In the modern age, consumers are getting smarter. They do not simply buy what is being fed to them by advertisements across various traditional and digital channels. In lieu of this, marketers should step up their game too and find something that works.
This is where B2B content marketing comes in. What makes content marketing the perfect solution to marketing challenges?
Every marketer who wants to make a mark and dominate the digital world must know how important content marketing is as a tool. Of all the online marketing techniques, it is the most cost-effective.
In fact, content marketing costs 62% lesscompared to traditional marketing, but it can generate about three times as many leads.
Content for B2B Marketing
For B2B marketing, creating and building content that will resonate with the audience is even more vital. Unlike marketing to consumers, business to business marketing can be very challenging.
For one, you have to focus on a narrower field and have a lesser market share. But less does not mean easy. If truth be told, it is even harder to capture the attention of businesses using content marketing.
Apart from being valuable, relevant, and fresh, content must also be actionable. Your target audience — businessmen and marketers — should be able to apply your content to their own marketing strategy as well.
To succeed, you must not only create content that is engaging and powerful enough to appeal to their senses but also one that can be considered as credible source for your fellow professionals who are trying to face the same challenge as you — nailing their digital marketing strategy to achieve goals.
So how do you make content marketing work for your B2B strategy? We’ve gathered some useful tips to help you succeed.
Understand Your Ideal Audience
Knowing your audience is not enough. You have to get inside their heads. Understanding them is imperative if you want to create content that they will not only read but also apply to their own marketing needs.
More than knowing what industry they are in, you must also determine the roles they are playing. Most probably, you will be trying to engage the people from the marketing department and even the executives themselves. It is best if you start by identifying their problems and needs. What challenges them? What motivates them?
The next step is to look at their business and find out how it can benefit from your offerings. Knowing the reasons why they are the perfect fit for your products or services will help you write more effective content.
Develop Content Ideas on a Consistent Basis
Search engines are known to favor fresh, original content. This is also true when it comes to B2B content marketing. You can look for new topics that will be relevant to your target audience.
By tapping on the current trends and latest news related to your industry and crafting them to your audience’s unique needs, you will be able to position yourself as an authority that they can trust.
One of the ways to discover what your industry is talking about is by examining trends across social media. By knowing the topics that gain traction in your industry, you will be able to create content that your audience would want to learn more about. This will give you an opportunity to create thought leadership pieces that are timely and valuable.
However, producing quality content consistently can be quite daunting, especially when you have been doing it for a while. It is possible to run out of ideas one day and deal with mounting frustration.
If new topics are hard to come by, you can always repurpose the existing content. For example, a blog about social media marketing can be turned into a podcast and shared on your website. A part of video content can be transcribed and repurposed into a blog, finding a new angle that you can tackle and relate to the present challenges.
Choose Your Marketing Channels
While content is important, the vehicle with which you distribute them cannot be overlooked. Finding the best marketing channels for your content distribution can make or break your strategy. You should know which channel can best amplify your content and reach your intended audience.
For B2B marketing, a blog is a priority. It is the backbone of your content marketing strategy. But it should not be the only one. Make use of social media to reach a larger audience by building your page and running ads.
Social media advertisements are effective in targeting the right audience at the right time since they allow you to tailor who can see your ads through location and demographics.
Another brilliant marketing channel to distribute your content is through email. This is especially useful if you are aiming to find more leads. Email is widely used by many businesses, so it makes sense to reach out to your target market through this platform.
Running an email marketing campaign can give your content marketing strategy a much-needed boost by driving visitors to your website and guiding your potential customers through a marketing funnel that will engage, delight, and convert them into paying customers.
Bottom Line
As a marketer that focuses on B2B marketing, you need to step up your game and make your content marketing strategy stand out from thousands of competitions. Keeping these three things in mind will give you the foundation you need to build and run an effective strategy.
Since the digital marketing landscape is ever evolving, you should also make sure to leverage the latest digital trends and find ways to stay relevant and effective.
