“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” Bill Gates 1996
Even though this was written over 20 years ago, the message still holds true today. Content is still the most important thing to businesses. It is the thing that will keep customers coming back for more.
He stated that the internet would provide companies an opportunity to sell and give information to customers, and that no company would be too small to be a part of it.
The reason content marketing is so powerful is that – when done correctly – it can serve as its own Demand Generation engine. If we look at content marketing 25 years from now, Gates will be right again – content will remain king. In fact, research suggests that content marketing will be even more powerful than it is now, with 91% of organizations using it to generate leads. However, only 43% of successful B2B marketers have a clear, documented strategy in place.
So, why does this matter?
A content strategy is necessary to achieve B2B marketing goals. It provides a clear plan for what content to publish, how to promote it, and which customers to target.
What is B2B content marketing?
B2B content marketing is a strategy that creates, publishes, and distributes content that is valuable, educational, and actionable to a targeted audience that ultimately drives lead generation.
There’s a ton of different content types B2B businesses can use for content marketing, including:
- Blogs
- eBooks
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Case studies
- White papers
- Online courses
- Infographics
An Entrepreneur analysis predicts that the list of content will expand to include voice search-optimized articles, Augmented Reality (AR) experiences, and one-to-one conversations with customers using tools like Facebook Messenger.
According to content strategist Michael Bibla, the key to knowing what types of content to use comes down to two things:
- Knowing what information someone is searching for,
- along with how they want that information delivered,
can be critical to success.
Bibla says that if you research your target audience, you can find out how they prefer to consume content. For example, you may find that they like to watch webinars or video tutorials to learn more about a widely-used software tool in your industry.
He says that this information is great and you now know what, but you are still in the dark about the why. He suggests that a bit more investigation may reveal that many people in your industry are having a hard time with user-experience regarding the specific technology. He says that knowing why will help you to develop content that delivers what your client base is really looking for.
Since content marketing is helpful, it can be used to build trust with your target audience and generate leads.
How to Develop a B2B Content Marketing Strategy
This guide will help you develop a content marketing strategy that is specific to your product or service.
1. Create your target customer persona
Before you start creating content, figure out who you’re making it for.
It is especially important to have accurate customer personas when targeting businesses in order to target the right person within the company. This will help you to avoid targeting gatekeepers. If you do not have customer personas, you will be left guessing who you are targeting and what content they will find valuable.
Start by answering some basic questions:
- Who is your target customer? What characteristics best describe them?
- What is their job and position within a target company?
- What kind of industry are they in?
- What type of company do they work for?
- What level are they at the company? Are they a key decision-maker like a CEO, or are they further down the line?
- How long have they been at the company?
The answers to these questions will help you to start creating a target customer persona. Content that is aimed at a company’s CEO will be different than content that is aimed at someone on a marketing team.
Next, put yourself in your target customer’s shoes:
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What is stopping them from being as successful as possible in their role?
- Can your product/service help them overcome those obstacles?
- What goals do they want to achieve in their position?
What is a digital target persona? A digital target persona is a profile of an ideal customer that takes into account factors such as age, industry, goals, education, and biggest challenges. HubSpot’s Make My Persona Tool can be used to create digital target personas.
2. Figure out your brand positioning
If you want to convince someone to buy something, you have to know exactly what you’re selling and why it’s better than the competition. Figure out what problem your product solves for your audience and use that to develop your strategy.
Your brand’s position should be clear to your target audience. It should be something that shows them you are the answer to the problem they are having.
3. Don’t skip buyer research
Now that you know your product’s place in the market, it’s time to learn more about your target audience. Audience research helps you create a buyer persona (a profile of your ideal customer), which in turn, helps you focus your marketing efforts. You can’t afford to skip this step.
Brett McGrath, VP of Marketing at The Juice, thinks that audience research is the key to success.
Brent suggests that content marketers should take a step back at the beginning and do more research if they want better marketing strategy results.
It is advisable for marketers to make their social media posts as “evergreen” as possible according to Juliana Casale, content strategist at Wave.
4. Focus on the customer
Michael Keenan is saying that the best way for marketers to improve their content marketing is by getting to know their customers better.
“As a content marketer, one of your main jobs is to empathize with your target audience. If you want to generate content ideas, focus on your customers. Joshua Oakes, creator and principal of Who First, says that many content marketers miss out on this content source. According to Oakes, “Your success as a content marketer depends on how well you understand the needs of your target audience and providing content that meets those needs.”
Content that focuses on the customer rather than the company is more likely to get clicks, reshares, and general awareness.
5. Champion your customer’s stories
Prospective customers are more likely to be persuaded by case studies than any other type of content.
According to the LinkedIn’s Demand Gen Report 2018, B2B buyers prefer case studies over other types of content, such as white papers and blog posts.
Why is this?
Seth Godin’s famous anecdote helps explain why marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.
When you share your customers’ stories in your content, you build trust in your brand. You also lead potential customers to the final decision phase in the sales process.
There are many ways to create persuasive case studies that tell your customer’s stories. You can record a video or get them to write a short testimonial to put on your page. However, the most engaging case studies tell a story from a customer’s initial problem and weave your product into the narrative as a solution that the customer can no longer live without.
You should always give your customers’ voices a platform in your case studies, as potential customers are more likely to trust their reviews over your own marketing.
Your case study doesn’t need to be excessively long, just enough to comprehensively capture the problem, solution, and how your product helped. It’s important that you include your customer’s perspective and voice throughout the story.
Good case studies are much more influential than other types of content. Dale Cudmore from KlientBoost described them as testimonials on steroids. If you are trying to convince customers to buy a product, case studies should be a key part of your content strategy.
6. Harness teamwork
As a content marketer, you might not be in as close contact with customers as you’d like. This can make it harder to create useful content. Often, content you imagine will be popular may not be successful. Let your team help you with your areas of inexperience.
It is recommended by Robin Nichols that you speak with everyone internally and customers to get an understanding of why your product is preferred over others, what your clients like about it, and what features are being worked on.
7. Use the entire marketing funnel
It’s understandable that everyone wants to “drive sales.” However, as mentioned before, B2B marketing takes time and investment. To sell your product, you’ll need to learn how to make use of your content marketing funnel.
John Short, CEO of Compound Growth Marketing, says that many marketers focus too much on top-of-the-funnel conversion rates, rather than thinking about what returning customers are worth, which is a common marketer blindspot.
Try out different types of content and keep your customers at the forefront of your mind while you do.
8. Use SEO
Most people learn a lot by Googling in this digital age.
SEO goes hand in hand with backlinks, so building backlinks should be a part of your B2B digital marketing strategy. Some ways you can use search engines to improve your content include:
- Doing keyword research to see what your audience is looking for information about (tools like Semrush and Ahrefs are great for this)
- Running competitor analysis to see what your competitors have written on the subject and find gaps you can plug
- Setting up Google alerts for industry keywords like Estelle Barthes, the content expert at PickYourSkills does
The advice at the end is useful for Barthes. According to her, “I get a dozen automated emails from Google every day with news on each of these topics, and I’ve used that information to create original pieces of content over time.”
9. Choose the right channel for you
TikTok may be popular at the moment, but that doesn’t mean your target market is using it. Michael Keenan warns against falling into the trap of focusing on the latest trendy marketing platform, instead of choosing channels that are based on data. While there’s nothing wrong with trying out new channels, you shouldn’t do so without considering whether or not they’re actually effective for your business.
It’s better to start small by focusing on one or two marketing channels, then expand to new ones once you have perfected your technique.
10. Play the long game
We all love seeing results quickly, but content marketing requires consistency and long-term effort to be successful. Juliana Casale says, “Many marketers get discouraged because they don’t see results early on. The truth is, content marketing can take a while to show results. It’s important to maintain consistency and create quality content if you want to see long-term results.”
Content that is interesting and well-written can also help to:
-Generate leads
-Nurture those leads
-Educate your target market
-Establish thought leadership
Content can help with lead generation in multiple ways. Not only can good content help to generate leads, but it can also nurture those leads and educate your target market. Establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry is another way that content can help your business..
Casale recommends focusing on retaining customers rather than acquiring new ones, as this will also lead to increased revenue in the long run. While it is important to make short-term investments, such as in social media content or bottom-of-the-funnel content, don’t neglect those that will pay off in the long term.
11. Audit existing content
It’s important to check your content’s performance metrics to see how well it is doing. It’s good to use multiple channels and create consistently, but if you don’t know which types of content resonate the most with your audience after months of creating content, it’s all pointless.
To improve your website’s ranking, take a look at how well your content is doing on search engines, and make changes as needed. You can also focus on more productive channels. Google Analytics can help you track your existing content.
Wrapping Up
B2B content marketing is a long game.
It is not only necessary to have a strategy and a clear idea of who you are marketing to, but you also need to be patient.
Your content efforts will not show results for a few months, but it is important to remember that investing early in your blog, targeting specific customer personas, and sharing success stories can help show that your business is reliable and that it can solve problems.
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