Let's face it, B2B marketers … your inbound marketing endeavors are more complex than your B2C counterparts. In the B2B space, you’re not just selling to individuals. There are a lot more people—and stages—in the buying process. And if your client’s purchase team doesn't work in tandem, your job’s even harder.
So, how do you ensure your inbound marketing efforts pack a punch? By delivering quality, targeted content that moves customers along each phase of the buying process. Here are four tried-and-true content marketing tips that will revamp your content marketing game.
1. Focus your content on your customer.
Naturally, you love talking about the product or service you’re offering your customers. Your customers, on the other hand, care only about one thing: How will it benefit them? Put serious effort into offering your customers value. Google and other search engines place high priority on the user experience, so you should always create content with your audience in mind. If there isn’t a need, don’t produce it.
Show value by detailing the benefits of what you’re offering. Highlight exactly how your product or service solves your customer's challenges in a more accurate and timely manner. Don’t forget to mention the return on investment (ROI) they can expect. This will help you create sufficient demand for your product or service.
2. Use a variety of content types.
In the content marketing world, there are many different flavors of content to choose from—but they all fit into one of two categories: premium or regular. Premium content usually works best for capturing contact information from prospective customers and nurturing them in subsequent communications. Some prime examples of premium content include: eBooks, infographics, videos, white papers, webinars, research reports, and case studies.
Regular content is usually short and can be fed to your customers more frequently. Think: social media posts, blog posts, eNewsletters, emails, press releases, podcasts, and brochures. It’s important to “mix it up” and keep a steady stream of fresh (share-worthy) content flowing. Delivering dynamic content will not only minimize monotony and keep prospects engaged; it can also improve conversion rates by 50%.
3. Niche your content to a particular target.
In the B2B sphere, it’s common to have different types of clients: utility companies, wholesalers and retailers, real estate companies, schools, etc. But a one-size-fits-all marketing approach isn’t going to cut it. Instead of creating content that seeks to reach out to all of your clients, create content that’s laser-focused on each individual client. Specific-target content has been proven to be more effective in lead generation than general-target content, which forces clients to figure out if and how they fit into your world—all by themselves.
In order to create content that will resonate with specific buyers, you need to have a deep understanding of what challenges they’re facing and what they’d like to achieve. What triggers their engagement and what criteria do they use to evaluate solutions? The best way to get this information? Talk to them. Listen to their stories and pose questions based on their responses.
Marketing automation is changing the way businesses are interacting with their target audiences. It is helping marketers by organizing data shared by their customers and prospects to provide them with the right content at the right time.
4. Team up with a content marketing expert or agency.
As an inbound marketer, working in isolation is very dangerous. You’ll never know what’s new in the content marketing world, and your content quality and credibility will never improve. Following up with leads is also very tricky if you work alone. An independent expert or full-service agency can help you create a content strategy that plays to your prospects in the various stages of becoming a customer.
Now that you know how to revamp your B2B content marketing, it’s time to implement these four tips into your strategy. As simple as they seem, they’re highly effective. Your awesome results will be your new source of motivation as you undertake content marketing.
