We understand that creating compelling content is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. With a focus on white papers, reports, infographics and other forms of high-value, data-driven content, we help businesses engage with their target audience and drive results. In this article, we will discuss the importance of B2B content marketing, the best B2B content marketing strategies, and the types of content that will engage and connect with your audience.
Why B2B Content Matters
The key to B2B content marketing is creating and sharing valuable content that educates, informs, and engages your target audience. The marketing strategies used by companies that sell to other companies are extremely different from those who sell to consumers. B2B marketers need to connect with specialist, professional audiences and decision makers. Not only are these hard to reach but they often have unique challenges they are trying to solve.
Unlike traditional advertising, which is often viewed as intrusive, B2B content marketing aims to provide potential customers with information that can help them make better decisions. By providing valuable information, your brand can build trust and credibility with potential customers, positioning your business as a thought leader in your industry. Your clients expect you to be an expert in your field, you need to demonstrate that you not only understand your niche, but that you understand their industry as well. In an NLP analysis of more than 45,000 LinkedIn posts by B2B companies, we found that posts that talked about expertise and leadership significantly outperformed other types of post.
In addition to building trust and credibility, B2B content marketing can also help generate leads and drive sales. By creating content that speaks directly to your target audience's pain points and challenges, you can attract potential customers who are actively searching for solutions. For example, a well-written white paper that addresses a specific industry challenge or trend can position your business as an expert in that area, attracting motivated leads who are looking for solutions. This type of educational content can also be extremely important for innovative technology, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and fintech companies that need to inform and educate potential users and customers about their product.
Best B2B Content Marketing Strategies
When it comes to B2B content marketing, there are several core elements that have been proven to be effective. These include:
Develop a Content Marketing Plan: A content marketing plan is a roadmap that outlines the types of content you will create, the channels you will use to distribute that content, and the metrics you will use to measure success. By developing a content marketing plan, you can ensure that your content is aligned with your business goals and that you are reaching the right audience. For example, creating a high-value white paper will be of little value if it is not promoted social media, email or aligned to events such as webinars.
Focus on Quality Over Quantity: In the world of content marketing, quality trumps quantity. Instead of producing a large volume of mediocre content, focus on creating high-quality content that provides real value to your target audience. This can include in-depth blog posts, well-researched white papers, and informative videos. These assets can then be promoted across multiple channels extending their reach and ROI. When thinking about quality it is important too consider the value that is being created for the reader. Can they find this information somewhere else or is this data, research or perspective unique. Read our article on value exchange and the economics of ChatGPT.
Use Data to Drive Content Creation: Data should be at the heart of your content marketing strategy. By analyzing data from your website, social media channels, and other sources, you can identify the types of content that are resonating with your target audience and adjust your strategy accordingly. In general, we try to follow the mantra of 'Measure Everything'.
Optimize Your Content for SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). By incorporating relevant keywords and phrases into your content, you can improve your chances of being found by potential customers who are searching for solutions. However, a common mistake that people make is seeing SEO as simply a keyword stuffing exercise, if you have a high-value professional brand then the quality of the content on your website should reflect this. High-value content can have multiple uses including EDM, direct sales and on social media.
What Content Should I Use for B2B Digital Marketing?
When it comes to B2B digital marketing, it's important to create content that speaks directly to your target audience's pain points and challenges. But it is also important that the you get the right mix of content types. This means creating platform-native content, content that is tailored to the way that a platform's users find and consume content.
Some of the types of content that work well for B2B digital marketing include:
White Papers and Reports: White papers and reports are in-depth documents that provide a deep dive into a specific industry topic or challenge. By providing valuable insights and analysis, white papers and reports can position your business as an expert in your industry, attracting potential customers who are searching for solutions. White papers and reports can be useful tools for extending the shelf-life of in-person events and conferences. They also allow you to demonstrate your thought leadership position. White papers and reports are valuable B2B lead generation tools. As they provide valuable content, potential customers are often happy to share personal information in exchange for access.
Infographics: Infographics are a visually appealing way to present complex information. By using images, charts, and other visual elements, you can make your content more engaging and easier to understand. Infographics are great for sharing on social media and can be useful tools for generating interest in more detail gated white papers and reports.
Video Content: Video content is becoming increasingly popular in the world of B2B content marketing. By creating informative and engaging videos, you can showcase your products or services and build trust with potential customers. Both short and long-form video can play an important role in a B2B content strategy. Short-form video is great for social media platforms, where as longer videos can provide a platform to showcase the talents and expertise of your teams.
Podcasts: Podcasts can be effective way to reach busy professionals who may not have the time to read (or inclination) to read long-form articles. They can also be a great way to demonstrate your position as an industry leader by featuring experts and other thought leaders in your industry. Although, a word of caution, you need to make sure that you have a unique and compelling proposition as the podcast market is incredibly saturated.
Blog Posts: Blog posts are a great way to share your company's knowledge and expertise on a regular basis. There are multiple options here in terms of where you want to focus. You could write about issues that your customers face on a regular basis and so establish yourself as a trusted authority (with all the great SEO benefits that brings with it). Alternatively, you could use your blog to talk about industry topics and trends, these types of posts can be useful in building brand credibility, expertise and trust. The right strategy will depend on your target audience and what they care about. An example we love is Money Diaries by Wealthsimple, a FinTech company, which showcases how real people spend and manage their money.
Case Studies: Case studies are a powerful tool for B2B content marketing. By showcasing real-world examples of how your products or services have helped other businesses solve specific challenges, you can provide social proof that your business is capable of delivering results. This example from Ideo, a design firm, is a great example of an in=depth case study. It is also a nice example of creating engaging, web-native content.
eBooks: eBooks are longer-form content pieces that provide a deep dive into a specific topic. E-books are often used to provide technical explainers from example HubSpot, a CRM software provider, has created a giant e-book library to provide detailed information on all aspects of CRM. These resources identify potential audiences, often during the early stage of the customer journey cementing the position of your business as an expert in the industry.
Webinars: Webinars are live or pre-recorded video presentations that allow you to connect with your target audience in real-time. By creating informative and engaging webinars that address your target audience's pain points and challenges, you can build trust and establish your business as a thought leader in your industry, They are a great way of building a strong online community of engaged followers. The Digital Shelf Institute on-demand webinar series developed by Salsify, an ecommerce technology provider, is a great example of this. The themes covered are driven by what's important to their customers (brand-manufacturers) rather than as a showcase for their products.
Why You Need High-Value Content and How to Create It
At the end of the day, the success of your B2B content marketing strategy depends on the quality of your content. In a crowded digital landscape, it's not enough to simply create content for the sake of it. To stand out from the competition and engage your target audience, you need to create high-value content that is informative, engaging, and relevant to their needs.
So, how do you create high-value content? Here are a few tips:
Understand your audience
To create content that resonates with your target audience, you need to understand their needs, pain points, and challenges. Take the time to research your audience and develop buyer personas that represent your ideal customers. In the context of professional B2B it is also important to consider the audience's level of sophistication. An article written for professional investors will be very different to one aimed at retail investors.
Create something unique:
Rather than churning out a high volume of low-quality content, focus on creating fewer pieces of high-value content that provide real value to your audience. If you are asking for their personal information then they shouldn't be able to find that information anywhere else. Good examples of this are companies that conduct surveys that are relevant to their customers. ADP, a HR software and services firm, is a good example of this, they run an annual Global Workforce Survey which collects data on employee views of work around the world. This is extremely valuable information to HR executives, who also happen to be their target audience. Other examples include sharing proprietary data insights or conducting research into industry topics.
Collaborate with experts:
To create high-value content that establishes your business as a thought leader in your industry, consider collaborating with industry experts and influencers. By featuring their insights and opinions in your content, you can provide additional value to your audience and build relationships with other thought leaders in your industry. For example, when HashKey, a digital assets exchange and investment firm, wanted to create a guide to tokenization, they worked with their network to secure interviews with industry thought leaders including legal experts and investors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, B2B content marketing is a powerful tool for businesses looking to build trust, establish credibility, generate leads, and drive sales. By developing a content marketing plan, focusing on quality over quantity and using data to drive content creation, you can create a successful B2B content marketing strategy. And by using a combination of white papers, reports, infographics, video content, blog posts, case studies, eBooks, and webinars, you can create content that engages your audience and drives results.
Interpretive Economics partners with leading B2B companies around the world to create market-leading content. We not only create white papers, reports and articles, we can also help to solve your most complex content challenges including how to create personalized content, or extract insights from large datasets. Get in touch to find out more about how we can support your content creation process.
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