Powerful content equals powerful results.
Do you want to build your company’s brand, attract and retain customers, earn backlinks, and improve rankings? Then you are going to need great content. But creating content without a solid B2B content marketing strategy is a waste of time. To win in the B2B marketing space next year, you need tailored strategies and tactics that help your business succeed.
When businesses cannot effectively communicate with potential customers, it creates a pain point. When potential customers cannot find what they need, it also makes a pain point. Every successful B2B content marketing strategy targets and cures pain points by delivering results that your prospects and clients need. There are many ways of accomplishing this:
Answer all your audience’s questions
With B2B interactions, your focus is on informing the audience without them having to ask. Focusing on specific topics they will be interested in can help you quickly create high-quality, authoritative content.
Include testimonials and reviews of the service or product
Testimonials turn into perfect word-of-mouth promotion that is beneficial to being organic. Studies show that audiences respond much more favorably to testimonials than traditional advertising.
Leverage artificial intelligence
AI can utilize machine learning to help reduce the time it takes to create and optimize content. Where traditional methods used teams of marketers to edit and perfect content, AI makes it possible with 90% less need for human intervention.
Go beyond video and articles
Use more specialized content like white papers, case studies, and market analysis. These are highly effective in more technical industries such as chemicals, oil, and gas, aerospace, and electronics.
When you attack pain points with the above B2B content marketing strategies, winning the B2B space becomes much faster, easier, and more effective. But there’s more to consider beyond these four concepts. You have to take on the mindset of a managed content professional and change your workflow to reflect this.
Know who you’re talking to
Knowing your client’s needs can help you maintain a rapid pace when creating content. Learn all you can about your target audience so that the message is custom-tailored for their unique perspective. Research what content is most prevalent in those demographics. It’s not about what they need to hear but how they’ll listen to it. Use keywords that are relevant to the topic and SEO friendly. Ensure that the voice and presentation align with what they expect and are looking for.
Become an expert
Likewise, understand the business values and goals in-depth. Nothing is more deadly to B2B content marketing than incorrect information. If people cannot believe the information they are given, it will be tough to get them to trust the product or service. Remember, you often speak to a highly skilled audience in a given field and will immediately notice any inaccuracies. Therefore, you must be able to present your client’s business content as a trusted resource. It should be accurate, relevant, actionable, and realistic. It should also include a tactically placed Call To Action.
Establish yourself as an authority in the field
The easiest way to do this is to reference subject matter experts (SMEs) in the field of interest. A solid B2B content marketing strategy requires accurate information, so why not take advantage of the tens of thousands of hours of completed research? You can bolster your content with quotes, statistics, and properly cited media. This tactic adds authority to your voice by showing that the leaders in the field support and can back up what your content is saying.
Relevant SEO matters
A staggering 93% of your audience will not look past the first search page when looking for information. Your content will never be found if your SEO strategy is not up to par. Powerful SEO and content marketing work together to increase traffic, boost brand recognition and improve customer retention. Make sure you aren’t making common mistakes that negatively affect your search ranking.
Distributing the content
Select delivery platforms that synchronize with your audience’s preferences. Placing the content type where it is most likely to be seen gets the highest return on your marketing spending. For example, around 80% of B2B leads come from Linkedin compared with just under 7% for Facebook. Therefore, using Linkedin, even with a smaller user base, will net a higher percentage of potential customers.
Track the costs
Knowing how much it costs to gain a customer is extremely important for growing a business. ROI is thus critical information that you’ll want to be familiar with daily. In one survey, while 80% of marketers measure performance somehow, only 43% track ROI consistently. Tracking this data point and other KPIs will give other companies a substantial economic and performance advantage.
Account-based marketing
Finally, you can use traditional funnels or opt for account-based marketing strategies when working with clients. This strategy treats each account as a single market, with personalized content and a solid personal relationship. Account-based marketing makes it easier to track ROI and offers higher revenue growth, and sales win rates. Usually, account-based marketing is used with larger businesses. However, it can be used in smaller firms with the right automation technologies.
Conclusion
While every B2B content marketing strategy listed here is beneficial, there is one that you should never forget: Above all else, realize that your audience is made of humans. Yes, you can quantify them as clicks, views, or read-throughs. You can also identify them as buyers, accounts, or brands. But all of those metrics represent an individual you are trying to reach. Humanize your content.
As a managed content professional, you shouldn’t just think outside the box. Forget that there is a box in the first place: brainstorm uncommon ideas and ways to translate them into engaging content. Tempesta Media offers advanced automation to help you create the content you need while giving you the creativity to leave the box behind.
