Power Up B2B: The Definitive Guide to Effective Content Marketing for Businesses

Whenever you look up ‘content marketing’ on the internet, most search results are bound to show the phrase ‘content is key’. This much is true. However, not just anything can be released for your audience to consume. The content must be ‘valuable’. Content marketing is a technique to create and distribute content for attracting a defined customer base. This strategy is at the heart of uber-successful social media campaigns, particularly for B2B firms.

Catering to B2B Demand Generation

In the era of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), creating fresh, relevant, and engaging content is the only sure-fire way to get more people to avail of what you have to offer. Even though the core idea is the same, we forget that content marketing for a business to business (B2B) organisation is different from content marketing for a B2C organisation. Traditionally, businesses take more time to sell, and these transactions are more costly.

Content marketing for a B2B organisation is all about creating and distributing content to increase brand awareness, garner traffic, generate leads, and nurture them into inquiries that contribute to sales. Blogging, one of the best and most used forms of B2B content marketing, is a big hit with the marketers. The other common forms include email newsletters and infographics. An average B2B buyer would go through three to five pieces of content before reaching out to the organisation for any inquiry.

So why is content marketing critical in B2B demand generation? Here are ten reasons…

Content Marketing Turns Heads, Generates New Business Leads

Communicating your thoughts with clarity and marketing them to reach the target audience raises brand awareness. Besides, this strategy increases the likelihood of probable customers discovering your business and the services you offer. This medium also builds your authority in the market and makes your position more concrete.

Content Marketing Will Get You New Customers

Blog writing opens a whole new gateway to draw in new customers; you need to just catch the eye of the customer. Your value needs to shine through the content you publish. Therefore, you engage people by telling stories, and perhaps even write informative blog posts with a dash of humour.
It is highly probable that you will show up in a B2B research journey, somewhere. But good content marketing will help you snag the buyer all the way. It is the good content on your web, social media channels, and emails, that will get the customer to engage with you. The B2B space is now embracing content marketing. People are already expecting this strategy, so the onus is on you to be different from the rest.

Diversifying Content Marketing Strategies Generate More Leads

Content marketing does not only mean ‘written’ content. While the published material is considered to be a powerhouse tool in this arena, it is not the only option available. We live in a world where visual content reigns supreme. Therefore, playing around with content and leveraging forms of content marketing other than written material will only serve to benefit your organisation. We all love a good variety!

Informative videos, infographics, visually catchy and attractive images, and quirky graphics can attract more customers and generate better leads. Our brains are hard-wired to soak in more information if it is presented in a visually-pleasing manner. According to a report, if any piece of information is accompanied by a relevant image, sixty-five per-cent of the information is bound to be retained by the individual who consumed it.

Content Marketing Improves Search Engine Visibility

If we were to say that the focal point of a particular service of your organisation is ‘XYZ’, you will curate your content around ‘XYZ’ as your core keyword. If a buyer (during their research) searches for services or solutions related to ‘XYZ’, your content will have a higher probability of showing up in the search engine results. Similarly, as you keep building your content sphere, you will want to incorporate different phrases or words that will cater specifically to a solution that a prospect might be looking for; interested buyers will discover you more quickly this way.

Content marketing also helps in increasing the SEO ranking. The more content you publish for consumption, the more pages will be indexed by the search engines. Besides, the visibility gives the buyers more reason to explore the services you offer.

Drives Web Traffic

You would not want to just create content and let it sit on the burner. Good search engine discovery alongside social media content or simple posts that direct buyers to your content is a genius method. Driving traffic towards your business will ensure increased traffic which will provide increased engagement, and more revenue.

Content Marketing is efficient

It is not just B2B marketers who do not have the time to do their homework thoroughly before approaching an organisation. It is similar to people working different jobs, across the world. Going through the process of a potential client meeting, followed by a product or service demo, and then providing detailed information to the client is time-consuming. However, through content marketing, you are putting out content that makes sense and helps immensely. By recording a demo video of your product or service, making it visually-pleasing, and loading it with information, or a detailed yet not boring blog post. By doing this, you are not only saving your time (and resources) but also catering to the needs of interested buyers on a time crunch which will indefinitely be of help in the long-run.

Content marketing improves customer retention!

Before you even think of content marketing, it is essential to scoop out your target audience. This strategy is to mould your content, according to the needs and interests of your clients. Once you have the attention of your customer, deliver personalised content to them. While you are feeding your current patrons with new and customised data, you are also creating a bond of loyalty with them, and improving customer retention. Everybody loves customised content; there is a sense of specialty in it.

Content marketing cultivates thought leadership culture

Thought leadership is a category of content marketing where you showcase the best talent, experience, and passion residing within your business. This is the forum where you keep answering the questions of your target audience on a certain subject.

When your organisation has the responsibility to create content on a regular basis, you have to be different from the rest, and only get better. That is how a culture of thought leadership is cultivated. Extensive research goes into content marketing about the new, upcoming, and persisting trends in the subject of your client’s choice. The knowledge and ability to create such content becomes an invaluable asset to your organisation and crucially helps in new development ventures.

Content marketing builds a community

When your business is actively sharing valuable content on social media platforms, it is building a centre for fresh and significant information. Additionally, social media allows for existing customers to have a conversation with one another by interacting, sharing ideas, and discussing ideas. By fostering a following of customers on social media, any B2B marketer will end up creating a community of people interested in and enthusiastic about their services.

Big Data opens the gateway to detailed customer insights

Whenever a prospect visits a website, clicks on a blog post, or registers for your webinar, their behavioural footprint leaves a potential for creating a more detailed customer base. This forum generates the intent signal. With this insight, businesses are able to better mould their content, build more personalised content, and automate email newsletter campaigns to people who might be probable customers. This is exciting for any marketer as it provides the guarantee that your thoughts are reaching your audience efficiently and effectively.