Table of Content
Savvy B2B marketers know why content marketing is essential and how it connects with potential customers. Amid the rising competition, it has become tough to grip the customer’s attention. Today, content marketing has turned into an incredible approach to increase your online visibility and brand awareness that ultimately delivers you a great ROI.
However, B2B content marketing isn’t that easy. For successful content marketing, you need to understand your customers’ perspective and then create a well-executed strategy that gets you a convincing prospect of what will make your customer get into your brand and subsequently hit the call to action button.
This guide focuses on how to get your B2B content marketing strategy off the ground and what keys and formats of B2B content creation are the ideal choices for your marketing plan.
B2B Content Marketing- A Short Definition
B2B content marketing is the process of publishing relevant content that improves brand recognition, generates leads, organic traffic, and B2B buyer acquisition.
It’s a method that encourages the buyers with knowledge rather than pitching them with the product or the services. Herein, they are equipped with appropriate information that allows them to think of their own and make the decision whether to buy the product or not.
If the businesses offer consistent, useful information to their target audience, then it is for sure the business will be rewarded with high sales and creates reliability for the company.
Why do B2B Professionals adopt Content Marketing?
Because…It works!
Earlier, when there was no emergence of content marketing, people preferred purchasing the products through advertisements. Well, advertisements still have a great influence on people, and thus, advertisements did not disappear even after the inclusion of content marketing and other digital transformations.
But then, You will realize you were just dramatically convinced and not educated about the products in the past years when you look back.
For example: If you remember, you might have seen that a particular advertisement tells a story of a product that can change your life, and so, you need to buy the product right away. Do you still think that the way it was presented made any sense? Of course not!
Today, consumers are not enticed by such advertisements; customers are way smarter and look at the other side of the coin.
Through content marketing efforts, you inform your consumer rather than manipulating them; you educate them, which is how you create loyalty and credibility among your customers.
If they find your product an authentic one, they will make the purchase decision, and a business reputation can be enhanced only through a quality piece of content.
For sustaining in the business game, you need to master the art of relevant content. Content marketing requires an expert team and a solid execution. No matter how brilliant your search engine optimization and other marketing tactics are, a marketing goal is accomplished only if your content is equally brilliant.
A metric says 72% of B2B companies implement content marketing in their marketing approach and that 72% have a greater value and reputation than the rest 28%. Upon this, 65 % of companies use images in their blog posts, and with this, they receive 52% of organic traffic
Four Key Points You Should Never Miss
To hit the right chord of B2B business, you need to understand what components should be considered, and these picks are the most successful ones:
- Brand positioning: Position your brand in such an approach that creates a unique impression in the sight of your customers. Convey your message and make them understand what is exclusive about your product/service. A customer will get into your brand only if they find it better than your competitors. Thus, ensure your brand positioning is ahead of your rivals.
- Value proposition: What makes your content distinct from the others? What value does your content offer to your audiences? Your content must have the power to convince your audience in the right way. Offer them educational content that promotes knowledge along with your brand.
- Business case: Focus on how content marketing will meet your marketing goals, what needs to be achieved, and so on. Discuss with your team how you will be initiating the content marketing projects and tasks.
- Strategic plan: Nothing is possible without a strategy. Plan your strategy well, know what needs to be delivered and how you will measure the metrics, who is your target persona, and so on.
Types of Content Marketing You Need to Add-on in Your Marketing Approach
Case Study
A case study is a great form of B2B content marketing to target your buyers. According to some reports, 77% of B2B buyers look for success stories to get influence. 65% of the B2B marketers rank Case study among the three most effective content formats.
The case study format is ideal for storytelling as it has the power to convey information easily and quickly because readers can relate to story elements quickly and emotionally. It also helps establish stronger ties with customers as they learn more about how your brand works. Expect those who read your B2B case studies to share them on B2B communities and B2B social media.
Blogging
According to stats, more than 50% of people read your blogs instead of your website content. Blog posts are simply the backbone of your company. Providing information, news, latest trends, and so get you quality followers that are more likely to turn into your customer. Blogs can drive you a substantial volume of organic traffic when the respective content ranks on the Google search.
Making B2B content marketing effective is crucial for success. Blog posts can be an effective tool to showcase their expertise in the field of business in general while increasing web traffic which will benefit lead generation efforts as well. Blogging has been proven to be highly valuable for B2Bs. Regularly publishing quality blogs will certainly improve the results of your B2B content marketing strategy and help your company gain more visibility at no cost and without interrupting regular customer service activities, unlike other forms of advertising.
Videos
Videos are a great way to tell your potential customers about your B2B product or service. Video content is tremendously booming in the content marketing method. Not everyone is a keen reader, and some may like watching videos and acquiring information, and the videos are the savior. Moreover, videos can be filmed even with your smartphones. You can develop interesting videos that explain things precisely, post them on YouTube or social media and enhance your B2B content marketing procedure.
According to HubSpot, The average click-through rate for videos is 2%, and 25% of viewers will watch a video up to the 30-second mark. B2B customers want to learn why your B2B product/service will make their life easier (or faster or better or cleaner!), so use this information when making B2B content marketing videos. You’ll see much higher rates of engagement!
Webinars
In 2021, you should surely opt for webinars. Webinars are the perfect way to educate your customers. Like videos, webinars are thoroughly embraced by the people. Since pandemic has made the use of digital platforms more popular among audiences, thus the idea of putting a webinar in your B2B content marketing strategy is certainly the most beneficial way to earn customer’s attention.
When talking about brand awareness, the first thing that comes to mind of every B2B Marketer is ‘How do I reach out?’. Webinars might be the answer to your B2B marketing worries. With B2C marketers already using B2C webinars successfully, B2B businesses can use this as well.
Podcasting
According to SEMrush, 16 million people in the USA are ardent fans of podcasting. Podcasts are undoubtedly the most included marketing approach. As people are more digital now, they are more likely to download the series and listen avidly, and it’s an efficient way to earn an audience.
B2B marketers can use podcasting to build credibility and affinity of their brand with the prospects. B2Bs should also leverage podcasts for employee engagement, content distribution as well as generating leads using calls-to-action in podcast episodes.
A good B2B content marketing strategy will have podcasts as one of their key tools to reach out and share their expertise and knowledge to a limitless audience.
Social media posts
While discussing the marketing approach, social media platforms are always in. B2B companies can utilize social media effectively in their marketing campaigns by developing a content plan that enables an ongoing dialogue between B2B business and their target audience.
They are a great source of infotainment today. From youth to the elderly, every single person has social media accounts. It may be on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or any other. Thus, make sure your social media posts are engaging enough to draw the customer’s attention. However, for B2B marketers, LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform with a fairly high organic reach of the quality audience who can make your B2B content marketing a success.
Emails
Emails are never out of the league; they are always in the strategy for any business-related threads. Try including a newsletter sign-up box in the content marketing strategy for your B2B business to get the readers while they are enjoying other pieces. According to the content marketing institute (CMI), 31% of B2B businesses use email newsletters to bring up leads. Through emails, you can gain subscribers; this can cover any tool, courses or checklists, etc.
EBooks/ Whitepapers
Offer your customer some solution-based assets like white paper and eBooks. Through this, you can highlight or promote the features of your products or services. As a B2B marketer, you need to create different content formats into your content marketing strategy that ultimately works to receive fruitful results.
B2B ebooks are typically one-page sales letters that can be distributed to potential customers. B2B content marketing is about creating a long-term relationship between the brand and B2B clients. B2B ebooks should follow this same pattern: start off with a strong introduction, show them how they will benefit in the short and long run by reading the article, then give an offer for more information. Think of B2B content as fewer words on the screen and more video.
White papers are informative documents that offer insight into new trends in a particular industry, updates on changes occurring in the industry, rich media detailing specific business functions or processes.
Concluding It All
Leveraging the practice of content marketing is the most optimal way to win the race in the B2B business. Simply understand this: If you extract content marketing strategy from your marketing model, what will be left? Nothing!
B2B content marketing crafts a path that leads you to the destination of success. Decide what strategy you will apply for the best content marketing process, and secondly, what tactics you will adapt. Remember, a good content marketing practice unites you and your potential customer, and this is how you will sustain in the B2B space.