How to Write a Best Practice Guide For Your Industry

Yes, this is a best practice guide… about writing a best practice guide. It’s delightfully meta, but for good reason. Best practices is one of those evergreen B2B buzzwords—always trending, perennially helpful, and perpetually chased by professionals who want to know how the experts do it. Whether you’re in SaaS, manufacturing, healthcare, or consulting, customers and prospects alike crave clear, actionable, and well-structured recommendations.

Example: One of my long-time clients was a company that constructed, owned, and operated several data centers. Within their industry, many of their clients were companies that had spent an inordinate amount of time and money attempting to build their server rooms… and ultimately failed. Rather than questioning their DIY choice, we developed a best practice guide for building them. It eventually turned into our top lead generator. As prospects became aware of the complexity of these build-outs and the associated costs, they opted instead to host their services at the data center.

A best practice guide isn’t just a content asset—it’s your brand’s chance to say:

We’ve been there, we’ve solved this, and here’s how you can too.

Best practice searches continue to garner significant attention and have even increased in demand over time.

Creating a best practice guide, however, isn’t as simple as writing a few bullet points and slapping a definitive label on the cover. To truly help your audience and stand out, a best practice guide needs to be rooted in search intent, validated through research, carefully crafted, and strategically promoted.

This article walks you through each step—starting with how to choose a topic your audience wants, and ending with how to get that guide in front of the right eyes (and inboxes).

Identifying Target, Demand, and Opportunity

Before you write your first line, ensure that your audience is seeking guidance. Keyword research ensures your best practice guide meets real demand, not just internal assumptions. Start by brainstorming challenges your customers face. If you’re in cybersecurity, that might be zero trust architecture implementation. In logistics, it could be last-mile delivery optimization.

Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Trends, or Google Keyword Planner to explore these topic areas. You’re looking for:

Search volume: Are people actively looking for this kind of guide?

Commercial intent: Are these people problem-aware and potentially solution-ready?

Content gaps: Are competitors’ guides out-of-date, too generic, or overly promotional?

Your primary keyword should ideally appear in the title, headline, and URL of your landing page. Secondary keywords—related pain points, questions, or adjacent topics—can be used as subheads or sections within the guide.

Research and Subject Matter Expertise

A best practice guide should never be surface-level. If someone takes the time to download and read your resource, it should reward them with clarity, depth, and confidence. That means gathering a combination of:

Third-party insights: Pull statistics, benchmarks, and trend data from credible sources (Gartner, Forrester, Statista, etc.).

Subject matter expert (SME) input: Interview team members, partners, or customers who have real-world experience.

Internal data and use cases: If you have proprietary insights—whether from analytics or client wins—this is the time to share them.

Regulations or frameworks: In regulated industries, citing ISO standards, compliance requirements, or legislation reinforces authority.

The best guides don’t just state what to do—they show the why and the how. That requires meaningful examples, not just generic instructions.

Structuring and Writing the Guide

Your best practice guide should follow a clear, educational structure that guides the reader from awareness of the problem to confidence in the solution. Think of it as building a course—each section needs to inform, engage, and advance the reader’s understanding. Below is a recommended structure, with each section serving a distinct role in the overall experience.

Introduction

Begin by framing the challenge. Why does this topic matter right now? What shifts in the market, technology, or regulations are prompting companies to look for best practices in this area? Speak directly to your target audience’s situation—whether it’s growth pressure, compliance risk, or inefficiency. Then, preview what the guide will cover and set expectations for what the reader will be able to do better by the end.

Include in this section:

A clear definition of the topic and its relevance

A brief explanation of who the guide is for (e.g., mid-level marketers, IT admins, HR leaders)

A summary of what’s inside and why it’s different from existing resources

Best Practices (One per section)

Each of these should have its own dedicated section, typically 500–750 words in length, depending on the complexity. Anchor each section around a specific practice or principle. Think of each as a module that solves one part of the broader problem. Use a repeatable structure for clarity and consistency.

Each best practice section should include:

Title: Use benefit-oriented phrasing (e.g., Centralize Customer Data Before Automating Outreach)

Explanation: Explain what the practice is and why it matters

Steps or Frameworks: Offer a 3–5 step approach or visual model if applicable

Real-World Example: Showcase a case study, anecdote, or recognizable scenario

Pro Tip / Common Pitfall: Use a sidebar to call out nuance or warn against typical mistakes

You can structure this series of sections as a numbered list (e.g., Best Practice #1: Audit Your Data Inputs) or as unnumbered principles depending on the tone of the piece.

Visual Frameworks and Diagrams

Insert visual thinking elements to break up blocks of text and reinforce concepts. If your best practices follow a specific sequence or lifecycle, consider a diagram that shows how each part fits into the whole. This reinforces retention and makes the guide more shareable.

Include:

Flowcharts, timelines, or pyramids for strategic processes

Decision trees or matrices for comparing options

Icons or callouts to mark recurring content (like tips, cautions, or tools)

This section doesn’t need to be standalone—it can be interspersed throughout the guide—but should be considered a necessary element, not an optional extra.

Summary or Checklist

After covering the best practices, provide a concise summary or interactive checklist that allows the reader to review what they’ve learned and apply it in their context. This section creates a sense of completion and can serve as a standalone takeaway that readers save, print, or share internally.

Checklist format example:

We’ve defined our ICP using historical win/loss data

Our onboarding process includes customer education touchpoints

We have a quarterly process for updating internal playbooks

We track operational metrics that align with customer outcomes

Optionally, include a downloadable worksheet or spreadsheet as a companion asset.

Product or Service Connection

After delivering the full educational value of the guide, you have permission to transition into a soft brand alignment. This is where you tie your offering to the guide’s themes without turning it into a sales brochure. Help the reader see how your product or service enables or simplifies the practices you’ve just outlined.

Approaches to this section:

How We Help: A short narrative showing how your platform addresses the exact issues raised

Customer Story: A snapshot of a client who implemented these practices and succeeded

Next Steps: Invite the reader to explore tools, sign up for a free trial, or talk to your team

Keep this under one page and focused on outcomes, not features.

Additional Resources

If your company has published blog posts, webinars, tools, or podcasts related to the guide topic, curate a list of links for those who want to explore the topic further. This shows your long-term commitment to the subject and creates more opportunities for audience re-engagement.

Example resource list:

5 Mistakes Teams Make When Scaling AI Workflows (Webinar)

Customer Segmentation Template (Google Sheet)

The Martech Podcast: Operationalizing Best Practices (Spotify)

Organize by format or theme to keep it skimmable.

About the Author / Company

Include a short closing section that reaffirms your credibility. If a named individual authors this guide, add their title, a headshot, and a 1–2 sentence bio. If your brand produces it, include your mission, your role in the industry, and a link to your main website or contact page.

Keep this brief, professional, and aligned with your brand.

Branding and Production

Once your content is solid, your guide should present itself well. This isn’t just an internal PDF—it’s a branded, on-message asset that reflects your company’s authority and professionalism.

Make sure you include:

A custom cover design: Title, subtitle, your logo, and a compelling visual. Use your brand colors and fonts.

Page consistency: Headers, bullets, spacing, and typography should be consistent and reader-friendly.

Visual aids: Add flowcharts, graphs, or illustrated frameworks where possible. They help people retain information and are great for social teasers.

Interactive format (optional): Some companies embed guides as flipbooks, while others export to SlideShare or microsites. Keep accessibility in mind—PDFs with good navigation and alt text are still standard.

Use design tools like Canva or InDesign, and if your budget allows, hire a designer to fine-tune the layout and spacing.

Creating a Lead Generation Landing Page

An excellent guide deserves a great entrance. Your landing page should be optimized to convert interest into contact information, without overwhelming or underwhelming the visitor.

Elements to include:

Headline: State what the guide is and who it’s for. Include the keyword.
Example: The 2025 Guide to Sales Enablement Best Practices for B2B SaaS

Subheadline: Make the value immediate and audience-specific.
Example: Boost your win rates with field-tested frameworks used by top GTM teams.

Visual preview: Show the cover or a sneak peek of internal pages.

Bulleted benefits:

Actionable strategies: Not theory—tactics you can implement this quarter.

Expert-backed insights: Learn from those who’ve solved the problem.

Ready-to-use templates: Apply what you learn right away.

Short form: Ask only for what you need (name, email, company, role). Less friction = more conversions.

Trust signals: Add logos of customers, publication features, or social proof quotes.

Be sure to set up email automation to deliver the guide instantly and trigger a nurture sequence based on interest (e.g., more content, a consultation CTA, a product walkthrough).

Promotion Strategy

Even the best guide won’t succeed in a vacuum. Promotion should begin before launch and continue for several months afterward. Think in terms of channels, formats, and repetition.

Promotion tactics:

Blog content: Create 3–5 posts that each summarize one chapter or best practice, linking back to the guide.

Email campaigns: Send a dedicated launch email, include it in your monthly newsletter, and set up autoresponders for drip content.

Infographics: Create shareable graphics that showcase key frameworks and supporting statistics from your guide to drive engagement and social shares while linking back to the full asset.

Paid Ads: Use LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, Google Display, or programmatic banners to promote the guide to relevant job titles and industries.

Partnerships: Ask industry partners or influencers to co-promote your guide. Offer them a custom UTM link and tracking to see performance.

Social Media: Share teaser quotes, stat graphics, and video snippets. Use carousel posts for LinkedIn and reels for Instagram or TikTok.

Webinars or Live Sessions: Host a live Q&A or workshop inspired by the guide. Invite registrants to download it as prep.

Don’t stop after week one. Treat the guide like a long-term campaign asset, not a one-off content push.

Conclusion

There’s no shortcut to authority. But a well-executed best practice guide delivers value at every stage of the funnel—from attracting organic traffic to arming sales teams with educational content. Done right, it becomes a foundational asset your team links to, references, and repurposes repeatedly.

Now it’s your turn. Identify a problem your audience is struggling to solve. Develop a framework to address the issue. Gather real insights, package them beautifully, and promote it!

©2025 DK New Media, LLC, All rights reserved | Disclosure

Originally Published on Martech Zone: How to Write a Best Practice Guide For Your Industry