A Practical Guide to Building Content Pillars

Most content strategies don’t fail for lack of ambition. They fail because they’re vague. Too many broad themes, too little purpose.

Done right, content pillars fix that. They give your content marketing structure, reduce production effort, and sharpen your thinking. You spot gaps. You give your content direction. You communicate with intent.

This guide is for B2B marketing teams building content pillars for the first time or those rebuilding pillars that haven’t pulled their weight yet.

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Start with the people, not the pillars

Skip this, and everything else falls flat. Before you start establishing your pillars, map out your audience. Build a simple matrix that covers:

• Who you’re speaking to (personas or ICPs)
• What they care about
• What they know already, and what they’re trying to figure out
• The kind of content formats they engage with most (might be some guesswork here, but consider industry standards or analyst firms that are prevalent in your space)

The best pillar strategies aren’t built around what your brand feels like saying. They’re built around what your audience expects from a company like yours.

Not just what sounds good in the moment, but what’s genuinely useful and relevant. Your content should bring clarity, not clichés. Think: thoughtful takes, clear guidance, and, occasionally, a perspective that shifts how your audience thinks altogether.

If every content piece starts with your ICP in mind, you’re already ahead. It won’t guarantee every post performs, but it means every post has a purpose. And that makes a difference over time.

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The four starter pillars (and why they work)

If you’re building content pillars from scratch, four is a smart number. Enough variety to show range, but not so many that planning becomes a juggling act.

Here are four pillars the copywriting experts at Bordeaux & Burgundy recommend starting with:

1. Education – Teach something your audience wants (and expects) to learn from you.
2. Entertainment – Give people a break. Add lightness, humor, or novelty to the mix.
3. Engagement – Create connection that invites interaction.
4. Enrichment – Depth, soul, substance–all the inspiring things that your brand stands for.

Let’s break down what they’re for, what they aren’t, and how a great pillar operates.

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1. Education: Make Them Smarter (And Show Your Authority)

This isn’t about what you want to explain. It’s what your audience wants to learn. More to the point, what they want to learn from you.

That means staying close to topics where your expertise is clear. Where you’ve got credibility, not just commentary. 

What market insight or original thinking can you bring? Explainers, how-to content, industry analysis, reframes–the kind of content someone would bookmark or quote in a meeting, or have open in a browser tab next to the task they’re stuck on.

It should answer a real question and help the reader trust you as a reliable source of wisdom. Someone they know they can come back to when they need perspective.

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2. Entertainment: Find the Enjoyable Side of What You Do

Entertainment in B2B isn’t about being funny for the sake of it. It’s about giving your audience a break from the serious stuff, lightening the mood, and letting your content breathe a little.

This pillar is there to add variety. To balance the facts and frameworks with novelty and personality. That might show up as:

• A creative activation at an event, filmed and shared on social media
• A punchy opinion piece written by a thought leader, but from a comedic angle
• Candid behind-the-scenes content

The point isn’t to go viral. Scroll-stopping is nice, but what matters more is that you add a different kind of energy. Humor, empathy, surprise–something that taps into human nature and reminds your audience they’re dealing with actual people, not a brand running its content calendar on autopilot.

This pillar often gets confused. Tonality alone doesn’t make something entertaining (a dry joke in a serious article doesn’t automatically turn it into entertainment, for example). The purpose of the content still matters.

A recruitment video with jokes might still be educational if it's explaining your hiring process. A quiz that makes people laugh and interact? That’s entertainment.

Done well, this pillar adds dimension and gives people a reason to stick around longer.

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3. Engagement: Create Two-Way Moments

Engagement isn’t just about metrics. It’s about connection.

Yes, that means sparking reactions with bold takes or relatable stories. But to really earn engagement, your content should feel human.

It should feel authored, not manufactured.

That doesn’t mean it has to come from a personal account. Some of the most engaging brand voices on LinkedIn–Slack, Surreal, HubSpot–still speak like people. That’s the key. Write like a human, and others will respond like one.

Three ways to strengthen engagement include:

• Publish in spaces where interaction is likely (e.g., LinkedIn and online groups)
• Use your community, if you have one, to gather feedback from your audience members and involve them in content (like running a survey and turning the results into a post they feel part of)
• Explore common ground, using shared pain points and relatable challenges as the spark (not a performative "What do you think?" at the end of a bland post)

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4. Enrichment: Show the Soul In Your Strategy

This is the content that gives your brand a heartbeat.

Not product. Not proof points. But what matters to you, and what might matter to your audience beyond their working to-do list.

That could include:

• A team member’s journey from junior to exec
• What your company is conscious of (diversity, sustainability, wellbeing), and how you’re responding
• How your internal values shape how you work with clients

In other words, you’re not just filling your feed with culture content for the sake of it. You’re showing that your business stands for something. That you care about things your audience probably does too.

Because here’s the reality…

You and a competitor are neck and neck in a buyer’s eyes. Similar pricing. Comparable product. But they donated to charity. They posted a thoughtful note from their founder. They highlighted a standout team member.

That might be what tips the buying decision scales–not the action itself, but the decision to prioritize it in their content, to use space others would’ve used to promote a product demo or talk about what they believe in instead.

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How to build your pillars (with an actual example)

Once you’ve defined your pillars, make them real.

Using whatever platform or format works for you (the tool doesn’t matter, consistency does), set up a column for each pillar and build out the following beneath each one:

• Content Formats (LinkedIn posts, videos, blogs, explainer carousels)
• Topic Starters (e.g., “Common mistakes in our industry” or “Hiring advice we ignore”)
• Audience Goal (What does this do for the reader? Does it help them reframe a common pain point?)
• Company Goal (What’s in it for you?)
• Point of View (What are we saying that’s different?)

Here’s an example:

• Pillar: Education
• Topic Starter: “What most B2B marketers get wrong about attribution”
• Audience Goal: Clarifies a misunderstood metric that’s shaping how they report
• Company Goal: Positions us as realistic and results-focused
• Format: LinkedIn carousel or blog
• Point of View: Attribution models are tools, not truths… here’s how to think about them better

A board like this won’t give you every idea, but it will tell you where you need more of them. And when that next good idea shows up, you’ll know exactly where to put it.

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Keep your pillars flexible

Pillars shouldn’t be static. The most effective ones evolve with your audience, your business, and the platforms you use.

A great strategy doesn’t just define content. It adapts to what’s working and how your market is changing.

Set up a quarterly review to keep your pillars sharp. Try to view them as a flexible, living part of your strategy, not a one-time fix and replay.

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Make Content Pillars Work for You

Content pillars aren’t just a categorization exercise. They’re your lens for content planning, your filter for ideas, and your bridge between strategy and execution.

At Bordeaux & Burgundy, this is how we build content strategies that actually function day to day for founders and growing marketing teams. The right pillars bring structure and focus, but the real value is what they enable:

• Faster planning
• Better alignment
• Content that lands with the right people

Whether you’re starting from scratch or want to rethink the pillars you’re already using, we’d be happy to help. Let’s discuss building content pillars that work for you and your audience.