lens
  • Content investment decisions are based on traffic, not business outcomes

The root cause: Content isn't treated as addressable infrastructure in the CRM. It's external — hosted on websites, YouTube, podcast platforms — with no representation in the system that tracks relationships.

The Value-First Approach

Content isn't just marketing output. Content is relationship infrastructure — the assets that enable people to educate themselves, evaluate you, and progress through their journey.

The principle: Every meaningful piece of content should be an addressable entity in your CRM. When someone engages with content, you should know what they engaged with, not just that they engaged.

This transforms content from "stuff we publish" into "assets we can analyze through the lens of relationship progression."

Objects That Enable This

Listing (Primary)

Content as addressable entity

The Listing object makes content trackable:

Listing: "The ERP Trap: Why Your Customer Data Lives in the Wrong System"
Type: Article
Category: Platform Strategy
Target Stage: Researcher
Published: October 1, 2024
Status: Active
URL: /blog/erp-trap
Total Signals: 847
Progression Correlation: 34% of readers who engaged also became Hand Raisers

Key properties:

  • Type (Article, Video, Podcast, Assessment, Case Study, Guide, Tool)
  • Category/Topic
  • Target Audience Stage
  • Published Date
  • Status (Draft, Active, Archived)
  • URL/Location

Marketing Event (Event Content)

Time-bound content experiences

Events are a special content type:

Marketing Event: Office Hours — December 3
Type: Live Session
Topic: ERP Integration Patterns
Target Stage: Researcher, Hand Raiser
Status: Completed
Registrations: 34
Attendees: 28
Recording Listing: (associated Listing for replay)

Why separate from Listing: Events have lifecycle (upcoming, live, completed), registration/attendance tracking, and often produce derivative content (recordings become Listings).

Course (Structured Learning)

Progressive content experience

Courses are content with structure:

Course: Value Path Fundamentals
Type: Self-Paced
Modules: 8
Target Stage: Researcher
Enrollments: 156
Completions: 89 (57%)
Associated Listings: 8 (one per module)

Why Courses matter: Structured learning engagement is a stronger signal than casual content consumption. Course progress indicates investment.

Signal (Engagement Tracking)

Connecting people to content

Signals link Contacts to Listings:

Signal: Content Engagement
Contact: Sarah Chen
Listing: "The ERP Trap"
Type: Article Read
Timestamp: November 15
Engagement Depth: Full Read (>80% scroll)

The connection: Without Listings, Signals capture engagement but not with what. With Listings, every engagement is contextualized.

How They Connect

CONTENT ORGANIZATION MAP

Listing: "The ERP Trap" (Article)
    │
    ├── Signal: Sarah Chen — Article Read
    ├── Signal: Marcus Thompson — Article Read
    ├── Signal: Jennifer Walsh — Article Read
    └── ... (844 more Signals)

Listing: "VF Revenue Episode 47" (Podcast)
    │
    ├── Signal: Sarah Chen — Episode Listen
    ├── Signal: Tom Rodriguez — Episode Listen
    └── ... (230 more Signals)

Marketing Event: Office Hours — December 3
    │
    ├── Signal: Sarah Chen — Registration
    ├── Signal: Sarah Chen — Attendance
    ├── Signal: Sarah Chen — Question Submitted
    └── ... (more attendance Signals)
    │
    └── Listing: "Office Hours Recording — December 3"
            │
            ├── Signal: Mike Chen — Recording View
            └── ... (replay Signals)

Course: Value Path Fundamentals
    │
    ├── Contact: Sarah Chen — 100% Complete
    ├── Contact: Lisa Park — 62% Complete
    └── ... (enrollment records)

Setting It Up

Step 1: Define Listing Types

Create taxonomy for your content:

Listing Type Description Typical Stage
Article Blog posts, thought pieces Audience, Researcher
Guide Comprehensive how-to content Researcher
Case Study Customer success stories Researcher, Hand Raiser
Video Webinar recordings, tutorials Researcher
Podcast Audio episodes Audience, Researcher
Assessment Diagnostic tools Researcher
Tool Interactive utilities Researcher, Hand Raiser
Template Downloadable resources Researcher

Step 2: Create Content Categories

Organize by topic cluster:

Category Example Content
Platform Strategy ERP Trap, CVP Overview, Native Objects
Signal Intelligence Engagement Tracking, Pattern Recognition
Revenue Operations Commercial Flow, Subscription Health
Implementation Configuration Guides, Integration Patterns
Case Studies Customer stories by vertical

Step 3: Configure Listing Properties

Property Type Purpose
Listing Type Dropdown Article, Video, etc.
Category Dropdown Topic cluster
Target Stage Dropdown Primary audience stage
Published Date Date When published
Status Dropdown Draft, Active, Archived
URL URL Where to find it
Author HubSpot User Who created it
Content Score Number Performance metric (calculated)

Step 4: Create Your Listings

Import existing content:

Build a Listing record for each meaningful piece of content you have.

Focus on meaningful content:

Not every page needs a Listing. Focus on:

  • Content that indicates interest (articles, guides)
  • Content that indicates research (case studies, comparisons)
  • Content that indicates readiness (assessments, demos)
  • Content that generates events (webinar recordings)

Step 5: Connect Signals to Listings

Configure tracking:

  • Website events that fire on content engagement should include Listing ID
  • Assessment completions should associate with Assessment Listing
  • Event attendance should link to Marketing Event AND any resulting Listing (recording)

What This Enables

Content Performance Analysis

Traditional metric: "This blog post got 10,000 views."

So what? Did it drive anything?

Listing-enabled metric: "This article generated 847 Signals. 34% of readers who engaged also became Hand Raisers within 60 days. Average reader engaged with 3.2 additional pieces of content."

Now you know it works.

Contact Journey Understanding

Without Listings: "Sarah filled out a form."

With Listings: "Sarah has engaged with 12 Listings: 5 articles (focused on ERP integration), 2 podcast episodes, 1 webinar, 1 case study, 1 assessment, and 2 tools. She's clearly researching platform strategy."

Content Gap Identification

With Listings categorized by target stage:

  • "We have 45 Listings targeting Audience stage but only 8 targeting Hand Raiser."
  • "Our ERP Integration category has strong Researcher content but no Case Studies."
  • "High-performing Researcher content doesn't have clear next-step content."

Content Investment Guidance

Instead of "let's create more content," you can see:

  • Which categories drive progression
  • Which types generate high-value engagement
  • Where gaps exist in the journey
  • What content justifies investment

Practical Examples

Example: Content Library View

A Marketing Event produces a recording. Here's how it connects:

Marketing Event: Office Hours — December 3
    ↓ (event completes)
Listing: "Office Hours Recording — December 3" (created)
    ↓ (recording published)
Signal: Mike Chen — Recording View (captured)
    ↓ (engagement tracked)
Content Analysis: Recording engaged 45 people, 12 also registered for next Office Hours

Example: Assessment as Content

An assessment is content that generates rich data:

Listing: "The Leads Trap Assessment"
Type: Assessment
    │
    ├── Signal: Sarah Chen — Assessment Complete
    │       Result: High Signal Blindness
    │       Score: 23/40
    │       Key Gaps: No engagement tracking, no Signal capture
    │
    └── Analysis: 89% of completers with "High Signal Blindness"
                  engaged with ERP integration content within 14 days

Example: Content Journey Mapping

For a specific Contact:

Sarah Chen's Content Journey:

Week 1:
  - "The ERP Trap" (Article) — Entry point
  - "Signal Intelligence" (Article) — Deepening

Week 2:
  - "VF Revenue Episode 47" (Podcast) — Exploring format
  - "NetSuite Integration" (Article) — Specific interest

Week 3:
  - "Leads Trap Assessment" (Assessment) — Active evaluation
  - "Precision Manufacturing Case Study" (Case Study) — Validation

Week 4:
  - Office Hours (Event) — Engagement
  - Direct outreach — Hand Raiser

The Transformation

Before

"We published 200 pieces of content last year."

But which ones mattered? Which drove business? We have no idea.

After

"We have 200 active Listings. Our top 10 by progression correlation drove 67% of Hand Raisers."

Content targeting Researcher stage performs 3x better than Audience-stage content at driving progression. Case Studies have the highest single-piece correlation with becoming a Hand Raiser. Now content investment is strategic, not random.

Common Pitfalls

Creating Listings for everything

Not every page needs a Listing. Focus on content that indicates meaningful engagement.

No categorization strategy

Listings without categories can't be analyzed for patterns. Define your taxonomy before bulk creation.

Forgetting derivative content

When a webinar becomes a recording, that's a new Listing. When a guide spawns a blog series, those are related Listings. Track the relationships.

Ignoring content lifecycle

Content ages. Update Listing status when content becomes outdated. Archived Listings should still track historical engagement but shouldn't be promoted.

Related Resources

Related Unified Views

Related Stages